SAFETY AND SECURITY
This chapter reviews the Austin Independent School District's (AISD) safety and security functions in three sections:
- A. Discipline Management
- B. Security
- C. Safety
C. SAFETY
Principals, directors, and other immediate supervisors are responsible for developing proper safety attitudes and properly educating all personnel under their direction about safety rules and regulations to be observed in their schools and departments. A safe school district effectively manages its resources and aggressively plans for future situations. Responsive planning for safety requires accurate and up-to-date information on the current and future status of conditions in the district's schools and facilities. Safety inspections must be routine and thorough, procedures must be in place to facilitate the quick reporting of emerging threats, and responses to potentially dangerous situations must be prompt.
FINDING
As a result of the 1993 Texas School Performance Review of AISD, the district created a School Safety and Emergency Resource Manual which serves as a template for crisis management plans and addresses the critical incidents that can occur in any of the AISD campuses. The district was assisted by the Texas Association of School Boards and the Texas Education Agency in creating their comprehensive manual.
The manual provides a framework for each campus to develop its own safety and crisis management plan. Each campus plan is designed to protect students and staff as well as facilities from natural or operational disasters or from violent or criminal behavior occurring on school property.
The district also developed an emergency procedures flip chart, a wallet card and rolodex cards as living documents to be updated each year. In addition, guidelines, checklists, crisis management techniques, sample forms and phone numbers are all components of the plan. Principals and assistant principals make the manual and flip chart available in the office for easy access by all teachers at each campus.
AISD has evaluated all campus crisis plans and is making added revisions to enhance safety measures at all schools. In addition, AISD's campus police department have assisted schools in conducting assessments of the security and safety needs of their campuses in order to establish effective crisis management plans.
COMMENDATION
AISD's school safety and Emergency Resource Manual is an effective method for informing and training campus leaders about how to respond to crisis situations on their campuses.
FINDING
AISD's locksmiths and the electronic physical security branch are under two separate supervisory structures. Electronic security, which includes fire and burglar alarms, access control, and video surveillance systems, is handled by the Life/Safety Services section of the AISD Police Department. The locksmiths and associated carpentry workers are under the division of Construction Management through the Maintenance Services Center. Inadequate communication has led to some confusion between the Police Department's Alarm Section and the Construction Management. In one situation, equipment was placed in a building that was subsequently retrofitted as a part of the 1996 bond program. The system had to be re-installed after the bond renovations were complete. Clear and timely communication between electronic security and construction to assure the proper timing of work and to ensure that the two are working in concert with each other could have avoided this costly error.
Recommendation 159:
Establish formal lines of communication between the Life/Safety Services section and the Maintenance Services branch.
By establishing regular monthly or quarterly meetings of the two groups, and sharing information about upcoming projects, these two departments can avoid costly mistakes.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Construction Management and Maintenance Services and the Chief of Police establish a schedule of regular meetings to share information about upcoming projects. June 2000 2. The director of Construction Management and Maintenance Services and the Chief of Police identify areas of mutual concern in safety and maintenance services and prepare recommendations to the superintendent to improve district operations. September 2000 and Ongoing FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation could be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING
AISD hired employees, through its 1996 bond program, to install and upgrade new alarm systems in schools. In addition, the district has a regular Alarm section whose staff primarily maintain fire alarm systems in existing schools. As the bond program alarm staff has fallen behind schedule, the regular Alarm Section staff has been called upon to assist with bond program-related work. This situation has caused the regular Alarm Section staff to fall seriously behind in their required duties.
Rather than hire employees, many school districts release bids to an outside contractor for new and upgraded alarm projects. The use of outside contractors often entails a maintenance warranty that can alleviate the workload on existing Alarm Section staff by allowing them to focus their efforts on existing alarm systems.
Recommendation 160:
Develop and release a standard request for proposal for future construction projects that requires the vendor to provide basic alarm and security systems maintenance and service calls.
The Alarm Section should be allowed to bid on these projects, and district purchasing and finance personnel should assist the Alarm section to prepare the proposal to ensure that personnel prepares a bid for services. All costs are identified so that bids are comparable.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Construction management, with assistance from the purchasing director, develops a request for proposal for new upgrade work to provide basic alarm and security systems maintenance and service calls. August 2000 2. The director of Construction Management evaluates the proposals and submits the recommendation to the board for approval. October 2000 3. The board approves a proposer and awards a contract. November 2000 FISCAL IMPACT
It is often more cost-effective to contract for such services. However, the fiscal impact cannot be determined until the technical scope of the project is developed and bids are received and evaluated.
FINDING
AISD's Maintenance Department, which runs the locksmith function, lacks any functional authority over the issuance of keys. Principals issue keys for their respective campuses. After a principal or a designee makes a request for keys, that request becomes the last record of what happens to those keys.
