To ensure school communities are safe, supportive places for students, educators, and families, campuses, districts, and the state should implement the following changes:
State Policy Recommendations
- Expand youth-focused training to all school police officers, not just those in larger school districts. Ensure all officers are aware of any important strategies to prevent them from triggering or misinterpreting a disability-related behavior.
- Ensure that research-based behavior threat assessment trainings are available to all school districts in the state and that school districts are implementing the programs with fidelity.
- Instruct the Texas Education Agency to collect and regularly publish data showing police-students interactions.
- Ensure that law enforcement resources are not used to address routine discipline issues and are instead reserved for true emergencies and school safety threats.
- Require educators to attend Mental Health First Aid training.
- Provide funding for school districts to hire counselors, social workers, school psychiatrists, and other mental and behavioral health specialists.
School District Policy Recommendations
- Create behavior threat assessment teams for each campus. The teams should be comprised of teachers, counselors, social workers, administrators, and other staff who are able to evaluate student needs and determine the appropriate and proportional response to threatening behaviors.
- Encourage educators and school administrators to attend trainings and implement school-wide positive behavior programs and approaches like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Restorative Practices.
- Ensure that any resources devoted to school safety are used on research-based approaches that emphasize prevention and the maintenance of positive school climates.
- Ensure that law enforcement resources are not used to address routine discipline issues and are instead reserved for true emergencies and school safety threats. Include rules and expectations about the appropriate use of law enforcement resources in the Student Code of Conduct.
School Campus Policy Recommendations
- Implement school-wide positive behavior programs and approaches like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Restorative Practices to make sure that students and adults feel safe and supported.
- Involve students, parents, and educators in discussions about what school safety means to them and implement relevant research-based solutions.
- Create an oversight committee, comprised of parents, students, and educators, to ensure that students feel safe and supported, to assist in the hiring and review of school-based police officers, and to monitor and make recommendations related to campus climate.
- Ensure that law enforcement resources are not used to address routine discipline issues and are instead reserved for true emergencies and school safety threats. Include rules and expectations about the appropriate use of law enforcement resources in any teacher training materials.
- Ensure that administrators communicate the roles and responsibilities with parents and other caregivers.