By Kelli Ainsworth

The Katy ISD police will officially launch the Safe Schools Parent Academy Program in late September. The program was piloted last summer and was so successful the Police Department decided to make the program permanent.

Safe Schools Parent Academy was born out of Leadership Katy ISD, a program that allows interested parents to get a behind-the-scenes, close-up view of the district's institutional processes beyond classroom instruction.

Each year, Leadership Katy ISD hosted sessions that allowed parents to visit the KISD Law Enforcement Center on Franz Road and meet some of the officers. Parents were allowed to ask questions about the department and school safety in general. Mark Hopkins, who has served as KISD's chief of police since 1989, said parents always had a number of questions and wanted to spend more time on the topic of school safety during the sessions.

"Every time [we host a session], parents want more time here," Hopkins said. "There are more questions than there is time for. We want to give [parents] a little more time ... and we [can now] provide that academy for them."

Hopkins said there were about 15 parents who participated in the pilot program for the academy last summer. Participants attended sessions with KISD police officers every two weeks. This year, Hopkins said, the academy will meet once a month.

"We're going to spread it out and have a larger curriculum once a month," he said.

In addition to educating parents on a wide range of topics related to school safety, the program provides a two-way communication channel between police officers and parents, said Denisse Cantu, KISD media relations manager.

"The parents really get an opportunity to tell our chief of police what they want to learn more about, how they perceive something to be working or not working," Cantu said. "I don't think many districts offer that type of extensive two-way communication."

In addition to the Safe Schools Parent Academy, KISD police officers present safety programs in the schools and community on topics, such as bus and bike safety and truancy abatement.

For more information on the academy, call 281-237-4000.