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Protecting our Students: School and Firearm Safety
Rep. Koop pictured at Governor Abbott's press conference on his school and firearm safety action plan.
It is my most important priority as your state representative to protect our students, and it is my duty as an elected official to commit to ensuring that all of our students are safe in schools.

Following the devastating events on May 18, 2018, at Sante Fe High School, Governor Abbott announced his School and Firearm Safety and Action Plan. Read his full plan  here.  The plan covers three major themes: making schools safer places, identifying threats in advance and resolving them, and improving mental health assessments and services. Governor Abbott's plan was a product of a series of roundtable discussions between school administrators, law enforcement, survivors of mass shootings, and members of the community impacted by gun violence.

That same week, I met with the superintendent of Richardson ISD, Richardson ISD school board members, Richardson ISD personnel, and the Richardson Police Department to review the governor's plan and to discuss ways to improve school and firearm safety in our district. Governor Abbott's office was also at the meeting via conference call to receive comments from RISD and RPD. 
Funding: This year, Texas will receive more federal dollars under the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant Program (SSAE). This year, Texas' SSAE funds will increase by $62.1 million. The Governor's office is working with the Department of Education currently to determine guidelines under which this new funding may be used. Their usage will be prioritized for school safety purposes. My office will be working with TEA to keep you updated on this new grant money. 

New Training Available at No Cost to Schools:  
  • The Governor's Criminal Justice Division has provided a $1.25 million dollar grant to ALERRT to deliver 75 classes this summer, training approximately 2800 students, most of whom are law enforcement. This training will be provided free of charge for any participating school district for the remainder of 2018. The goal is to ensure that all school security officers receive similar training so that they are as prepared as possible for active shooter incidents. Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) has trained more than 105,000 police officers nationwide and over 86,500 civilians in active shooter scenario-based training.
  • The Texas School Safety Center will deliver a workshop-based course to assist schools with the process of creating their multi-hazard emergency operations plan. This will be provided at no cost to schools. Read more about the Texas School Safety Center here. 
  • The Texas School Safety Center will partner with the I Love U Guys Foundation to provide training in the Standard Response Protocol and the Standard Reunification Method for school personnel. The I Love U Guys Foundation offers training and best practice models to schools and districts. Training in the standard response protocol will be delivered to school personnel at no cost to districts.
  • The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will work with the local mental health authorities to increase the number of Mental Health First Aid training opportunities for educators during the summer of 2018. Mental Health First Aid is an eight-hour, evidence-based program designed to develop the skills to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness.
  • The Texas School Safety Center will partner with SIGMA Threat Management to deliver training on Behavioral Threat Assessment to school personnel. The school threat assessment model developed by the United States Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education provides a how-to guide for school personnel, law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals, and community members on how to set up and operate school threat assessment teams. 

Mental Health: It's important to not only identify students with mental health needs, but ensure these students are receiving mental health services and support.  
  • The Governor's plan references the Telemedicine Wellness Intervention Triage and Referral (TWITR) Project, which identifies students at risk for committing school violence and intervenes with those students before acts of violence occur. Students are identified by trained school staff and screened for risk-based behaviors by Licensed Professional Counselors in schools, and then they are provided psychiatric services by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) over a telemedicine link. This is especially effective in rural areas where there may be a shortage of nearby mental health services. The Governor is committed to provide the TWITR training to ten more school districts across the state.
  • Richardson ISD and my office are researching models to improve the way students with mental health needs are identified and set up with the appropriate services. 

Police Presence at Schools
Governor Abbott stressed the importance of police presence on campuses and increased collaboration between ISDs and police departments. Richardson PD and Richardson ISD already have a successful model in place for this. They have informed my office that having the same officers on a campus on regular shifts allows the police to form a positive relationship with students. 

Digital Technology to Prevent Attacks: 
  • The iWatch Texas is a statewide system housed at the Department of Public Safety that enables citizens and police officers to report  threat indicators and other suspicious activity through a mobile application, over the internet, or by telephone confidentially or anonymously. The Dallas Police Department also uses an iWatch system. A standalone "iWatch Texas" app will launch on June 7, 2018 to include students, teachers, and parents. This will ensure that essential information related to school threats is linked to other reported threat data in or outside of the school campuses across the state and that this information is acted upon.
  • Another idea the legislature will be looking at is expanding the usage of fusion centers to monitor social media for potential threats. Fusion centers serve as key locations for information sharing between state, local, and federal law enforcement entities. 
A Protective Order Law To Keep Guns Out Of the Hands of Those Mentally Unfit to Bear Arms, while Ensuring Second Amendment Rights are not Violated: 
Governor Abbot urged the Legislature to study this topic, and my office is working with our police departments and local district attorney's offices to study gun violence restraining orders. As of March 2018, five states have laws that allow guns to be temporarily taken away by a judge if they believe individuals pose a threat to themselves or others. Texas law currently has a system where victims of family violence can seek a protective order that protects victims and the due process rights of those they seek them against. Properly designed, emergency risk protective orders could identify those intent on violence from firearms, but in a way that preserves fundamental rights under the second amendment.

Other issues my office is studying: 
  • Improve state reporting to close gaps in federally required background checks for gun purchases
  • Mandatory teacher and counselor training on mental health and grief and trauma effects on students. 
House Committees Receive New Interim Charges on School Safety
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus further instructed House committees to study several issues related to school security and firearm safety. Two committees to which I am appointed to, the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee  on Public Education will be studying the following topics: 


Appropriations: 
  • Examine the availability of federal funding and Governor's Criminal Justice grants that may directly or indirectly improve school safety. Evaluate the potential costs of proposals identified by the Governor and House Committees related to improving access to mental health services for children, improved school safety, and enhanced firearm safety.
Public Education: 
  • Review the effectiveness of schools' current multi-hazard emergency operation plans. Determine any areas of deficiency and make recommendations to ensure student safety. Research violence prevention strategies, such as threat assessment, that are available for school personnel to identify students who might pose a threat to themselves or others. Identify resources and training available to schools to help them develop intervention plans that address the underlying problems that caused the threatening behavior.
  • Examine current school facilities and grounds. Consider any research-based 'best practices' when designing a school to provide a more secure environment. Review the effectiveness of installing metal detectors, cameras, safety locks, streaming video of school security cameras, and other measures designed to improve school safety.
I am committed to working with the community to find the most impactful solutions to these issues. Please e-mail my office with any feedback, suggestions, or concerns you may have at District102.Koop@house.texas.gov. I will continue to keep you updated on our work on school safety and mental health issues. I t is essential that parents, educators, school administrators, and the community come together to address these critical issues and ensure all of our students are safe. 
Contact us!  

I will continue to seek your support and guidance in addressing the fundamental issues facing our state. Now that I am back home in HD 102, I will keep you updated on any events happening in the district!

Please do not hesitate to contact my office with any questions or concerns.