Azle ISD is committed to making our schools the safest places for our children and the adults who serve them. We have several safety and security measures in place and have a strong working relationship with the City of Azle, Azle Police Department, Azle Fire Department, and other law enforcement agencies.
Prior to the recent HB 3 mandate, the Azle ISD Board of Trustees made the commitment to have licensed peace officers at all Azle ISD campuses. The district has 13 Azle ISD Police Officers. In addition to the Azle ISD Police Department, the district contracts with the Azle Police Department for two School Resource Officers (SROs), for a total of 15 officers for the 2023-24 school year. Azle ISD Police Chief Darren Brockway leads the Azle ISD Police Department and oversees all district safety operations and truancy prevention. Azle ISD officers bring a combined 336 years of experience to the district. View officer assignments for 2023-24. The Azle ISD Police Department is located at 483 Sandy Beach Road, next to FJH stadium and across from Hoover.
Safety-related measures added for this year include a CrisisAlert system. The CrisisAlert system includes wearable push-button badges for ALL employees, including substitutes. When a button is pushed three times, the system notifies the campus response team of the exact location of the staff member and when a button is pushed repeatedly, a campus lockdown is initiated. When a campus lockdown or other standard response protocol measure is initiated, everyone on campus is notified via strobes in classrooms and hallways, along with automatic screen takeover of devices connected to our Wi-Fi.
Also new this year, any safety or emergency-related notification from the district will begin with “Hornet Alert”. This is being done so that recipients know that an important safety or emergency announcement is to follow. These text messages will be sent in addition to email messages. Examples of “Hornet Alert” messages include inclement weather notifications, emergency response notifications related to situations on, or in the vicinity of, an Azle ISD campus, or other events that may pose a threat on or near an Azle ISD campus.
“Hornet Alert” text messages will be sent to district employees and parents through our automated messaging service using the contact information on file with the district. Users have the right to opt-out of receiving text messages at any time. "Hornet Alert" messages will also be posted to district social media pages; however, the commenting feature may be disabled to protect student and staff safety.
Additional safety measures Azle ISD has had in place prior to this year include:
- Access controls requiring visitors to "buzz in" at all campuses
- Secure entry vestibules at all campuses
- Safety film shatter-proof window protection at main entrance areas of all campuses
- Raptor Visitor Management System to verify and check-in all campus visitors
- Classroom doors locked during the school day on all campuses
- Interior and exterior security cameras at all campuses
- Threat Assessment Protocol, including a threat assessment team, at both the district and campus levels
- District Safety Committee which meets before school starts each year and at least once per semester
- Emergency training and response plans in place for all campuses including practice drills and exercises for students and staff members
- Secondary students (grades 7-12) are required to wear student IDs
- Vape detectors installed in all restrooms on secondary campuses
As a reminder, Azle ISD has adopted the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) provided by the Texas School Safety Center as our emergency response procedures for all schools and facilities district-wide. More information can be found on our Safety & Security website.