Austin school fails to meet standards during school safety audit
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas State School Safety Center has conducted at least 12 intruder detection audits in Austin ISD, but so far one school has failed to meet its standards.
AISD would not release the name of the school or what issues caused the school to fail the safety check, but they did say they were working to address the issues.
Tabitha Perez has two kids in AISD, she says she welcomes the campus inspections, especially after the Uvalde school shooting.
”In the beginning I was kind of unsure and kind of scared to send them back to school,” said Perez.
With districts across the state putting an extra emphasis on school safety Perez says she feels much better these days, she even makes sure the school is locking their doors some days.
”It has been really good,” said Perez. “I come and check periodically on my lunch breaks to make sure everything is locked.”
Following the Uvalde School Shooting Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas School Safety Center to conduct inspections to make sure campuses are safe.
”It is a good thing for schools because everyone wants schools to be a safe place,” said Jason Stanford, AISD spokesperson.
AISD has had 12 schools audited so far with one school failing to meet standards. So, what happens to the school now?
”We fix the problem,” said Stanford. “That is what is great about this. We don’t get a grade, no one is trying to shame anything, we are just trying to find and fix problems.”
The Board of Trustees will now discuss the issues and come up with a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
”They are going to find out if there is a lesson to learn or if this was an isolated unrepeatable mistake,” said Stanford. “And we want to see if we can tighten up our training, tighten up our accountability, and use this to improve.”
The school that failed to meet the standards must complete corrective actions within 45 days of being notified.