Clear Creek ISD has completed 86% of its intruder detection audit, or IDAs, throughout the district and has had to remedy nine doors throughout the entire district based on audit findings.

What you need to know

The Texas School Safety Center, or TxSSC, provides safety and security information through research, training and technical assistance for K-12 schools, according to the center’s website. Through Region 4, the TxSSC conducts comprehensive IDAs to assess the security measures of school campuses on an annual basis.

IDAs consist of the following:
  • Intruder access check, in which an auditor attempts to enter the building unannounced
  • Exterior door audit, in which an auditor ensures every exterior door is locked and functional
  • Weekly door sweep log checks, in which an auditor checks a log conducted by a district official who checks exterior doors on a daily basis and reports any issues found
Approximately 34 out of 45 schools have completed its IDAs throughout the district, said Brian Palazzi, the director of the Safe Schools Department at CCISD. Palazzi at the meeting declined to specify which schools that have not completed their IDA.

Through these audit findings, nine doors were found to need remedies. The majority of these doors were maintenance doors and boiler room doors, in which both don’t lead into the schools, Palazzi said.


Palazzi said work orders for these doors were put in immediately, and the custodial and maintenance department took up to two days to fix them.

The intruder access check and weekly door sweep log checks had perfect ratings with no corrective findings, Palazzi said.

Another detail

CCISD also implemented a door ajar alarm for every exterior door that is left propped open throughout the district two years ago, Palazzi said.


When a door is propped open for an extended period, an alarm will go off, and the district’s Safe and Secure schools department, local police and principals are notified of it and its location, Palazzi said.

CCISD is the first district in the state to implement this system, Palazzi said.

Quote of note

“Over the last five years, safety has taken a different role, and it’s more of a collaborative effort rather than just our office or the police officers,” Palazzi said. “Campuses have done a great job of [having the approach], ‘We need to make sure this is done every day. We need to make sure the door is cleared behind us.’ Because having a zero intruder rate—that’s not by chance. That has to be a collaborative team effort, and it has been.”