District expands safety specialists; staff logged thousands of campus responses this year

District safety staff told trustees the district has created five safety and security specialist positions in addition to campus safety leads to provide roving support across four geographic areas and at the district office.

Staff presented activity counts for the school year: campus safety logged 5,697 events and generated 625 reports; specialists tracked 1,636 events from Jan. 14 through the most recent review, with top activities including extra patrols (363), gate and security checks (390), perimeter checks and campus support. Staff said most uses are routine checks, drill support and site assistance; they also cited eight disturbance responses, five medical emergencies and 10 special events.

School leaders and principals described how the specialists increased feelings of safety, assisted with family contacts and home visits that enabled student placements in behavior intervention services, and provided support for large community events and daily gate checks. One principal said, "Donnie comes and finds me. I'm always in the middle of something and he just gives me a thumbs up and I know that we're good." Donnie Fox and other principals said the positions were filled from within the district to create a career path for safety leads.

Staff said the specialists' primary function is short‑term incident response, perimeter checks, mentoring and facilitating drills, and they keep logs for significant activities rather than minute‑by‑minute tracking. Trustees asked about coverage, vehicle needs and data capture; staff said the district is refining reporting and staffing to sustain the program.