Texas Governor Orders Unannounced, Random School Intruder Audits

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered a state school safety group do begin conducting random, unannounced school-intruder detection audits. The order came as part of a multifaceted plan to harden schools in the wake of last week’s Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Governor Abbott called on Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) Director Dr. Kathy Martinez-Prather to carry out a series of actions designed to increase the safety of school children and faculty across the Lone Star State, Breitbart Texas reported. One step calls for the center to audit schools’ abilities to detect a campus intruder.

“Among other reviews, your team should begin conducting in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts,” the governor wrote in a letter to the center. “Staff should approach campuses to find weak points and how quickly they can penetrate buildings without being stopped.”

The governor also charged “the TxSSC, in coordination with the TEA, to develop and implement a plan to conduct random inspections to assess access control measures of Texas school districts.

The governor listed five action items for the TxSCC. Those include:

1. Ensure their School Safety and Security Committee meets to review their Emergency Operations Plan and address any campus safety needs. This includes reviewing their Active Threat plan.
2. Ensure the School Behavioral Threat Assessment Team is trained and has reviewed procedures for each campus.
3. Ensure that all staff and substitutes are trained on their specific district and campus safety procedures and that all drills are scheduled before the start of the next school year.
4. Conduct an assessment of their access control procedures, such as single access points, locked instruction room doors, visitor check-in procedures, exterior door locks, etc.
5. Complete these efforts by September 1, 2022, and certify this data to the TxSSC by September 9, 2022.

“If a school district fails to satisfactorily submit an EOP, they are required by state law to hold a meeting to notify the public of their noncompliance,” Abbott warned. “If they fail to do that, the TEA can take over school leadership and ensure the district takes these responsibilities seriously. I will work with TEA to hold accountable any ISD that is not in compliance with these standards.”

“The tragedy at Robb Elementary School last week requires us all to do more,” Governor Abbott stated.