Kennedale independent school district is a 4A mid-sized district with a diverse student population of just under 3,000

The district is located in kennedale, texas immediately south of the much larger districts of FT. Worth ISD and arlington ISD in tarrant county. The district serves the student population with 1 high school, 1 JR. High school, 2 elementary schools, and an early childhood center. In years past, because of the advanced age of the buildings in the district (requiring constant maintenance and repairs) and other serious academic and programmatic issues, financial resources simply were not available to stay up to date with current technologies and procedures in the areas of safety and security. Three years ago, realizing the need for improvement, the district took a bold step in hiring MR. Johnny spruiel to serve as director of safety and security. He began the arduous task of assessing the districts status with regards to safety and security procedures and equipment. There was much work to be done, and now, great strides have been made. A very successful partnership has been formed between the school district and the kennedale police department. They have provided 2 school resource officers for the district. All safety and security procedures for the district have been visited and revisited. New procedures have been implemented to meet current safety standards. The district and campus level safety and security committees were established and have become active participants in the districts mission to provide safe environments for the students and staff members of the district. With all of the work that has been accomplished, there remains an issue with gaps in the districts security technology, specifically, the video surveillance systems and the access control systems being employed campus to campus. The systems are not integrated. Some of the campuses have multiple video surveillance systems that do not work together. The older systems no longer have technical support and have no software updates. The newest cameras we have are more than 5 years old and were not installed properly or in appropriate areas. The current door access system is not reliable and often requires repairs leaving big gaps in our security posture. Kennedale ISD is an amazing school district that cares immensely about the students and staff who call kennedale home, but every day that we postpone correcting the issues with these two vital security systems is another day that we are vulnerable to outside threats. This knowledge led US to the svpp grant process. We know we are not immune (as no one is) to violence or threats of violence. Over the past 5 years, there have been 19 gun violence incidences within a 60-mile radius of our district. Many of those were within a 20-minute drive from kennedale. And while we hope and pray that those statistics never become our statistics, we must be prepared by placing every possible deterrent between our schools and potential perpetrators. We must remove these identified gaps in our system.