A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Austin ISD Police Department 5th Annual Trunk or Treat event! 🎉 If you missed it, don’t worry! We’ve got some awesome photos and a video from the day.
In honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month, Superintendent Segura stopped by Palm Elementary School this week, to give a special Golden Rave award to a fantastic Dyslexia Interventionist Jessica Gomez. Check out her story. 🌟
It’s School Safety Week and we’re dedicating this whole newsletter to how we keep our students and staff safe.
Now, let's get started…
1 Big Thing: How Austin ISD Police work with our students
Did you know: All Austin ISD Police Officers go through training to work specifically with children?
This training includes learning about the adolescent brain and de-escalation techniques to help students stay where they need to be — in the classroom.
We know that sometimes the sight of a police officer on campus can cause hesitation or fear.
Our officers focus on community-based policing to build relationships and help students and staff know they’re there to help.
What’s next: You’ll start seeing a series of videos with our Police Chief Wayne Sneed and students from the district on our social media to help our youngest students and their families understand the role of Austin ISD Police in our schools.
In honor of School Safety Week, we want to give extra attention to our Standard Response Protocols, including how campus administrators and Austin ISD police team up to keep your kids safe.
We have five types of SRPs that are activated in the case of a critical incident on our campuses: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter.
We’ll outline each of the SRPs below and show examples of what communication may look like if your campus experiences a critical incident.
A Hold means staff and students to remain where they are and continue business as usual. A ‘Hold’ would usually be called to clear the hallways for a medical emergency, physical altercation etc.
Example:Earlier today our campus was placed on a Hold for approximately 30 minutes because of a medical emergency. During a Hold, we keep the hallways clear and students continue their work as usual.
A Secure is used when there is a threat on the outside of the building. It means all staff and students to get inside, lock outside doors and conduct business as usual.
Example: Today our campus went into Secure for approximately eight minutes while police investigated a report of suspicious activity in the community. During a Secure, all activities continue inside, but no one may leave or enter school buildings.
A lockdown means staff and students stay behind a locked door, shut the lights off, remain seated, remain quiet and out of sight in case of a threat inside the school.
Example: [School] is in Lockdown due to a report of an armed person on campus. Police are responding. During a lockdown, staff and students stay behind a locked door, turn off the lights and remain quiet and out of sight. Please do not come to campus. We will update you as soon as we know more information. We will update every 20 minutes.
Practice responsible use. Only use approved software on school devices and at home. Check in regularly with your child and remind them to get permission before downloading any software or programs.
Protect your information. Never give any personal information to anyone you meet online. Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication when available.
Think before you post. Talk to your child about online privacy, including the risks associated with sharing personal information publicly on social media and how sites and apps might use personal data.
Get involved. Families can support healthy media and tech use at school and home by encouraging children to reflect on their media habits and build digital citizenship skills. Get tips and more at the link below!
Report inappropriate online behavior. If you believe you are a victim of bullying, sexual harassment or dating violence, report this information to a campus administrator or other adult immediately.
Find tips, links and more on Cyber Safety, and learn more about what Austin ISD is doing to protect our community online.
This week the hosts of the TV show Hoda and Jenna visited Austin High School and part of our team had the opportunity to help with the preparations and it was a fun time.
Find me in the last photo :-)
It’s important to always remember where we came from, our high schools, and to be able to go back and support them for the next generations.
This weekend I will be attending my son's school Halloween event, but I also hope to rest.
For languages other than English and Spanish, we use an AI-powered translation tool. As a result, there may be some contextual inaccuracies or other errors. We apologize for this. Please email translation@austinisd.org if you are in need of clarification. To change your preferred correspondence language, contact your school's front office.
