TxSSC
School Safety Spotlight Awards
Staff Development and Training
(Past Winners)
- indicates an overall recipient for fiscal year.
Dr. Darwin Spiller, Richardson ISD
Staff Development and Training
Dr. Darwin Spiller is the Executive Director of Title IX Compliance and Investigations for Richardson Independent School District (RISD). Primary goals of this division include taking appropriate steps to prevent issues of sex discrimination and providing on-going training for campus administration and central staff as well as investigating and resolving complaints about sexual misconduct, harassment, and other situations that fall under Title IX.
Dr. Spiller’s one-hour Title IX virtual professional trainings give administrators flexibility about where and when they connect to learn more about how to keep kids safe and report cases. The virtual format improves consistency as participants access the same material, no matter their location.
Dr. Spiller partnered with the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center to provide professional development for teachers regarding sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. To bring Title IX awareness to the student level, he partners with the RISD Director of Prevention Programming to utilize peer mediators. Dr. Spiller also partners with law enforcement from the Richardson and Dallas police departments to ensure the safety of all students and staff when conducting investigations. Currently, Dr. Spiller is conducting focus groups to gain input on a follow-up training, “Best Practices for Conducting Investigations.”
"As an educator for 25 years, my new role as an investigator has afforded me an opportunity to learn new skill sets and has challenged and pushed me to grow. Being able to partner alongside administrators to coach and mentor them through investigations is beyond rewarding for me and offers administrators a sense of relief. We all know that when students and staff feel safe in schools there are chances for all to grow. On the flip side, when safety for all is compromised, learning and achieving can be a challenge. Being proactive with intentional training opportunities instead of reactive is the key because if we all know better, we will hopefully do better.”
Quarter 3 (FY21)
Roy Laughlin, San Antonio ISD
Staff Development and Training
Roy Laughlin is a Safety Specialist for the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD). He oversees safety and risk management programs for SAISD’s 260 school buses and 250 white fleet vehicles. Under Mr. Laughlin's leadership, SAISD has experienced a steady and notable decrease in the number of school bus and fleet accidents. He uses previous year accident data for comparative analysis to identify and isolate trends, and then uses this data in monthly training sessions with employees to mitigate repeat accidents.
Mr. Laughlin managed a school bus “Road-e-o” driving skills test, an event that enabled bus drivers to demonstrate their professionalism, skill, and dedication to pupil transportation in a fun and creative driving obstacle course. He is also a believer in employee recognition, celebrating drivers through a beginning of the year ice cream social and the Transportation Department’s annual recognition ceremony of bus drivers with no accidents. These employees receive a certificate and uniform shirt with an “accident free” patch. Mr. Laughlin has brought innovation to his approach to safety which is infectious to everyone he meets.
“I enjoy safety training because this is training that you receive at work and it also transfers to your life. You take the information home and take it to other jobs and keep the information forever. Safety never leaves you. I also enjoy when someone comes up to you and says that what they learned in the training really became a part of their life lesson.”
Quarter 4 (FY-19)
Jill Wilkinson and David Wellbaum, Midway ISD
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
Midway High School theatre teachers Jill Wilkinson and David Wellbaum helped to provide innovative and relevant safety and security training for Midway ISD. The teachers worked with theater students to develop, write, and enact four different safety scenarios at a district-wide training. Teachers rotated to observe each scenario and then responded according to the Standard Response Protocol. The training involved students, staff, administrators, school resource officers, and two local police departments. The interaction with students proved to be very useful in that it encouraged the district to include more students in safety and security efforts. After previously conducting table-top exercises for various scenarios, the district found that this event took training to another level.
“I am so thankful that I work for a District that takes school safety training seriously. When Dr. Jeanie Johnson approached us and asked for our program to be involved, she met with not only David Wellbaum and me, but also our students. This gave us the opportunity to listen to the students’ safety concerns and ideas. The students felt empowered to be a part of a training experience that covered everything from an active shooter to an allergic reaction. This was an intense training but using student actors allowed teachers to actually make the training more hands on and a powerful teaching tool.”
Quarter 3 (FY-19)
East Central ISD, EC Cares
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
East Central ISD established the EC Cares Committee to address the needs of students and families who were experiencing trauma. The multi-disciplinary committee meets monthly and takes a systematic approach to meeting the needs of students and families. Every department in the district is informed about the EC Cares protocol - "See and/or Hear Something-Say Something" - that empowers all staff to report a student, staff member, and/or family in need, and each campus has ongoing training on social and emotional learning. Participating students are tracked to ensure that their needs are met if they transition from one campus to another. The EC Cares approach to school safety is being informed and proactive with the goal of eliminating barriers to ignite HOPE and ensure academic excellence is reached in all students.
“Trauma doesn't stop at 4 or at graduation!”
