JACKSONVILLE, Texas — Many families are preparing to send their kids into the classroom for a new school year. Meanwhile, school district security officials are enrolling in a new system launched by the Texas Education Agency named Sentinel.
According to the TEA, districts can upload school safety plans and records for statewide programs like vulnerability assessments through Sentinel. It’ll also serve as a resource for officials to interact with each other on safety protocols.
"It's huge in my opinion. I've always referred to it as a game changer," said Jacksonville ISD Chief of Police Bill Avera.
Avera is also the sitting president for Texas School District Police Chiefs’ Association. He said Jacksonville ISD is one of about 400 school districts in the state to have a police department with a chief. For those who don't, "often times, the duties fall to some administrator, or campus level officer, principal or assistant principal," Avera said.
As time goes on, district staffing changes. Avera said in the mix of all that paperwork related to school security can get lost.
"There'll be a little pocket over here and a little pocket over there and nobody knows where anything is," Avera said. "School districts will be able to upload all of their school safety material, policies, plans, and records they would need when district is chosen for a vulnerability assessment."
That's one of the main reasons why the TEA developed Sentinel.
"It's a one stop shop for everything safety. No longer do schools have to go to multiple locations to get information and or get information," said TEA School and Safety Chief John Scott.
The 88th Texas Legislature tasked the TEA with creating an online system for school safety information across the state. It’s been in the works for a year and a half.
"The law also requires each district once every four years to go under a vulnerability assessment," Avera said.
Scott said he hopes districts can use Sentinel as an additional school for school safety.
"It’ll help professionalize school safety across the state of Texas. There are a lot of security professionals out there, but as a state we didn’t have one way of doing things, one standardized method of doing school safety," Scott said.
The TEA said they've had over 4,000 authorized logins from users from across Texas districts. Sentinel is free for all districts and open-enrollment charter schools in Texas to use. The state agency assures the users that the system is safe.