With attention focused on recent school violence, it may seem at times that schools are unsafe. The fact is that school shootings are extremely rare. In general, school assaults and other acts of violence have dropped by nearly half in the past decade. However, in spite of these positive trends, the Waco ISD has increased its efforts to make your children safe in school.

Each campus staff has developed its own Emergency Operations Plan. These plans address all types of emergencies, not only situations dealing with the type of incidents that have been occurring nationally, but also emergencies arising from natural occurrences such as severe thunderstorms and tornados. Building safety issues such as gas leaks and fire are also addressed.

Each campus has also designated its own crisis team. The team is in charge of keeping the plan current and discussing campus safety issues. This team also recognizes that if the Emergency Operations Plan is not known by all and practiced, it is of little value. The crisis team therefore makes sure that everyone on the campus realizes that he/she is responsible for the safety of the children and knows his/her role.

The Board of Trustees ensures that the District's Police Department is adequately staffed and trained to protect our children. The Board has recently approved:

• hiring of additional police officers
• replacing contracted security guards with District hired and trained guards
• allotted funds to modernize and expand the District's security camera system. The Board takes its responsibility as guardians of your children very seriously.

The WISD Police Department consists of a highly trained team of men and women. They are certified Texas Police Officers with the same authority as city officers. They receive as much, if not more, training than the average municipal police officer. In addition, since these men and women have chosen school law enforcement over any other, they have made a conscious choice to take the extra steps to become familiar with laws not commonly enforced by municipal officers. Most importantly, they have dedicated their lives to protect our children.

To the contrary, the WISD officers realize that the only way that we can have a safe school environment is to work as a team with every law enforcement department within the District's jurisdictional limits. Since WISD makes up the largest segment of the City's population, the District's officers have been included in training sessions with the officers of the Waco Police Department and both have utilized District facilities in tactical drills preparing should the worse case scenario occur. Both the District chief and the City of Waco chief talk regularly to assure coordination and are currently planning a joint training exercise.

You are an integral part of the District's safety team. If your child comes home with news about things happening in school that you find upsetting, call the principal of the school or a member of the WISDPD. During the day, you can reach the WISDPD at 752-0858. After hours, please leave a message and your call will be returned the next school day. In an emergency, contact the Waco Police Department. We will coordinate with us to address any situation you feel is troubling.

Additionally, you can make sure that your child does not have access to anything that he/she should not be bringing to school. Sometimes students, especially younger ones, find things at home and bring them to school for 'show and tell'. Occasionally these items could pose a threat to your child as well as the other students and have no place at school. Please be reminded that children bringing toy guns to school is a serious issue and will result in disciplinary action including referral to alternative school.