Frisco ISD Approves Safety Measures, New Student Ranking System

FRISCO, TX — A Monday evening board of trustees meeting in Frisco implemented some significant changes for the upcoming school year, including measures to step up school security and a new system that will no longer identify students by class rank.

Kevin Haller, Frisco ISD's Director of Security, addressed the board with a plan to tighten school security not by adding armed guards or metal detectors, but instead by increasing personnel.

The district intends to add five crisis counselors at Frisco high schools, in addition to instructional supportive personnel and an emergency manager, Haller said.

The district is also implementing the use of an application called "STOPit," which allows students to report suspicious behavior.

According to STOPit's website, "Everything about STOPit is designed to save you time and reduce your workload. STOPit streamlines your processes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of investigations with STOPit's case management system. STOPit is also a powerful deterrent. Students start thinking twice before making a bad decision. Fewer incidents translates into less work for you."

Haller said the app will give security officials an edge when it comes to investigating reports of suspicious behavior.

"Sometimes all we need is just a little more information to do a more thorough investigation," he said.

The district is also aiming to establish a high school student safety and security group, led by teachers, parents, community members, first responders and students. The group will meet regularly to discuss modifications to security protocol.

"The students are the ones that know what's going on at the campuses every day," Haller said. "If we can get them to trust an adult and bring information to us, we'll be able to get on it a lot earlier and actually reach out and help that child."

The district advises against arming teachers and marshals, one recommendation Texas Governor Greg Abbott made in his plan to tighten school safety.

"When the police respond, the only ones in their mind who should have a gun are the people that are going in to look for that shooter," Haller said. "If they have to clear a hallway, and there's a staff member of a marshal that has a gun, and they turn around, they're trained to take that threat out. Those are the reasons why we are not moving forward with arming staff."

Haller also advised against walk-through metal detectors, a fight recently taken up by several community members in McKinney who believe walk-through metal detectors would cut back on weapons in schools.

Haller, however, said he fears the detectors would lead to lines of students waiting outside of schools.

"The metal detectors — if we have them at the entrance, we're creating a group of potential targets for someone that wants to go in and do something terrible," he said.

Instead, the district will purchase handheld metal detecting wands to screen potential threats. Local police departments will help train school workers on the proper use of the wands, Haller said.

Board member Katie Kordel proposed a plan to remove class ranks from student transcripts, proposing to instead rank students by quartile alone.

Per state law, students in the top 10 percent of academic rankings will still be identified by their ranking, but other students will not.

"Our students have shared that there is a culture of over-competition related to GPA for class rank, where the focus can often be on performance in the class based on the specific percentage, but also choosing specific courses that are not necessarily of interest to the student or in alignment with their postsecondary goals, but based on which classes will yield the highest GPA points," Kordel said.

She went on to explain that colleges and universities are forced to take a "holistic approach" when screening students for admission whose transcripts do not show a definitive ranking which, Kordel said, "is almost always to the benefit of our students."

While this change will take affect in the 2018-2019 school year, another proposed change will allow students to eliminate grades from certain art and athletic classes in their final GPA, a change Kordel said will incentivize students to explore their interests rather than solely taking classes to help raise GPA.

Under the proposed plan, scores from dual-credit courses taken at Collin College will also factor into students' final GPA.

After Kordel's presentation, a student tearfully addressed the board, citing a fear that students will become even more academically competitive after the policy change.

"I know that you probably... had your minds made up before you came here today, but I really want you to think and look into your hearts," she said. "If you know the mission of Frisco ISD, it's 'know the name and need of every student.'"

She went on to say she believes the policy change goes against Frisco ISD's educational mission.

"If anything, it's counterproductive. Now kids are going to be even more competitive to try to fit into that 10 percent. They're going to want to know their ranks," the student said.

Kordel responded, reiterating that the decision was made with the betterment of students in mind.

"Part of the reason is the feedback that we've gotten from students. Not everybody may agree with the upcoming changes, but we're hoping this is actually for the betterment of our students and their college application process," Kordel said over the audible sobs of the student. "...We really have thought long and hard about it."

The motion passed seven-to-zero.

Also on the agenda was the approval of a new budget for the 2018-2019 school year, which can be read in its entirety online. The budget was approved seven-to-zero.

You can watch the full meeting online here.

Image via Shutterstock