School Safety

Posted Date: 08/23/2024

Superintendent’s Blog- August 2024

Subject: School Safety

Welcome back to another school year. I am resuming my monthly blogs which are intended to educate and inform our parents and community regarding issues surrounding our mission of education.

For this month, I feel it is imperative to review and inform our readers regarding safety protocols at Hudson ISD. This is a very important topic and I hope each of you will take the necessary time to read this entire post. School safety is our top priority. We strive to far exceed basic safety requirements imposed by the Texas Education Agency/Texas School Safety Center.

Let me first start by reviewing the Standard Response Protocol. This is the primary set of actions we would take in the event of some sort of emergency. Our staff and students are trained and practice this protocol throughout the year. Fortunately, we have not had any catastrophic issues that required many of these actions, but we do use at least one of these routinely. Therefore, it is important that everyone understand these to alleviate any fear or alarm when action is taken. I will do my best to keep the following information brief and to the point, so let's dive in.

There are five basic actions within the Standard Response Protocol (SRP): HOLD!, SECURE!, LOCKDOWN!, EVACUATE!, AND SHELTER!

1. HOLD!: This is an action that we would take to just keep students in the classroom and still carry on business as usual within the classroom. We use this action commonly.  Examples would include the following: 

• Keeping students in the classroom due to a student/staff member having a personal medical emergency. This could include a seizure or other event where we want to provide privacy from others and allow medical/special services to handle the situation.
• Keeping the students in the classroom due to excessive lightning or even torrential rain, where students on some campuses must travel from one building to another.

2. SECURE!: This action would be used to keep students/staff INSIDE of the building and NOT allow any entrance to the buildings by unauthorized (non-student/non-staff) persons. In this event, there is NO danger or incident within the building. Examples of this could include the following:

• Unauthorized persons or other circumstances on the campus (outside) or vicinity that may cause some attention by administration and police.
• Notification of a police pursuit near the vicinity of the district.

2. LOCKDOWN!: This is the most extreme action taken when a danger presents itself WITHIN the building. NOTE: When conducting a drill, it is VERY, clearly communicated that it is a ‘practice only’ to help alleviate any fear among staff and students. We NEVER conduct drills that alarm students/staff. Examples of this could include the following:

• Active shooter
• Non-active, but reports of a visible firearm on a person
• Anytime a person is in the building failing to follow directions of campus administration/police. An example of this would be a non-custodial parent/person trying to access a child during a custody battle. (Sadly, we deal with custody issues commonly. These issues should be settled elsewhere, not at school.)

2. EVACUATE!: We would use this action anytime we need to evacuate to another location. This could be as simple as going outside or transporting students to another location or facility. Examples are as follows:

• Fire or smoke in the building
• Bomb threats deemed potentially credible
• Hazardous material (Hazmat) spill due to auto crash in the near area
• Gas leaks in the building

2. SHELTER!: This action would be taken in the event we need to move to a safe location within the building. Examples would include:

• Tornado
• Hazmat (like the example previously, but not requiring evacuation)

This is not an exhaustive list of examples and reasons for such actions, but I’m keeping this brief and only providing the most common situations. It is important to understand these actions to prevent any unnecessary confusion and fear. It is also imperative to understand that during a SECURE This action, parents will NOT be allowed to enter the building. (Remember, the issue/danger is NOT in the building. Students inside are SAFE.)

Communication is EVERYTHING! When using a common HOLD! pattern, we would provide staff a reason for such action, but this does NOT require parental notification. Again, this is commonly used for the reasons mentioned. Anytime that we use the other actions, a notification will be sent to parents in the most immediate/timely fashion using the ParentSquare system and other methods deemed necessary. We do not provide notification for DRILLS. Again, we will never activate a drill without it being well-communicated to our students/staff of it being for practice only.

The following information includes just a few other items that you should be aware of:

• All staff have immediate access to emergency response. We utilize Silent Panic Alert Technology (SPAT) that will alert emergency response teams, administrators, 911, etc. if needed. This technology is GPS-specific, showing the exact location of the emergency.
• We have a police officer assigned to each campus.
• We have a very well-trained Guardian Program, where other authorized staff members may be armed to lethally respond quickly to a crisis situation. Likewise, this group is also trained for critical, medical response as needed.
• New for this year, we have added an Advanced Physical Skills team (APS team). This group may be utilized for a non-lethal response to an active scenario where deadly conduct is not present, but advanced physical skills are needed.
• While we have communicated our cell phone regulations, just be reminded that during a real emergency deemed by campus administration/police, students CAN use their phones. We have an Anonymous Alerts system (located on our website) for students/parents to report situations that are not immediately life-threatening. Examples would be to report bullying and other forms of needed response. This can and has been used to report threats/fear of suicide, but know that the need for immediate response should be directly reported to emergency agencies. If there is any immediate response needed for other reasons as well, please contact us directly via telephone or 911 as applicable.
• Also, know that iWatch Texas is another method to report suspicious activities/behaviors that may indicate criminal activity. This report goes immediately to Texas DPS, not the school system. This system may also be accessed via our website under the ‘student’ portal.
• There are many other initiatives taken by the district that exceed my limits to keep this blog brief.

As stated previously, our top priority is the safety of our students and staff. Two major components of this mission are to educate and inform. Thank you for your attentiveness to this month’s topic. Have a blessed school year and may God keep our schools safe.

God bless,

Donny Webb, Superintendent