Use all tools to keep schools safe

In 2019, Texas lawmakers enacted school security measures that lacked teeth and adequate funding. The state’s lax gun laws allowed a deeply troubled 18-year-old to purchase assault weapons and ammo in May. Then law enforcement failed to save the 19 students and two teachers he brutally murdered.

There are so many failures at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that it is natural to focus on the most egregious. But even the smallest decisions weigh heavy in mass shootings.

Before the next shooting, schools must better fortify facilities and update active shooter protocols. No school official can claim a shooting could not happen in their district.

Uvalde Consolidated ISD had extensive school security protocols and training, yet it wasn’t enough May 24. An effective lockdown could have saved more lives. Instead, the shooter easily walked through unlocked doors.

During Tuesday’s Senate special committee hearing,

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath and others detailed renewed focus on incident response, facilities access control and behavioral threat assessment.

The alert system is critical. Part of the Uvalde school district’s security effort is a silently activated mobile panic alarm. Houston-based Raptor Technologies, which serves more than 90 percent of Texas public schools and 35,000 schools across the U.S., provides the system.

The Uvalde shooting is believed to be the first time the alert system has been deployed in a mass shooting, but some

Robb Elementary teachers have said they never received the alert or it was delayed. Some said they later found it in spam.

State Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, an emergency room doctor, asked during the Tuesday hearing why there wasn’t a code system for announcements like in hospitals. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, shared concerns from a fourth grade Robb Elementary teacher.

The teacher posted in a private Facebook group that she and some others heard gunshots before getting the lockdown notification. Although she later found the alert in her spam folder, some teachers said they never received it, she said.

“That system failed us terribly,” the teacher told me, saying she thought the intercom system would have made a difference.

It’s unclear if Uvalde CISD protocol also called for an intercom announcement. School officials have not responded to my repeated requests for interviews and information.

In reply to the post, another teacher said she went into lockdown to the sound of gunshots: “The system should be tossed out and never used again.”

But David Rogers, spokesperson for Raptor Technologies, told me the emergency management alert app did what it is designed to do. He gave me a demo and provided a timeline: At 11:32 a.m., within one minute of the shooter entering the school, the principal pressed a red button on a phone app to initiate the alert to cellphones, computers and tablets.

“We’ve spent a really significant effort in terms of building a highly reliable platform that does what it’s supposed to do. And in this case, that is what happened,” Rogers said, adding the district had no complaints.

During the hearing, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw recommended a more centralized alert system. He’s correct. Schools shouldn’t only rely on the notification app. The app can be integrated with panic buttons, strobes and sirens, Rogers said.

Lockdown announcements via intercom are crucial. Technology can fail. Some teachers may not have their device settings correct. They are also busy and often discouraged from looking at their phones or computers during class.

Discontinuing the use of Raptor’s emergency alert product, which costs about $1,800 per year for districts, wouldn’t be the best move. Many staff got the alerts. Schools must utilize every tool they can get, not just one or the other.

For lawmakers and school leaders, there is nothing more urgent than securing schools.

Screenshot Some say this was not received or went to spam.