As the school year starts on Aug. 10 for Dublin Independent School District, school safety is on everyone’s minds.
The Dublin Police Department, along with DISD’s Guardians, are ready to protect this school year.
Dublin ISD and the city of Dublin have employed two dedicated school resource officers this year – Brandi Hoffman, who will be the SRO for Dublin Elementary and Dublin Intermediate and Jacob Ivie, who will be SRO for the Dublin Secondary campus.
Officer Hoffman has been an SRO for six years with experience at Hico PD and Meridian PD, along with Dublin for the past year.
Officer Ivie has been an SRO for four years with DISD.
With the school shooting recently in Uvalde, school safety has been on everyone’s minds including DPD and DISD.
The district is continuing with its guardian program, where educators can carry at campuses and undergo training with local officers.
“We train hand-in-hand with our guardians,” Ivie said. “They are a great asset. They undergo a lot of training.”
“I would happily let them cover my back at any time,” Hoffman said.
This year even more Guardians have signed up for the program since DISD had an influx of new teachers last year and educators must be here a year before they are eligible to sign up for the program.
Area law enforcement entities are also doing walk-throughs with DPD in order to know layouts for security purposes.
A focus on doors has also been implemented for the year based off district mandates and new state requirements for school safety after Uvalde.
Not only will officers be checking exterior doors throughout the day, teachers are also specifically assigned to the task.
“Security has essentially doubled,” Hoffman said. “People have to go through the offices and check in. No exceptions will be made.”
Classrooms will also remain locked. As visitors check in to the schools, identification will be ran though a background process to check for sex offenders and violent offenders.
Along with school safety, officers are reminding drivers that school zones will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the secondary school and in the afternoon for dismissal, and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. surrounding the elementary and intermediate.
There will be no leeway for those on their phones in school zones or not having children in a car seat or seatbelts on.
At the high school, drivers need to aware of one-way signs for the pull through area surrounding the pond. Drivers are also reminded to pay attention to buses that are stopped to let students off and on, and know that it is illegal to pass a bus (unless on a divided roadway with a median) with its stop signs out.
School is not just about serious items for school resources officers and both SROs really enjoy spending time with the students and teachers.
“I really have fun with the little ones,” Hoffman said, especially where field trips are concerned. At field day last year, Hoffman was able to bring some of her own animals for the kids to interact with which was a highlight.
“I just enjoy the chance to interact with them,” Ivie said.
This year, there will be two officers at every home football game and one officer for every home volleyball and basketball game.
“We really appreciate the community’s help with school safety,” Hoffman said.