GARLAND ISD EXPANSION OF SECURITY, TECHNOLOGY, AND THREAT ASSESSEMENT CAPABILITIES

Garland Safer Schools Project

Garland Independent School District (GISD) is requesting grant funding for a comprehensive school safety effort – the Garland Safer Schools Project. The project will implement critical school safety technologies statewide, including:

Anonymous Reporting System (ARS) with two-way text and media exchange
Panic Escalation for life-threatening situations
Threat assessment digital case management and training
Professional development and training for GISD staff on these improvements

This multi-faceted communication and training system will be designed to fundamentally transform how our 71 schools approach campus safety by building trust through resources and encouraging students to use the system to prevent school violence and mitigate mental health crises. Through user-friendly software solutions, students, school staff, and parents will actively participate in the process of improving school safety.
 

The strategies included in the Garland Safer Schools project represent evidence-based practices and nationally-recognized approaches proven to dramatically reduce campus violence. These measures are desperately needed in Texas, as the state is a top 10 state of concern for incidences of school threats and violence. Last year alone, GISD recorded 445 violent or criminal events on its school campuses.
 

To address this campus safety crisis, GISD is requesting $700,883 in STOP grant Category 2 funding to procure and purchase a seamless technology package to make anonymous reporting, panic escalation, and threat assessment management and training available to all GISD schools.

As the second-largest public school district in the Dallas region, GISD has 55,000 students attending 71 different schools. The Garland Safer Schools Project will bring life-saving school climate transformation services to thousands of K-12 students in a state with some of the highest rates of school violence nationally.