Liberty Eylau ISD to Offer Staff Active Shooter Training Course

Liberty Eylau ISD has announced the school Emergency Operations Plan. The plan is to provide information on how to respond to emergency incidents by outlining the responsibilities and duties of the district, the school, its employees, parents/guardians, and students.

The EOP is evaluated by the district annually and is updated and submitted to the Texas School Safety Center and the School Safety Committee on a regular basis. The components of an EOP cover a wide variety of threats with various levels of risk.  Some of those components are listed below.

FUNCTIONAL CONTENT

• Bomb Threats
• Chemical Accident – Outside or Inside the School
• Death of a Student or Staff Member
• Earthquake
• Fire/Explosion
• General Security
• Reunification
• School Bus Accident
• Severe Weather/Tornado
• Shelter-In-Place
• Lockdown/Enhanced Lockdown (Deny Entry/Active Shooter/Intruder)

We are all familiar with severe weather and fire drills, and more recently lockdown drills. These drills are practiced throughout the school year by each campus in coordination with emergency agencies such as the fire department and local law enforcement.

In more recent times we have experienced the sensationalism of active shooters in public schools. Preparing for such a threat is not an easy task for a school district and each district has its own unique campus situation. The Uvalde situation has prompted the governor to address the active shooter incidents. At Liberty-Eylau ISD many of the directives issued by the Governor have already taken place or are in process.

Currently, the school has its own police force, a Chief of Police, and three officers and is in the process of adding a fourth officer. Response time is critical in dealing with emergency situations so having the protection of five highly trained officers to cover four main campuses and one alternative campus places the district in a very good situation to handle a variety of emergencies when needed. Officers are assigned to campuses where they can monitor the daily routines and build relationships with students and staff.

The addition of an officer was approved by the school board based on recommendations from Chief Carl Brewer after the reviewing of the Emergency Operations Plan. Other changes are also coming as the district is upgrading and adding additional campus secure access entryways. Additional cameras are also being added to cover some identified blind spots. Other additional safety measures will include wanding at various school events that are open to the public.

Active Shooter Training Course

Training is always the key to ensuring that the plan can be carried out properly. They will be providing an active shooter training course for all staff. The training will be campus-specific as each campus has its own unique situation.

The Liberty-Eylau community needs to know that we take the safety and security of our students and staff very seriously. While we have had internal meetings with campus administrators in reviewing our EOPs, we will be having an open public meeting of our emergency operations team so members of the community may attend and provide any concerns they may have.

That meeting will take place on July 26^th at 6 pm in the Liberty-Eylau Central Office board room.