Safety and Security
Established in the 2022-2023 school year, the Sanger ISD Police Department strives to keep our campuses a safe learning environment for students and staff.
In This Section
- Visitors on Campus
- Standard Response Protocol
- Safety Drills
- Loco Parentis
- Beginning of the Year Procedures
- Parents Partnering for Safety
- Threats
- Notice Regarding Refusal of Entry or Ejection and Appeals Process
- Tobacco Use and E-Cigarettes Prohibited
Visitors on Campus
Visitors on our campuses are welcome!
While we encourage visitors, Sanger ISD puts the safety of staff and students first. Please follow our visitor guidelines when attending a campus meeting, activity, or event. If a visitor does not have a visitor badge, they have been trained to direct visitors back to the office.
VISITOR CHECK-IN PROCEDURES
Ensuring the safety and security of our students is a top priority at Sanger ISD. We have implemented strict visitor procedures to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to our campuses.
Procedure for Visitors:
- Check-in:
● Communicate through the intercom and hold up identification to the camera which must show your photo, name, and date of birth.
- Check-in at the Front Office:
● Once you have entered the building, please proceed directly to the front office.
- Present Identification:
● Please present your identification card again to the front office staff. It must show your photo, name, and date of birth. Your identification card will be processed through our visitor management system.
- Visitor Badge:
● Once your ID is verified, you will be issued a visitor badge, which you must wear at all times while on school grounds.
- Check-out:
● Before leaving, return your visitor badge to the front office and check out.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we work to maintain a secure environment for all our students and staff.
Visitors wishing to observe a classroom:
- The form below must be completed and submitted to the building principal.
- Up to 45 minutes will be scheduled in advance.
- All observers will be accompanied by a building administrator.
- After an observation, a debriefing will be held with the observer and the campus administrator.
- All normal check-in and check-out procedures will be followed.
Visitor behavior (per 19 Texas Administrative Code, Section 103.1207):
- Identification will be required of any person on Sanger ISD school property.
- A school district administrator or a school resource officer may refuse a person to enter on or may eject a person from the property if the person refuses to leave peaceably on request AND poses a substantial risk of harm to any person.
- A person may also be ejected or refused entry if the person behaves in a manner that is inappropriate for a school setting for up to two years.
- Any person who is refused entry or is ejected from a Sanger ISD property will receive written notification of the terms that will be in place and written information explaining the appeal process.
Standard Response Protocol
A critical component of school safety is classroom response. Weather events, fire, accidents, intruders and other threats to student safety are scenarios that are planned and trained for by students, teachers, staff, and administration.
Sanger ISD has revised the safety program to include Standard Response Protocol - Extended. The Standard Response Protocol - Extended is based on these five actions. Lockout, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter and Hold. In the event of an emergency, the action and appropriate direction will be called through an announcement.
- Lockout- "Get inside. Lock Outside Doors."
- Lockdown- "Locks, Light, Out of Sight"
- Evacuate- "To the Announced Location"
- Shelter- "For a Hazard Using a Safety Strategy"
- Hold- "In your classroom. Clear the halls."
Students and staff will be trained and the school will drill these actions over the course of the school year.
Safety Drills
Safety drills are important to test plans and procedures to ensure our students and staff know what to do under any potential circumstance.
What, where, when and how to conduct oneself before an actual event occurs strengthens our schools. Drills are empowering and can create a culture of preparedness.
All visitors and District staff members will be required to participate in safety drills when on a campus.
Sanger ISD has regular safety drills on all campuses for:
- Lockouts - when there are threats or hazards outside of the school building.
- Lock-downs - when there is a threat or hazard inside the school building.
- Evacuate - called when there is a need to move students from one location to another.
- Shelter - called when specific protective actions are needed based on a threat or hazard.
- Hold - called when a situation requires that students remain in their classrooms or in another area, in order to keep hallways clear and away from an incident or situation.
Please see below the training that your students (and staff) will receive annually
Loco Parentis
The act of a parent sending their child/children to school removes their children from the physical control of that parent. While this act does not remove the responsibility of a parent for their child, parents share some of that responsibility with the school and the District. The legal term is called "in loco parentis."
So what does "in loco parentis" mean? This means that schools "assume custody" of students or "act in place of" the parent or "instead of" the parent while the child is in the care of the school. The act of a parent sending a child to school transfers authority for the students to the educators in that building. Schools become responsible for the education, discipline, and safety of the children in it's care.
The law further defines that the duty to protect students includes a duty to anticipate foreseeable dangers and to take responsible steps to protect those students from that foreseeable danger.
The safety procedures that the Sanger ISD has in place are to anticipate foreseeable dangers and to protect students from those foreseeable dangers. Safety procedures may change based on needs and newly identified concerns or foreseeable dangers. The care and safety of our students is the highest priority for all of our district and campus staff members.
Beginning of the Year Procedures
Elementary Procedures:
Elementary parents will be allowed to walk their students to their classrooms the first week of school.
Starting the Monday of the second week, parents will not be allowed to accompany their child to their classroom (except when a new student is enrolling).
This procedure is to ensure that our buildings are safe and secure the staff's attention is on the safety of our students and getting their daily routines started without distraction.
Starting the second week of school all parents will need to go through the normal check-in procedures through the front office when attending a parent conference or a school-sponsored event.
Parents Partnering for Safety
- Drop-off and pick-up students according to the regular school guidelines and schedule.
