Boerne ISD students will have another venue to help keep them safe this academic year and beyond as the district launches its “See Something, Say Something” campaign.
The BISD Communications and Safety and Security departments have put together the campaign as a tool for students at all district campuses. It encourages students, staff and the Boerne ISD community to report any potentially dangerous or suspicious activity.
The campaign is part of an overall strategy that increases the safety and security of all BISD campuses and buildings. The Star reported in June that the district will have school resource officers at all campuses this year, and other measures are being taken to increase the safety of students and staff.
Information from the BISD Communications Department states the “See Something, Say Something” campaign features several facets, including a promotional video, informative and colorful posters and the use of the campus morning news shows and announcements and more. The promotional video features BISD students, principals, teachers and school resource officers as actors to help spread the message.
“The ‘See Something, Say Something’ awareness campaign is a vital piece to help to keep our schools safe,” BISD Director of Communications Bryan Benway told The Star. “We wanted to increase the awareness of our students and staff and help make it as easy as possible to report dangerous or suspicious activity.”
Benway said the goal of the campaign is to increase awareness on campuses and to teach students and staff how to report dangerous or suspicious activity. Once the activity is reported, campus and district administrators immediately begin investigating.
Benway said “suspicious” activity includes, but is not limited to, a person hanging around outside a school fence or gate, a parked vehicle in which no one ever exited or someone carrying a large duffle bag that seems out of character or out of place “First and foremost we encourage students to tell an adult immediately if they see or hear about dangerous or suspicious activity,” Benway said. “Numerous times over the years we have received a tip, some anonymous and some not, from a student which led to the discovery of dangerous activity that could potentially put our schools in danger.”
The promotional video was filmed at Boerne Middle School North and was scheduled to debut prior to school starting. Posters strategically will be placed around each BISD campus with 20 at each high school, 15 at each middle school and 12 at each elementary school. The QR code on the video and posters will lead people directly to the anonymous reporting page, otherwise known as a P3 report, on the BISD website.
“The anonymous P3 reporting tool works, and we encourage students to continue to use it,” Benway said.
Besides at the campuses, the campaign will be promoted in district and campus newsletters, social media and websites.
“We are very proud and thankful to the students and staff who appear in the promotional video,” Benway said. “They were professional and did a wonderful job getting the message across.”
After the May Uvalde school shooting in which 19 students and two adults were killed, BISD and other school district across Texas worked on increasing security measures. Besides having a SROat each campus, Boerne ISD has spent the summer focusing on safety needs.
“The big story of the summer is safety and security,” BISD Superintendent Tom Price said during the June board of trustees meeting. “Uvalde put a new focus on it. We are focusing on our safety needs and making sure we are where we need to be at each campus.”
Price said the district worked on its safety processes and reviewed all safety procedures “to look for ways to do it better.” He said there will be more training for all areas of safety, not just an active shooter, including bus accidents, gas leaks in district buildings and making sure all students are safe and they get to their parents and homes.
Price also said the district is looking at doors to make sure they’re working properly and having auto locks on them.
“All measures will be completed by the time the kids come back,” he said in June, adding that “multiple eyes” at each campus are checking all safety measures and “looking for those cracks.”
Classes get underway at BISD campuses on Wednesday.
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