SAFETY AND SECURITY
This chapter reviews the safety and security of the North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) in the following sections:
Providing a safe school require more than security services. It requires a cooperative community effort by school districts, parents and local governments. Districts that provide a safe environment for students and staff develop comprehensive policies, procedures and programs that include elements of prevention, intervention and enforcement.
BACKGROUND
In its publication, Keeping Texas Children Safe in Schools, the Texas School Performance Review (TSPR) notes that the most effective districts have a safety plan that includes prevention, intervention and enforcement strategies. Effective programs include the steps shown in Exhibit 12-1.
Exhibit 12-1 Source: Texas School Performance Review, Keeping Texas Children Safe in Schools, January 2000.
Keeping Texas Children Safe in Schools
January 2000
Strategy Steps to Be Taken Prevention
- Know your goals and objectives: where your district is going and what you want to accomplish.
- Establish clear expectations for students, parents, teachers and administrators.
- Address warning signs before they turn into trouble.
Intervention
- Look for trouble before it finds you.
- Recognize trouble when you see it.
- Have individuals in the right place and at the right time to intervene.
- Have a plan of action appropriate for the occasion and practice it.
Enforcement
- Leave no room for double standards.
- Ensure that discipline management extends inside and outside the classroom.
- Alternative programs are not just a matter of compliance with the law; they are many students' last chance at success.
NFISD is located in Harris County and is an urban community located on the edge of the Houston city limits. The district boundaries fall in and out of the city limits. A community's crime rate affects its school district's safety and security. The Texas Department of Public Safety provided crime data to gauge the level of crime and violence in the immediate NFISD area. As Exhibit 12-2 shows, the crime rate in Harris County and the city of Houston is well above the state average.
Exhibit 12-2 Source: Texas Department of Public Safety, Uniform Crime Reports, 1997 through 2000.
Crime Rate Comparison: Harris County to State Average
1997 through 2000
Crime Rate
Per 100,000
Population1997 1998 1999 2000 Harris County 5,898.6 5,670.5 5,693.6 5,495.5 Houston 7,263.6 7,112.2 7,271.3 6,858.7 State of Texas 5,478.2 5,110.7 5,035.2 4,952.4 Student safety and security is the responsibility of parents, educators, taxpayers and the community. In an effort to improve school safety, the Texas Legislature set a number of safety and accountability standards for Texas schools.
State laws requires school districts to adopt a student code of conduct that defines inappropriate behavior and potential consequences. Students who engage in serious misconduct are no longer allowed in regular education settings and must be placed in disciplinary alternative education programs. Specific information about the arrest or criminal conduct of students must be shared between law enforcement and local school districts.
In counties with a population of 125,000 or more, school districts, the juvenile board and juvenile justice systems must establish a Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP). A JJAEP is under the jurisdiction of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and provides schooling for youths under the age of 17, who were sent to juvenile court to answer for serious criminal misbehavior.
NFISD has a Police Department. School districts are authorized under Texas Education Code (TEC) §37.081 to employ security personnel and to commission peace officers to carry out the requirements of the code's law and order subchapter. The TEC authorizes the board to set the scope and jurisdiction of commissioned peace officers who are on and off duty. By law, the chief of a school district police force is accountable to the superintendent and reports to the superintendent or the superintendent's designee.