Austin Schools Seek to Reassure Parents
The Austin school district says its police force is prepared for emergencies. Photo by KUT News
The Austin school district police force took time Friday, in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school shootings, to reassure parents that the district is doing all it can to keep campuses safe. The district already has armed officers at all middle and high schools in Austin, with regular armed patrols at elementary schools
“We are very prepared,” said district police Capt. Christian Evoy. “We’ve been doing it for years. We’ve had a lot of different crises and shooting at different schools, and we’ve been preparing for years. We always can learn to do things better, but I can tell you we have really been preparing for these types of things.”
Each school knows only the front doors should be unlocked during school hours, Evoy said.
“Each one of our schools has a crisis management plan,” he said. “That plan outlines guidelines for different critical incidents that staff and students can follow in case we have a situation at a school. I just want the parents to know that we, the school district, have taken a lot of measures to make sure that our students are safe.”
Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says flags in the district will be lowered to half-staff at the request of President Barack Obama.
