August 9, 2019

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! As we begin the new school year, we want to emphasize that the safety of our campuses remains our highest priority. The District has a number of new and existing programs and features to promote the safety and security of our students, staff members and visitors, including:

• The School Resource Officer (SRO) program has been significantly expanded. We are pleased to announce that starting this year, each middle school and high school will be staffed with a school resource officer. Each senior high school will be staffed with two school resource officers, as well as an additional contract peace officer patrolling the campus during the school day. SROs have received additional training in tactical response to active violence incidents.  
• Uniformed peace officers in marked patrol vehicles will patrol elementary schools during the school day, and the SRO at each middle school will make regular visits to their feeder elementary schools each week. We’re also introducing the “Blue Plate Special” to invite uniformed, on-duty police officers to have lunch at elementary school campuses.
• Starting this school year, all three senior high schools will operate under enhanced access controls, with state-of-the-art public address systems that are integrated with door controls and automated lockdown features. Also, each senior high campus now has an emergency notification system to rapidly alert students and staff of emergencies by cell phone and networked computer monitors. Campus safety monitors, who are in radio and phone contact with law enforcement officers and campus administrators, have been added to each senior high school to provide an additional measure of security.
• Students in grades nine and above are required to wear a student ID badge while on campus and on district buses, so that it is easier for campus staff to determine if a person is out of place or not authorized to be on campus. 
• During the first week of school, all students in grades three and above, and all campus staff will complete a training video on the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and the emergency actions of Lockout, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter. Students and staff at each campus will also participate in a series of emergency drills during the first two weeks of school, as well as regularly throughout the school year, to promote emergency readiness.  
• The district’s anonymous tipline is available to students and parents to report concerns involving safety, mental health and other issues via the Plano ISD Mobile App or any internet-connected device. Our “See Something, Say Something” video that includes instructions for the Plano ISD Mobile App and tipline is available here:

• The district’s drug detection canine team will make regular visits to campuses.
• Each campus is equipped with an emergency radio to facilitate district-wide communication during an emergency. 

We would like all students and parents to remember – safety and security is a shared responsibility. Compliance with safety and security protocols, and prompt reporting of concerning behavior, threats or similar concerns to law enforcement or a trusted adult are vital to the safety and security of our students and campuses. 

On behalf of the Plano ISD Safety and Security team, have a great school year.