BULLARD, Texas — The Brook Hill School in Bullard is getting ahead of the curve as its leaders try to mitigate any threat there may be on-campus.
With just under a thousand staff and students (PreK through 12th grade), the last thing anyone wants to think about is their safety if there was a threat on-campus.
"We’ve been seeing this over and over. East Texas has been very proactive. We started nine years ago with our security plan here," said Brook Hill's Director of Security Bobby Brasher.
What started as a problem over vandalism in the area turned into a meeting with schools’ having common concerns of safety. The East Texas School Safety Task Force, a team comprised of dozens of individuals who meet every six weeks, was formed.
"We came together and put it together and started with six schools five years ago and now we have about 41 schools," Brasher said.
The group talks about what is happening in their schools, both public and private – including those who are home schooled.
"We share information, we share intelligence, what’s going on at one school and what they’re doing - best practices," Brasher said.
He added these meetings are key to mitigate any threats both inside and outside of the classrooms as students are diving more into the digital world.
"Cooperation is really key to staying on top of the latest trends and of what’s going on," Brasher said.
Threats that could include trends that bring danger to students, or threats made against a school online. If such a scenario were to happen, Brasher said they have a team ready to respond.
"We have embedded armed staff people who train with the Bullard Police," Brasher said. "They just got through going through the active shooter training with the Smith County Sheriff’s (Office) and they train on a quarterly basis."
Security cameras are also in place to keep track of the safety of all who walk into the school's doors.