Abbott announces Sentinel school safety system

AUSTIN Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday announced the launch of Sentinel, an innovative and comprehensive system designed to enhance the safety and security of students, faculty, and staff in school buildings across Texas. Sentinel is provided by the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Office of School Safety and Security and is available to all schools in the state at no charge to the schools. Sentinel will enable robust monitoring of school systems’ implementation and operation of safety and security policies and improves the threat assessment process.

“As a new school year approaches, the safety of students, school faculty, and staff across Texas remains a top priority,” said Governor 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. I thank the Texas Education Agency and Chief Scott for partnering with superintendents and school safety personnel from every corner of our state to create and implement this innovative system.

“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 P. 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.”

Sentinel standardizes Behavioral Threat Assessments (BTAs) into a single reporting mechanism so that schools have a clear way of conducting BTAs and managing threats. This uniform approach helps school systems identify, assess, and mitigate risks to students and staff.

In addition, 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. This 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. Senate Bill 30 provided an additional $1.1 billion for school systems to bolster the safety of their facilities.

In 2022, Governor Abbott directed TEA Commissioner Mike Morath to create the position of Chief of School Safety and Security to ensure increased communication and collaboration among state agencies to provide a safe environment for Texas students and school faculty.