Officials discussed ongoing AED improvements, HVAC upgrades and school threat assessments at its first security committee meeting of the semester Friday afternoon, two months after Marshall Middle School student Landon Payton died after suffering from a medical emergency in the school's gym.
The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet released Payton's cause of death, but his family's lawyer and a local teachers' union have stated that the gym's AED was not working at the time of the emergency. District officials said Friday that HISD had "100 percent accountability" for every AED in the district, although it has not yet publicly released the status of each device.
"We know where the AEDs are. We're now working through their status in terms of monthly checks, batteries, pads and functionality," safety and emergency management director Craig Straw said Friday.
AED INSPECTIONS
In August, the district reported that 868 of its 1,038 AEDs were working at the time of his death, meaning 170 were not functioning as of Aug. 1. Expired AEDs and parts, including batteries and pads, are being dropped off at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center to be discarded, HISD director of health and medical services Christine Barraza said.
The software will also help track individual certifications for CPR, first aid, AEDs and Stop the Bleed kits. An in-house trainer has trained 242 attendees in CPR, first aid and AED certification since the beginning of the school year, Barraza said, adding that the district hopes to eventually ensure that at least three staff members are certified per campus.
"We really try to offer as many of those opportunities as possible for individuals wanting to be served," Barraza said.
HVAC, WATER UPGRADES
The district said it conducted HVAC upgrades at 33 campuses across the district as schools grapple with lingering temperature issues.
Ten schools received new HVAC system upgrades with ESSER funds by September, deputy chief of operations Alishia Jolivette said, while 17 received new controls. Eleven others received either controls, boilers, rooftop units or installations with TIRZ funding, Jolivette said.
HISD also used ESSER funds to install 452 filtered water stations at 188 campuses through May. The district has received grant funding to address several other lingering issues, including fencing repairs, installing window film and new camera and CCTV surveillance in campuses with "identified vulnerabilities," Jolivette said.
"As we think about safety and security, we think about the safety and wellbeing of the whole child, the whole staff member," Jolivette said. "We still have a ways to go as far as the safety and security and health and well being of our campuses, from a filtered water station and an HVAC perspective."
SCHOOL THREATS
As schools experience an uptick in threats nationwide, HISD's Department of Crisis Support reported that it had conducted 77 threat assessments since the beginning of the school year. Sandy Hook tips, which operate as an anonymous safety line for those concerned that someone may hurt themselves or others, represented 229, or 42 percent, of all calls. More than 100 calls were related to suicidal ideation, while about 5 percent of all calls were for self harm.
Schoolwide cases constituted 19, or 3 percent, of all cases this school year, while 15 percent of all calls were related to behavioral crises on campus, coordinator Sean Ricks said. FBI Houston received 66 school-related threats to life in September, a fivefold increase from that month both in 2023 and 2022.
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