In studying losses of school equipment and vandalism in schools, TSPR found that most thefts either occur during the school day or are committed by individuals with key or electronic card access. A study of the district's key control system found that there are virtually no controls on keys used anywhere in the district. This situation was noted in TSPR's 1993 audit as well, but no corrective measures were taken.
The accepted security standard is that when 5 percent of all keys are lost or unaccounted for, an organization should require that all locks be changed or re-cored. This standard would be difficult for AISD to maintain due to its lack of a standard for locking systems. This lack of standardization has led to increased costs for parts and maintenance as well.
Recommendation 161:
Establish controls for the lock and key systems.
Since AISD has no key control system in place, it is impossible to identify who has been issued a key. A key control system would require a receipt from each end user. The receipt would be signed and controlled by the Maintenance Department's lock supervisor. The receipts would be entered into a key control system, covering every key made, copied, or otherwise provided throughout the district. This is a simple and very cost-effective system, and several brand-name products on the market often are quoted in standard construction documents.
At the end of the 1999-2000 school year, all AISD keys should be collected and numbered and receipts made for each of them. The numbered keys then could be returned to the schools with a receipt attached. Each school employee should be required to sign a receipt before receiving a key. A set of backup keys could be issued to each school, again requiring a receipt. A police report should be required for each lost key or request for a replacement key. A standard of no more than 5 percent loss of exterior keys should be maintained to ensure accountability. If a school exceeds the 5 percent standard, it should pay for a replacement exterior key system. All lost exterior keys should immediately require a new alarm code change for the campus. After three years, the 5 percent rule should be applied to interior keys as well.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of the Maintenance Department develops a key control policy and presents it to the board for approval. June 2000 2. The board adopts a policy to require adherence to a key control program. August 2000 3. The director of the Maintenance Department purchases a key control software package and requires a key control program with key logs and signed receipts. June 2000 4. The director of the Maintenance Department collects all keys not being used during summer recess, numbers them, and prepares receipts. June 2000 FISCAL IMPACT
Other than a minor cost of $500 for the key control package, this recommendation could be accomplished with existing resources.
Recommendation 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Establish controls for the lock and key systems. ($500) $0 $0 $0 $0 FINDING
AISD's alarm and access control systems are not integrated, which results in excess work for dispatchers and the Alarm Section staff. AISD's physical security system design is based on a set of four functions: the locking system, the alarm system, the access control system, and a video system. For a security system to work effectively, all of these functions must work in concert and with available reporting and response capabilities. One critical factor is the integration of the alarm and access control systems. If these systems are integrated, the functional requirements of the dispatchers would be reduced (reporting capabilities) from three separate systems to two (i.e., alarm/access control and fire).
Recommendation 162:
Develop a plan to integrate the alarm and access-control systems.
AISD should develop a plan for the integration of the alarm and access control system by using only the access control system, which can handle both missions. This would reduce maintenance and service costs for both systems as well as reducing the workload on dispatchers.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Maintenance develops a plan to integrate the alarm and access control systems. June 2000 2. The director of Maintenance seeks approval of the plan from the superintendent. July 2000 3. The superintendent approves the plan. July 2000 4. The director of Maintenance standardizes this plan for use in bid packages. August 2000 FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation could be implemented with existing resources.
FINDING
AISD has not adopted Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), the most cost-effective physical security program available. In widespread use since 1990, CPTED lends itself to community planning, especially for schools. The benefits of CPTED include the creation of "ownership" of specific areas such as school grounds and the development of pedestrian and vehicle traffic patterns, which also enhance the ownership of specific areas. Fences, pavement treatments, art, signs, good maintenance and landscaping are some physical ways to express ownership. While existing buildings cannot be moved, their security still can be enhanced through the use of CPTED principles.
Borders can be used to separate school grounds from problem areas such as shopping malls and to block quick escape routes both for insiders coming on to the school's property and students leaving it. Traditionally, fencing has been used merely to enclose an area, but it can also be used to channel people into traffic patterns that are more easily controlled by a minimum number of people.
Other borders might be created by the strategic placement of portable school buildings. These buildings should be placed in a manner that enhances the students' sense of ownership, reduces line-of-sight limitations, and maintains a suitable distance from the perimeter of the school grounds. Properly located entrances, exits, fencing, landscaping and lighting can direct both foot and automobile traffic in ways that discourage crime.
The Florida Department of Education (DOE) has developed a set of standards that incorporate CPTED principles in all construction projects. The Florida DOE found that until they formally incorporated the standards as part of their construction documents, the standards were not used properly.
Recommendation 163:
Incorporate Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles into all new construction and renovation projects.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The director of Construction Management trains at least two individuals, one from the police department and one from the Construction Division, in CPTED design. July 2000 2. The director of Construction Management develops a standard CPTED statement for inclusion in all construction requests for bids. September 2000 FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing training resources. The police-training corporal already attends meetings at which CPTED training is available. The National Crime Prevention Council publishes Designing Safer Communities: A Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Handbook and has Internet links to other information sources.