Laurie Christensen, Harris County Fire Marshal
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Laurie Christensen is the fire marshal for Harris County. She is an accredited Fire Marshal, a Certified Fire Protection Specialist, a Master Peace Officer, and a Master Firefighter. She has more than 25 years of experience in emergency response, and she loves to gather people to discuss best practices for improving school safety.

Recently she served on Harris County’s first-ever Safe Schools Commission to develop a standard level of care relating to school safety. She guided a student, teacher, parent, ISD board member, and an ISD superintendent as they worked together to create recommendations to address challenges in schools in the Harris County area.

She recently helped host law enforcement summits with more than 50 agencies to facilitate an open discussion about issues such as how to improve school safety and the need for a common mutual aid channel between fire, EMS, and law enforcement in an active shooter event or other emergency.

Jaime Salazar, Texas Southmost College (TSC)
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Texas Southmost College’s location in Brownsville, next to a high-traffic port of entry with approximately 1.5 miles of international border, presents unique safety and security challenges. TSC’s safety and security team used strategy-based experience to create an interagency community-based policing methodology. This hybrid security model includes local, state, and federal law enforcement along with a private security company.

The methodology includes use of an incident command system (ICS) to organize, train, and equip all stakeholders on emergency response to the college. TSC has used this system to train and conduct table-top exercises with local, state, and federal partners.

TSC also created a strategic communication plan. Students, staff, and community partners are equipped with a technological tool that utilizes crowd sourcing software to report any suspicious activity, behavior, or safety concerns directly to the security team. This tool enables anyone on campus to become part of the eyes and ears of the security team, aiding in keeping the campus a safe environment for all.

Mission CISD, Gun Responsibility Awareness Safety Program (GRASP)
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Mission CISD collaborates with the Gun Responsibility Awareness Safety Program (GRASP), a local non-profit organization whose mission is “to promote gun responsibility awareness and safety that’s geared towards children and their parents or guardians who are gun owners.” GRASP’s school program focuses on 4 core ideas: safe storage, accountability by adults and children, incident prevention (gun violence, child suicide and loss of life), and awareness - Kids (See - Hear - Report) and Parents (Recognize - Take Action - Get Help - School Notification).

GRASP provides two types of presentations — one for students and one for their parents. The kids’ session presents the information in a fun and memorable way, while the adults’ session takes on a more serious tone. GRASP reiterates the fact that an unsecured firearm at home, could easily become a loaded weapon at school.

Mission CISD and GRASP also partner with local law enforcement agencies at their events. The program strives to teach students that law enforcement officials are a source of assistance and support. During the presentations, officers interact with students to breakdown any barriers of fear or apprehension in reaching out when help is needed.

Rachael Freeman, Coppell ISD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Challenged with the goals of keeping students safe while at home during virtual learning and keeping officers/deputies engaged with those students, Rachael Freeman, Coordinator of Safety for Coppell ISD (CISD), the Coppell Police Department (CPD) School Resource Officers, and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputies created a short video describing how to use the CISD and CPD tip lines.

With the theme and concept that the school resource officers "will be there for you" because officers are your FRIENDS, the video shows students how to contact their assigned SRO/SRD through the tip lines if they need help or do not feel safe. Both tip line apps are available on students’ school issued iPads.

Empowering students to have a relationship with a mentor is a proven practice, and the team wanted to create something innovative that would make students laugh and show that officers are humans who have the desire to help students feel safe while engaged in online learning.

SROs and SRDs are your F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

San Marcos Academy
Collaborative Community Partnerships

The San Marcos Academy (SMA) is a K-12, private and boarding school located in Hays County which currently enrolls 332 students, including 70-100 boarding students annually. SMA’s president, Dr. Brian Guenther, is dedicated to meeting and surpassing all safety standards set by current public and private schools.

SMA works to create and build partnerships with local first responder agencies and health care providers, providing up to date education on threat assessment, prevention, and response. SMA partners with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a nighttime lockdown drill, in addition to drills during school hours. This drill highlights challenges specific to boarding schools and provides the next steps in preventing or responding to after-hours critical incidents on a boarding school campus.

Realizing that many private schools are falling below the ever-increasing public school safety standards, SMA created the first annual “Texas Private School Safety Conference” planned for June of 2020. Although the conference had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it is rescheduled, it will address three identified potential weaknesses in school safety that are common among private schools: infrastructure, technology, and education.

Whitewright ISD PD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

During the first year of Whitewright ISD’s police department, Chief Judy Sims and Officer Mike Stephens created a department that is professional, friendly, and safety driven. Whether providing an officer presence for safety, teaching a course to high school students about how to interact with peace officers, or serving as guest speakers in the Forensic Science class, they are always present for students and staff. The pinnacle of the year was the “Shattered Dreams” program, a simulation intended to help students make good decisions about drinking and driving. The program, which involved students, community members, the police department, a guest speaker, campus staff, parents, and a local youth pastor, was featured as a spotlight on KTEN news. Their work exemplifies school administrators and police officers working together to keep students safe.

Brazosport ISD and Stephen F. Austin Community Health Network
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Since 2015, the Stephen F. Austin Community Health Network (SFACHN) has partnered with Brazosport ISD to provide five school-based health centers offering mental health services. These on-site centers remove the transportation barrier that some families face when seeking services, and no student is refused services based on the inability to pay. The collaboration enables school counselors to act proactively and make referrals that are preventative in nature. A third-party release form signed by the parent of a student attending SFACHN counseling sessions allows school counselors to communicate with the licensed professional counselor about how to best support the student’s treatment plan with the goal of helping individuals before a crisis occurs.

Bastrop ISD PD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

The School Safety Symposium provided information related to promoting school safety and strategies to immediately and effectively address school safety situations. Under the direction of Bastrop ISD PD Chief of Police, Jeffrey Yarbrough, the approach to bring all stakeholders together was an effective and innovative tool to encourage collaboration. What occurred at the symposium allowed stakeholders invested in school safety to collaborate with one another, share information and ideas with others, and develop strategies and programs in advance of an emergency.

“What I found most rewarding about the School Safety Symposium was the willingness for law enforcement and school district leaders from around the State of Texas to come together in Bastrop, Texas, for a cause that is most important to all; the safety of our children. Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Walter Braun and Assistant Chief Gary Forward willingly shared their heartbreaking experience with us so that we could learn from it and improve school safety response protocols and procedures. DPS Sgt. Richard Adkins and Trooper Maurio Arce provided valuable input from that of a responding non-school district police perspective. Their input helped us to identify and close security gaps that might have existed between schools and outside law enforcement agencies.” - Chief Yarbrough, Bastrop ISDPD

Azle ISD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Located in three different counties, Azle ISD partnered with their district food service provider to implement a free lunch/breakfast program with law enforcement and first responders with the goal of ensuring that their local police department, as well as county officials, become familiar with district campuses and can better assist in case of an emergency. This incentive to increase law enforcement on campuses has also provided a unique opportunity to develop relationships among students, staff, and first responders.

Azle ISD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

Located in three different counties, Azle ISD partnered with their district food service provider to implement a free lunch/breakfast program with law enforcement and first responders with the goal of ensuring that their local police department, as well as county officials, become familiar with district campuses and can better assist in case of an emergency. This incentive to increase law enforcement on campuses has also provided a unique opportunity to develop relationships among students, staff, and first responders.