Dallas ISD Hosts School Safety Discussion

In the wake of the mass school shooting in Uvalde last month, parents gathered at Rosemont Lower Elementary School in Dallas ISD last week with questions and concerns about the plans to keep their children safe.

“You think, I drop my child off at school, you expect them to be safe, you expect to see them at the end of the day, and just the thought of not having that, whatever we’re doing, it’s not enough,” said Jennifer Tarulli, a mother of two children in Dallas ISD. “It’s not good enough.” 

The Dallas ISD Police Chief John Lawton and other district and state leaders, such as State Rep. Jessica Gonzalez and State Rep. Rafael Anchia, were in attendance to address school safety.

The goal of the gathering and similar listening sessions is to inform parents on what safety measures are already in place and let them know what changes are being made, as well as to gather parental input, according to Dallas ISD Police Chief Lawton. 

“Within DISD, we have a lot of camps and special programs,” said Lawton. “We have definitely stepped up our presence at those camps and those locations.” 

On Monday, a gunman was fatally shot after he entered a summer camp where more than 100 students were in attendance at Duncanville Fieldhouse. No injuries were reported.

According to Lawton, Dallas ISD is also constructing a security operation center where school officials can observe cameras in real-time. As a result, if an event occurs, school district police will be able to respond more quickly.

On June 1, Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to Kathy Martinez-Prather, the Texas School Safety Center director, to request that she begin conducting random door inspections and intruder drills at schools.

Lawton claims that Dallas ISD has “been conducting intruder checks for years now.”