Shiner ISD
The Shiner Gazette
Moulton ISD
The Moulton Eagle

Schools discuss proactive approaches to student safety concerns

  • File Photo of Shiner Schools
    File Photo of Shiner Schools
  • Photo by Bobby Horecka
    Photo by Bobby Horecka
  • Moulton students practicing ALICE drills in 2019. Photo by Bobby Horecka
    Moulton students practicing ALICE drills in 2019. Photo by Bobby Horecka
  • Moutlon High School students review different ways of protecting themselves in case the worst should ever darken their doors in what they call ALICE drills. Here, students get below the windows so they can't be seen from anyone outside the classrooms, as the teacher leads a diuscussion on why that might be important. Photo by Bobby Horecka
    Moutlon High School students review different ways of protecting themselves in case the worst should ever darken their doors in what they call ALICE drills. Here, students get below the windows so they can't be seen from anyone outside the classrooms, as the teacher leads a diuscussion on why that might be important. Photo by Bobby Horecka

    With the awful images of Uvalde still fresh on everyone’s minds, both Shiner and Moulton school board members took a good hard look at ways they could improve their respective campus safety and security measures when they met for their regularly monthly meetings this month.

    Over at Moulton ISD, superintendent Renee Fairchild said she was working closely with school maintenance crews over the summer to tackle several such security enhancement projects. One of those involved securing grants to improve their campus security camera systems.

    More than a dozen new cameras have already gone up around the various school buildings that make up their campus, with more still coming. She is also working closely with her board to try and improve fences and other physical barriers around the school, which has proven a lot more difficult than one might think

    “Most of our school buildings here in Moulton were originally designed with an open campus model in mind,” Fairchild said. “When you start looking at ways to keep outsiders out, it can get extremely tricky, especially when you start dealing with things like historic buildings like we have here in Moulton.”

    Shiner ISD superintendent Remschel said he, too, knows all about enclosures. While most of his campus buildings have a good many years still before they would even be considered for historic purposes, making sure exterior doors stay closed to outsiders is a constant challenge at his campuses.

    Remschel said was also working closely with maintenance crews over the summer to help bolster the various safety measures the school already has in place. They’re looking at things in Shiner like installing a few more cameras to eliminate blind spots and improve locking mechanisms on all the exterior doors found around the campuses.

    Remschel said he and his board were also looking at ways to improve communications, both within the school as well as with parents and others in the community.

    “School safety and security measures were a focal point throughout our discussions when we met Monday,” Remschel said. “We’re quite literally looking at all options at our disposal so that we stay as proactive as humanly possible on our campuses because nothing is more important than the safety and security of the children that parents entrust to our care each day.”

    All options, indeed. 

    Remschel said one idea that seems to be gaining traction in his district is something his board is calling the Shiner DPS (Dad’s Protecting Students) program. “It would be exactly what it sounds like,” he adds, “having fathers of our students come into the school after work to help keep a better eye on things here from a school security standpoint.”

    Although a favorite among members of his board, nothing has yet been formalized when it comes to getting the Shiner DPS program off the ground. 

    Much must be considered still, Remschel said. Everything from deciding the sorts of qualifications the school might require of said dad’s before they could take part in such a program. Similarly, what sort of training or evaluation might those individuals need? What sort of liability would such volunteers face?

    The state, likewise, will soon send out several such policy improvement measures. They’ll be going out statewide within the next month or two, Remschel said.

    “You can rest assured we’ll be studying that document closely and implementing whatever measures we think will work best for our campuses and student body” Remschel said.

    Fairchild agreed.

    “This is all about staying proactive,” she said. “We’re all making plans for something that, honestly, I hope none of us ever has to use.”

    But if Uvalde taught us any one thing, Remschel said, it’s that acts like these can and will take place wherever people gather.

    “Despite the best laid plans, however, no system is foolproof,” Remschel said. “Our goal is to come up with the best plan possible. It’s all about what’s best for our kids after all.   It might involve something as simple as a software upgrade or installing improved radio and camera systems.”