New District-Wide Safety and Procedural Policies Take Effect

By: Alex Spievak

Due to recent events, schools are taking extra safety precautions to ensure the safety of their students. DSISD takes the security of its students and staff seriously. A change DSISD made is toward the walking etiquette at football games; spectators are no longer allowed to stand on the stair walkways in the stadium. Furthermore, there’s more adult surveillance in every spectator section. 

The new Tiger Time system also heavily changed. This year, you must make a Canvas appointment to be granted permission to leave your classroom and your arrival will be monitored. In previous school years, one just needed to fill out a Google form from a specific teacher stating they would be in the teacher’s room for Tiger Time, although throughout the 2021-22 school year, kids took advantage of the form and went to places they weren’t supposed to. 

“Last year, I sent one email, and I starred it and reused it the entire year,” senior Luke Duvall said. “It [the email] wasn’t even a class I was in.” 

Teachers started noticing the behavior of the kids, therefore the administration and faculty team agreed to adopt the new Tiger Time appointment system for the 2022-2023 school year.

 “So that [Tiger Time system] is not teacher-friendly and not something I like because Canvas is not user-friendly with the calendar,” Entrepreneur & Business teacher Carissa Malone said. “Teachers have to do it constantly; it’s not like we can set one up for the month and it’ll be recurring… It’s just one thing that I don’t find necessary around here; there are other things that teachers can do.”

Additionally, DSISD is constantly trying to keep the schools safe in numerous ways. By implementing a reporting system, a student that sees or suspects suspicious behavior can report it to an anonymous tip line called “The Tiger Tip Line.” Once the district receives the report, an administrator will deal with the issue and work with the school principal to give punishments to the student. Punishments will depend on the situation and how bad the issue is. 

“Well I’m new to the district so I can’t speak on how it was before, but I do like that our district is being mindful of the need to make changes, reflect on all procedures, and revamp those,” Assistant Principal Melanie Naquin said.

On top of the Tiger Tip Line, DSISD has also implemented more physical security measures for their schools: Privacy blinds have been added to all J-hall classrooms, as well as security cameras and additional hall monitors. Teachers are also required to keep their classroom doors locked at all times. Finally, campus visitors must go through a screening system in the front office. This goes beyond DSHS and applies to all DSISD schools because keeping students and faculty safe is the district’s highest priority.

Published 11/28/2022