The Texas state government has launched Sentinel, a comprehensive school safety system that aims to enhance the security of students, faculty, and staff in school buildings across the state.
The Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Office of School Safety and Security will provide Sentinel to all schools in the state at no charge.
“As a new school year approaches, the safety of students, school faculty, and staff across Texas remains a top priority,” said Gov. Greg Abbott. “To bolster school safety standards, we are launching Sentinel – a new, sweeping system to enhance the safety and security of students and teachers across our great state. This cutting-edge technology is available to all schools in Texas and will expand the state’s threat assessments process, improve real-time communication capabilities, and better safeguard our children, teachers, and school communities.”
The governor’s office explained that Sentinel standardizes Behavioral Threat Assessments (BTAs) into a single reporting mechanism so that schools have a clear way of conducting BTAs and managing threats. State leaders noted that this uniform approach helps school systems identify, assess, and mitigate risks to students and staff.
“TEA’s Office of School Safety and Security continues to search for ways to better support the 1,200 school systems in Texas and their efforts in keeping students and staff safe,” said School Safety and Security Chief John Scott. “The launch of Sentinel represents this continued focus, and I’m grateful for the Governor’s support in getting this critical safety infrastructure off the ground and operational.”
Additionally, state leaders believe Sentinel will serve an important role in statewide emergency operations by giving state leaders timely and accurate information to support quick decision-making regarding resource allocation and support.
Schools will be informed in the event of a local or statewide emergency through Sentinel’s mass communications capability. These capabilities will enable TEA to securely communicate guidance, resources, or other important information to schools.
Sentinel was developed following the passage of House Bill 3, which strengthened state monitoring of school safety and increased the school safety allotment.
