MIDLAND, Texas — The Region 18 Education Service Center hosted the 2023 School Safety Summit Wednesday in Midland.
This is a free event that brings different groups involved with school safety together to help them better coordinate and become familiar with one another.
“So, we’re bringing together law enforcement, first responders, school administrators, school leaders, and those school leaders who support mental health and counseling. So the idea is to bring together those three groups, as well as community support, to work together to support safe schools, to learn from each other,” said Dr. Leigh Wall, former Superintendent for Santa Fe ISD.
Safety and security on school campuses was one of the main topics; particularly what the role of counselors, first responders and school administrators are when an incident takes place.
But active shooter situations weren't the only issue facing schools being discussed.
“As much as important as an active shooter situation is there are many things schools have to deal with on a daily basis. That includes parents who shouldn't be picking their kids up, which includes tornadoes, which include hurricanes, which you guys don't experience here necessarily. But there are many issues that we must deal with in our jobs and that's what we're here talking about today,” said Craig Miller, a school safety consultant with the Craig Miller Group.
Region 18 ESC hopes to have more summits like this in the future to continue encouraging everyone involved to come together and work to better prepare for whatever issues may arise in schools.