“It Takes A Village to get a student from PreK to Graduation!”
“L2UB4R” (Listen 2 Understand B4 Response)
Quarter 2 (FY-19)
Luling ISD
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
Since 2016, the Luling ISD district leadership, individual campuses, school board, and local emergency management and law enforcement agencies have collaborated to ensure that every staff member (from the custodial staff to the Superintendent) attends 2 hours of Luling ISD’s personalized CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) training and repeats that training annually. Luling ISD has also placed “Traumatic Bleed Control” cabinets at every campus. The Luling ISD Traumatic Bleeding Control course teaches participants basic life-saving medical interventions. In 2018 the district implemented the Standard Response Protocol at all of its campuses and is working to implement the Standard Reunification Method into its recently updated Emergency Operations Plan.
“While we hope that staff never have to access the knowledge or implement the CRASE processes, it is imperative that our staff is prepared and feel confident in the plan. I receive the most positive feedback on the CRASE session each year from our administrators and staff. There is nothing more important than the safety of our students and staff and we will continue to proactively seek the most effective processes/resources/protocols to help ensure that Luling ISD is appropriately prepared.”
Dr. Joe Young, Dr. Hector Martinez, Mrs. Liesa Land - Brownwood ISD
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
The Brownwood Independent School District partnered with local law enforcement to conduct full-scale community active shooter exercises on school campuses. While law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and the local hospital tested their response protocols, district leadership tested lockdown and reunification processes in coordination with local law enforcement. The district also partnered with the Brownwood Police Department to provide ALERRT’s Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) training to all district employees. District leadership is actively engaged with local emergency responders in creating a safer school environment.
“The partnership we enjoy with Brownwood PD has allowed me to focus on our students’ and staff’s safety by utilizing highly-trained professionals. My heart takes great pride in the students and employees of our district, and helping provide them the safest schools possible is very comforting. The trainings have been coupled with intensive on-campus presence and visibility. Our students love having the officers on campus and it is a powerful component within our strong community.”
Quarter 1 (FY-19)
Ismael Castro, Emergency Operations Plan Manager, Socorro ISD
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
Mr. Ismael Castro is very passionate about school safety. His number one priority is to ensure that all stakeholders are trained in emergency operations, and he has gone above and beyond to make sure his district has the latest information on safety. He always makes himself available to attend community meetings, volunteers to present to parents, and most importantly makes it his personal responsibility to make sure that all students and staff feel safe.
Mr. Castro personally manages all 47 campuses to ensure all drills are completed with fidelity. He has implemented many best practices in the district’s drills such as recording videos, using students and teachers to show correct procedures and safety tips, that were used to train the students and teachers. He has also has worked with the district’s technology department to put all documentation of drills online to make sure his district stays in compliance. Mr. Castro does not miss an opportunity to attend city and state level meetings to collaborate and learn about strategies that he can bring back to help ensure continued safety throughout the district.
“I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to support and train teachers, school administrators, staff members, and district leadership in the implementation of the district emergency operations plan. The collaboration and the planning as a team are important aspects of keeping all SISD students and staff safe and prepared for any situation that may arise in our schools. The Socorro Independent School District has established a districtwide culture of school emergency preparedness through training and conducting emergency drills involving key members of our schools and community with a focus to Keep SISD Safe.”
Quarter 4 (FY-18)
Greg Brauer, Assistant Principal, Judson MS, Judson ISD
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
Mr. Brauer, an Assistant Principal at Judson MS in Judson ISD, has exceeded expectations in preparing and empowering the students, teachers, and staff on his campus in emergency preparedness. This year, he created an active shooter exercise for Judson MS and trained both students and staff. With support from the campus Principal, he arranged for all campus staff to attend CRASE training and collaborates regularly with first responders and community groups toward improving all campus safety drills and exercises.
“This year Mr. Brauer created a practice active shooter exercise for Judson Middle School. In preparation for this, he trained both students and faculty/staff, and even collaborated with a church in the vicinity, as well as with local police and fire. Doing this, Mr. Brauer empowered both students and teachers/staff to know what they can do to protect themselves.“
Quarter 3 (FY-18)
Boerne Independent School District
Staff/Faculty Development and Training
The Boerne Independent School District promotes its emergency preparedness as equally important to increasing academic achievement. Whether it is for commencement planning, a PTO fundraiser, a field trip, a football game, or routine school day activities, the Boerne Independent School District encourages the use of written action plans that are prepared in collaboration with campus and/or district emergency response teams and partners from their first responder community.
“Whether it is for commencement planning, a PTO fundraiser, a field trip, a football game, or routine school day, we encourage the use of written action plans that are prepared in collaboration with campus and/or district emergency response teams and partners from our first responder community.“
- indicates an overall recipient for fiscal year.