News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

North Texas Schools Review Safety Plans After Newtown Shootings

Rosa Say
/
Flickr

Friday’s horrific Connecticut school shooting  has led North Texas education officials to review their own safety plans.   

Desiree Coyle works for White Settlement ISD, a school district that is small, like Newtown Connecticut’s. Coyle says after the 1999 school shootings in Columbine, Colorado,  White Settlement  started beefing up security.

“We developed a flight team where we have teams of people - counselors, nurses, secretaries - who receive the annual training and are ready to go to other schools in the event of a situation.  We obviously have our own police department that can respond to any kind of situation quickly.”

Coyle says White Settlement, like many other districts, requires driver's license photo ID’s and name badges. She says employees need to be on the lookout.

“If you see anything that is out of the ordinary, then you need to report it immediately. Don’t hesitate to let us know because it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Coyle says the district has also worked to tell the community these more restrictive measures are in place to keep kids safe.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.