CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Robstown, Ingleside, and Sinton ISD’s shared with 3NEWS how technology and communication will be key in their safety protocols. Districts are on the same page: but each in their own way.
Corpus Christi ISD is the largest school district in the Coastal Bend and their students return to the classroom Tuesday, August 9.
The district is making sure that every campus is safe and secure.
“I’m sure everyone has seen the list the governor has put out. We are completely compliant with the list,” said CCISD Police Chief Kirby Warnke. “In fact, most of the things that are listed on there, we’ve already done.”
Warnke says some of those things are single-point entry, fencing around the perimeters and using vestibules. In addition to that, the doors will be locked throughout the day.
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“Members of my team will be doing walkthroughs of all the campuses checking exterior doors we’ll also check classroom doors for functionality,” said Warnke.
Chief Warnke says the safety measures do not stop there.
“We’ll be adding, on top of our cameras, firearm protection software which will allow us to see someone with a firearm prior to them entering the building,” said Warnke.
Warnke says thanks to previous bonds, the district has been able to keep up with enhancing campuses.
“The glass will stay in the pane so if someone came in and tried to break through it or shoot through it the glass doesn’t go away. What that does is it buys us time,” said Warnke.
Warnke makes sure that his team trains consistently and closely with local law enforcement.
“So, in the event we have a multi-agency response, we each know what the expectations are of the other person,” said Warnke.
Schools like St. Pius don’t have district police like CCISD, but they too work with the same agencies.
“We also meet with CCPD every year and we do the drills. They come here in person, and we do a drill, and we meet and evaluate what we have in place and make it better every single year,” said Principal Beth Hinojosa.
The school already has some measures in place, but St. Pius doesn’t have bonds to help so they rely on grants and fundraisers.
“There’s a Kennedy Foundation, we were fortunate this year to receive a large grant from them, we’re going to use that to up our security,” said Hinojosa.
This allows them to add another layer of security.
“One of the things we’ve added this year is we do have a security guard during our mass this year,” said Hinojosa.
West Oso ISD is also adding a similar layer of protection
“It sounds simple, it’s not going to cost hardly any money and it’s called Parents on Patrol,” said West Oso ISD Superintendent Dr. Conrado Garcia.
Dr. Garcia says he wished they could do more when it comes to safety and security enhancements.
“We’re the poorest district in the City of Corpus Christi,” said Dr. Garcia.
Dr. Garcia adds that because they don’t have the same amount of funds as other districts, they were hoping for extra assistance.
“I was under the impression that, as a school superintendent, as a district, we were going to receive a lot of money from the state to work on doors, to work on windows, to work on other safety items we could use in the school,” said Dr. Garcia. “So far I haven’t seen one penny come our way and here we are about to open school.”
Without extra dollars the district can only do so much.
“I’ve had to be very creative to make all this work, but we will make it work and we will be safe,” said Garcia.
Aside from any obstacles, each one of these districts is doing what they can with the resources they have.
3NEWS reached out to Governor Abbott's office who said the state will provide $105.5 million to support school safety and mental health initiatives.
Abbott’s office did not specify how much funding would go to schools or which schools in our area will be receiving that money.
Here is the full statement:
“Governor Abbott took immediate action to address all aspects of the heinous crime committed in Uvalde, including issuing six directives to make schools safer and working with Texas legislative leadership to provide $105.5 million to support additional school safety and mental health initiatives. Of the $105.5 million, some of that funding is slated to go directly to schools and some to state agencies to support Texas schools and their employees, such as the $17.1 million for silent panic alerts which TEA will post soon. Other funding, such as $7 million for rapid response training by the ALERRT Center or $5.8 million to expand TCHATT, will make resources available to schools to ensure increased school safety for the upcoming school year.
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