School safety was the main point of discussion during Thursday's meeting of the Pleasant Grove Independent School District Board of Trustees.
Superintendent Jason Smith gave a presentation on the results of an online survey he conducted to poll the district's residents on how they thought administrators should address school safety issues.
Seventy-nine percent of those participating in the Facebook security survey have students who attend school in the district. The survey asked their thoughts and opinions on building safety, arming teachers and staff members and additional active-shooter training.
Survey results show building security was the greatest concern, along with a lack of security personnel and a lack of training for teachers and students.
"It is something our community is concerned with, and that is something we are addressing," Smith said. "There were very high numbers to train and arm teachers and staff."
He said they would not take immediate action on the survey.
"First of all, I don't think we take this and make any knee-jerk reactions. We look at it, review it and see what we can glean from it based on the information that we have."
Survey results include 54 percent in favor of training and arming staff, with 29 percent voting in favor of hiring an additional school resource officer.
Smith said they have met with the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and all of the area school districts to have a common language during an active-shooter situation.
"There's a lot of things we just don't have answers for," he said. "I feel like if we're working together, communicating together, we'll solve that."
He said all of the schools are looking at using the same training for their staff so everyone can be on the same page.
"Whatever training that is, we're all going to use the same thing," he said. "Whatever training TTPD is going to use, DPS is going to use. That's very important, because we know here in Texarkana, something like that happens, you're going to have everyone show up. If everybody is speaking the same language, using the same vocabulary, knows where everyone is, that's an important thing."
Increased security measures are included in the $19.9 million bond the board is asking voters to approve on May 5. Those funds would allow the district to place live-feed cameras in the school buildings, which could stream to administrators' cellphones and to law enforcement.
"I think the some of it was surprising, but overall, it was not. It hit areas we all know," Smith said of the survey. "The biggest hurdle we face as a district is, 'How do we change our mindset?'"
He said the first step is requiring everyone to have badges and name tags.
"That's going to be the biggest challenge," Smith said.
In other business, the board approved the 2018-19 school calendar. The first day of school is Aug. 13, winter break will be held Feb. 18-22, spring break is scheduled for April 15-19, and the last day of school is May 23, with early release.
The board also accepted several donations.
Red River Lumber donated $5,000 worth of fencing materials for the baseball outfield at the middle school and baseboard materials valued at $427.20 to be used at the elementary school. They also accepted a donation from Smith Redi Mix for $500 worth of concrete at the varsity baseball field, and Texarkana Surgery Center donated a stretcher valued at $5,000 for health/science classes.
The board approved a shared-services agreement with Liberty-Eylau, Redwater, Maud and Texarkana ISDs for an autism grant. With it, the districts may mutually participate in student, staff and family-focused activities including the delivery of professional development related to instructional best practices for students in prekindergarten through third grade. It will also offer parent training and meeting opportunities and family-involvement events.
In addition, the board approved a shared-services agreement with the districts for the Grow Your Own grant to increase the quality and diversity of the teaching force.
"These opportunities are only going to benefit our students and our staff," Smith said. "I think the credit goes to TISD's leader, Paul Norton. He's the one who made that happen."
The PGISD Education Foundation gave the district a check for $32,423.26 during Tuesday's meeting.
"We're thrilled we can do that and give back to our campuses each year," Foundation President Mark Damron said.
The board will hold a special meeting at 1 p.m. March 28 to consider and take action on bids. A town-hall meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 5 in the Pleasant Grove High School cafeteria.
The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. April 12.