- Observe signs on all doors on your child's campus regarding access to the school building. Students or staff members are not allowed to open outside doors for visitors.
- Follow all campus procedures for signing in and out when visiting the campus.
- Inform campus staff when you are unable to pick-up your student within the regular school day.
- Talk to your student about school behavior and safety expectations.
- Make a safety plan for after-school pick-up, and walking to and from school. Having a safety plan for when students, of any age, are at home alone is a good idea.
- Discuss internet and social media safety behavior expectations.
- Support campus procedures and drill protocols to ensure your child is prepared for any crisis that may occur.
- If you have any questions or concerns about your child's safety on his/her campus, do not hesitate to contact the campus administrator.
Most important!
If you hear something, say something.
We must all take any threats of talk about harm to others seriously.
You can make reports by calling an administrator on your campus or filing an anonymous report through "Stop!t"
Threats
Safety is of the highest concern!
- Sanger ISD will take all threats of any kind seriously.
- Hear something, say something!!!!!!!
- The focus is on identifying early and providing proactive interventions.
- Everyone (i.e. parents, students, staff) is responsible to keep our campuses safe.
Thoughts of harming oneself - Students experiencing trauma or overwhelming sadness, who express thoughts of harming his/herself, will be referred to their professional school counselor. All Sanger ISD school counselors have been trained in an interview process with students and will offer an opportunity for the student to develop a plan of action. Parents will always be notified if there is a concern in this area.
Thoughts of harming others - All Sanger ISD campus administrators have been trained in a process when a student expresses thoughts of harming others. The first step in this process is to evaluate the immediate steps needed (if any) to ensure the safety of all students. Any parent whose student is directly involved in an incident will be notified.
Bomb threats - Sanger ISD follows a format recommended by the Department of Homeland Security when a bomb threat is received by phone, email, or a note.
Who can refer any concern regarding the safety of our students and staff?
- A student may self-refer him/herself
- Another student
- A parent
- Any staff member
- An anonymous report through STOP IT
Notice Regarding Refusal of Entry or Ejection and Appeals Process
Section 8 of the Sanger ISD District of Innovation Plan reads:
Removal of Unwanted Visitor Texas Education Code Section 37.105 applies to rejecting unruly guests from campuses and school events. In 2017 the Texas Legislature changed the law on how school administrators can eject unruly guests from school events. This applies to parents and community members, not students. Under the law, the guest must be given a warning before he or she is ejected. Upon ejection, the guest must also be given notice of how he can appeal the ejection.
SISD would allow designated staff members the authority to remove parents or visitors whose behavior is deemed inappropriate without warning or written notice.
In accordance with Texas Education Code 37.105 UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS: REFUSAL OF ENTRY, EJECTION, IDENTIFICATION -
(a) A school administrator, school resource officer, or school district peace officer of a school district may refuse to allow a person to enter on or may eject a person from property under the district's control if the person refuses to leave peaceably on request and:
(1) The person poses a substantial risk of harm to any person; or
(2) The person behaves in a manner that is inappropriate for a school setting and:
(A) The administrator, resource officer, or peace officer issues a verbal warning to the person that the person's behavior is inappropriate and may result in the person's refusal of entry or ejection; and
(B) The person persists in that behavior.
(b) Identification may be required of any person on the property.
(c) Each school district shall maintain a record of each verbal warning issued under Subsection (a) (2) (A), including the name of the person to whom the warning was issued and the date of issuance.
(d) At the time a person is refused entry to or ejected from a school district's property under this section, the district shall provide to the person written information explaining the appeal process established under Subsection (h).
(e) If a parent or guardian of a child enrolled in a school district is refused entry to the district’s property under this section, the district shall accommodate the parent or guardian to ensure that the parent or guardian may participate in the child’s admission, review, and dismissal committee or in the child’s team established under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794), in accordance with federal law.
(f) The term of a person’s refusal of entry to or ejection from a school district's property under this section may not exceed two years.
(g) A school district shall post on the district's internet website and each campus shall post on any internet website of the campus a notice regarding the provisions of this section, including the appeal process established under Subsection (h).
(h) The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section, including rules establishing a process for a person to appeal to the board of trustees of the school district the decision under Subsection (a) to refuse the person's entry to or eject the person from the district's property.
A person ejected from or refused entry to District property under this provision may appeal this action by filing an appeal under FNG(LOCAL) or GF(LOCAL) and shall be permitted to address the Board in person within 90 days of the commencement of the appeal if the grievance is not resolved at a previous level before the board considers the appeal.
The board's decision to grant or deny an appeal under this section is final and may only be further appealed under the applicable provisions of Texas Education Code 7.057.
Tobacco Use and E-Cigarettes Prohibited
Board Policy FNCD(LEGAL) prohibits students from smoking, using, or possessing e-cigarettes or tobacco products at a school-related or school-sanctioned activity on or off school property.
"E-cigarette" means an electronic cigarette or any other device that simulates smoking by using a mechanical heating element, battery, or electronic circuit to deliver nicotine or other substances to the individual inhaling from the device or a consumable liquid solution or other material aerosolized or vaporized during the use of an electronic cigarette or other device. The term does not include a prescription medical device unrelated to the cessation of smoking. The term "e-cigarette" includes:
- A device regardless of whether it is manufactured, distributed, or sold as an e-cigarette, e-cigar, or e-pipe or under another product name or description; and
- A component, part, or accessory for the device, regardless of whether the component, part, or accessory is sold separately from the device.