Northside ISD Superintendent John Craft briefed trustees Aug. 8 about the district's plan to increase campus-level safety to meet House Bill 3 requirements.

The background

HB 3, approved in the regular session of the 88th Texas Legislature this past spring, mandates at least one armed officer be posted during classroom instructional hours at every public school.

HB 3 also calls for school district peace officers or school resource officers to undergo active shooter training at least once in each four-year period, among other requirements.

The impact

NISD officials also plan to add 20 police officer positions; the district already has more than 100 officers, Craft said.

Craft said NISD will continue to station two officers at each high school and one officer at each middle school. However, additional officers will allow Northside to increase its rotation of patrolling officers visiting each elementary school daily.

“We’ll be more closely adhering to House Bill 3,” Craft said.

According to Craft, NISD’s other safety measures include mandatory student IDs at all high schools, numbering of exterior doors for quick reference in an emergency situation, routine door checks, and use of silent panic alert technology that locks all exterior doors and notifies law enforcement if a potential threat surfaces.

“We’ll continue to work to not only expand and extend these programs, but communicate particularly to students and parents of the available resources they have at their fingertips,” Craft said.