KIPP Texas safety committee reports one TEA intruder‑audit finding; officials call it ‘fixable’

HOUSTON — The KIPP Texas Safety & Security Committee on Oct. 2 said state auditors completed five intruder-detection audits this school year and issued one finding that committee members described as a behavioral issue they expect to correct quickly.

The committee’s deputy chief of school operations, Tembury Seaman, said the district completed extensive summer training for staff — “We had over 2,000 total participants in our trainings that completed our attendance log” — and that the KIPP network also runs its own internal checks in addition to the Texas Education Agency’s unannounced audits under Texas Education Code 37.1084.

Committee members said the TEA intruder-detection audit follows a three‑phase process: an attempt to enter the campus undetected, a check of every exterior door to confirm it is closed and locked, and a front-office review that includes verification of door-check logs and classroom door status. Seaman told the committee that KIPP Texas cross-references internal door-check logs with facilities work orders, performs door checks on three separate days by different roles (security, facilities and school operations), and records logs in Sentinel. He said those steps are intended to exceed TEA’s requirements.

“We did have 1 finding out of those 5,” Seaman said, summarizing the audits’ results. He said TEA assigns corrective actions when findings occur — retraining, action plans and public reporting to the board — and that the committee would review the specifics of the finding in executive session. When asked whether the finding represented a serious systemic safety problem, Seaman said, “I think it is very fixable. It’s a behavioral change that we can address quickly.”

Chair Sean Raymond moved the committee into executive session to discuss the audit finding and related security matters under Texas Government Code sections 551.076 and 551.0761; the committee recessed at about 5:13 p.m. and returned to open session at 5:34 p.m.

The committee also discussed KIPP Texas’s operational practices that staff said go beyond TEA minimums: the network said it staffs two armed guards in overlapping shifts (TEA requires one guard), requires classroom doors be closed and locked when students are present (TEA does not require closed classroom doors), and maintains additional door‑check and facilities follow‑up processes.

The committee approved the May 2025 meeting minutes by motion; Craig Boralski moved the motion and Tembury Seaman seconded it. The chair declared the vote unanimous; individual roll‑call votes were not recorded in the transcript.

Looking ahead, Craig Boralski, senior director of school safety, said the committee will get updates from future intruder-detection audits, a planned tabletop exercise with KIPP chiefs, and continued monthly door‑check data to track repeat door issues and follow-up actions. The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.