TEXAS — As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took heat over the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a lot of parents grew fearful of taking their children to school. Many just wanted to be assured that their children were in good hands when sending them off to learn.

When the public came to know the details surrounding the response to the attack, many shared their disappointment with school security and law enforcement. Families of the victims called for an investigation into the involved law enforcement agencies, which the Department of Justice took up. It was in June 2022 when Abbott ordered state school security and education officials to facilitate “unannounced intruder” audits.

The Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) at Texas State University led the Intruder Detection Audits, pulling in data from regions in the Panhandle/South Plains, Piney Woods/Prarie, Mountains/Basins, Hill Country and Gulf Coast. “The IDA process includes evaluating the security of campuses based on a variety of physical and procedural criteria highlighted in this report. Districts are tasked to report back to the TxSSC with coordination from TEA to verify the status of corrective actions in response to inspection findings,” according to TxSSC.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Educational Service Centers (ESCs) coordinated with TxSSC to conduct the inspections from September to December. Within those four months of inspections, 2,864 were completed. Data showed that 95.3% of Texas schools didn’t allow the intruder unauthorized access, whereas 4.7% did.

In the 4.7% of campuses with unauthorized access, the inspector was more likely to gain access in as little as two to five minutes. Some campuses showed findings that inspectors gained unauthorized access in just one minute. The inspector used the secondary door 86.9% of the time as an entrance point for unauthorized access.

Upon entry, 45.6% of the time, no one would stop the inspector. Data indicated campus staff were more likely to intervene than law enforcement or security personnel.

After the TxSSC sends out audit results to school districts, they’re given 45 business days from the original date of notification to take corrective action and provide relevant documentation. From their findings, districts will have to complete the following tasks:

District School Safety and Security Committee Plan

• Committee meets to discuss the IDA and develop a plan to train all campus staff on the area(s) of corrective action

In-Person Training for Staff

• Committee holds staff training(s) to review the findings of the IDA and invite staff feedback on how to improve procedures in the area(s) of corrective action

Committee Meeting Minutes

• Committee provides meeting minutes to document the reporting and discussion of IDA findings, as well as training date(s) for staff

School Board of Trustees Meeting and Public Notice

• At the next regularly scheduled board meeting, the board notifies the public of the completed IDA, any corrective action(s), and the timeline/plan to address the corrective action(s)

School Board of Trustees Meeting Certification

• The board provides the meeting agenda to reflect the presentation of IDA findings and corrective action(s) planning

“By the end of the school year in June 2023, the TxSSC has a goal to conduct inspections across 100% of school districts and 75% of campuses across the state,” according to the TxSSC.

To review the 2022 Intruder Detection Audits from the TxSSC, click here.