With a new school year three weeks away, Killeen ISD leaders assured the public that safety remains top priority.

Superintendent John Craft joined KISD Chief of Police Ralph Disher and School Safety Director Chuck Kelley in the first of two public sessions Monday at Shoemaker High School to present the district’s ongoing plans to keep students, staff and guests safe.

A second safety forum is scheduled 6 p.m. Wednesday at Eastern Hills Middle School.

The district’s police department and School Safety office includes 30 police officers and two K9 officers, as well as a school safety director and school safety specialist.

Since 2018, the police department has grown from 17 officers to the current 30, added the first K9 officer and soon will add a second K9, Disher said.

The district follows the Texas State School Safety Center mandates with lockdown, weather, fire and shelter-in-place drills and intruder testing.

Killeen ISD conducts more than the required amount of intruder testing, sending in visitors unannounced to infiltrate schools to test entrance protocols.

The state requires eight hours of school-based active shooter training. School district police officers in KISD complete an additional 64 hours of annual training. Supervisors receive 106 more hours of training.

School district officers have been training this summer with other local law enforcement. This week, the district’s officers are conducting active-shooter training.

All KISD employees receive annual training addressing bullying prevention, mental health, reporting sexual abuse, suicide prevention and several other topics.

District safety personnel also conduct extensive building safety measures to ensure points of entry remain secure.

This year, the district will make available Stop the Bleed training for seventh- through 12th-graders. It will be optional and will require parent permission.

The district maintains a School Safety and Security committee that meets three times a year and includes school district, law enforcement and members of the public.

Speaking to the local media prior to the public forum, Disher said the two forums follow a recent board presentation addressing safety. He said the public gatherings are meant to give residents a chance to ask questions, make comments and to allay concerns.

The forum Monday stretched two hours and included information about campus efforts to address bullying, the district’s commitment to mental health and the multiple tiers of counseling support for students and staff members.

Chief of Communications and Marketing Taina Maya promoted the new KISD app, which the district is poised to make available Monday. It will provide a higher level of accessibility to information from safety alerts to sports schedules and many other features.

To begin the presentation, Craft pointed out the recent innovations tied to the 2018 bond election.

The district has added security vestibules at every campus, completed perimeter fencing around schools and added numerous motion-detecting security cameras.