Student and Staff Safety

All visitors must register with the front office before having access to the building. This is currently done with the Raptor System, which checks federal offender databases.

All staff, middle school and high school students wear ID badges while on district property and at district events.

We have close to 4,300 cameras to monitor activity. These cameras are on the interior and exterior of every school and allow staff at the district security control center to monitor activities in and around buildings on a 24-hour basis.

Captured video images have aided investigations into criminal activities in and around our schools and reduced vandalism.

Each school has a secured entrance vestibule to screen visitors before entering the building.

Exterior building doors are remotely controlled and monitored, as well as having propped door alarms. This allows for quicker response time in the event of an emergency where doors need to be accessed or locked.

In addition, staff are trained to teach with their classroom doors locked and closed.

The district partners closely with the Garland, Rowlett and Sachse police departments. We have 45 armed school resource officers from our tri-cities police departments patrolling GISD campuses.

These officers provide security, counseling and education. See the School Resource Officer page to find SRO contact information for each campus.

Our district partners with the I Love U Guys Foundation and follows the foundation’s Standard Response Protocol.  This protocol provides a common vocabulary for response across the district and among community first responders. Supporting materials for the protocol have been distributed to all Garland ISD facilities and staff has been trained in each responsive plan of action. 

Those responses are:

• Lockdown
• Secure
• Hold
• Evacuate
• Shelter

Each campus conducts a variety of emergency preparedness training sessions, such as:

• Shelter (weather)
• Evacuation (to include fire drills)
• Lockdown

Public-address (PA) systems allow us to make emergency notifications to students and staff at our campuses.

The district has a robust system in place where key administrators are informed of an emergency situation.  Parents and other stakeholders can also be informed within minutes through the use of Skylert (School Messenger), the district's website, GRS-TV and social media.

The goal is to quickly and accurately communicate essential information to first responders, district staff, parents and community members so the safety of children is maintained throughout an event.

We conduct random searching, mainly at the secondary level. These searches, using a handheld metal detector, range from the random selection of vehicles, rooms, buses, parts of the building and could include adults who are present. Students entering the school may also be searched.

The searches are conducted by school administrators, district security staff, contracted K9 teams, and, when appropriate, local law enforcement.

The goal of each search is to deter anyone from bringing illegal or prohibited items into our schools.

This plan encompasses many issues designed to prepare the district for a variety of emergency events. School crisis management teams discuss these issues throughout the year to be prepared to respond in a timely and accurate manner should the need arise.

The Texas Education Code Ch. 37.108 requires that districts audit buildings and resources at least once every three years, with the results of the audit reported to the school board and the state at the end of the three-year cycle.

In May 2018, Governor Gregg Abbott released an action plan to help schools improve the safety and security of their students. The report outlined several strategies to enhance security. See how we are meeting and exceeding the safety standards across the state on our Governor's Plan page.