More than 300 cameras, 130 controlled doors and 11 automated gates are part of Mineola ISD’s approach to school security.
But the work of the Mineola ISD Police Department goes well beyond cameras and locked doors.
“We’re doing law enforcement stuff, but then we do the safety and security stuff,” Police Chief Cody Castleberry said.
In Mineola ISD, the police department oversees much of the district’s safety and security infrastructure, including cameras and access-control systems.
The district has also rekeyed its facilities and changed classroom door hardware so a classroom door cannot simply be left unlocked. When the door is closed, it is locked from the outside.
The change takes one possible human error out of an emergency situation.
Most employees also don’t have keys that provide access through exterior doors, although employees whose jobs require that access have the appropriate keys.
Mineola ISD also has a separate 31-page safety and security handbook for employees, supplementing the district’s regular employee handbook.
The police department conducts annual campus safety training, along with training for substitute teachers and new employees.

TECHNOLOGY THAT LOOKS FOR WARNING SIGNS
The district also uses technology to identify potential problems before they become emergencies.
Gaggle Safety Management monitors activity within Mineola ISD Google accounts used by students.
When the system identifies potentially harmful content, Castleberry said it is reviewed by a person at Gaggle before being forwarded to the district. For urgent situations, designated district officials can receive emails, texts and phone calls.
Many alerts involve students experiencing serious personal or mental health issues.
“We wouldn’t know about any of it if it wasn’t for Gaggle,” Castleberry said.
The district also uses STOPit, an anonymous reporting system that allows students and adults to report safety concerns.
Castleberry said serious reports through the system aren’t frequent, but the district does occasionally receive useful information.

GUARDIANS TRAIN MONTHLY
Mineola ISD’s guardian program provides another layer of security.
Castleberry said he wasn’t always a supporter of the idea.
Before the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, Superintendent Cody Mize had brought up the possibility of establishing a guardian program, but Castleberry was uncomfortable with having additional armed personnel on campuses.
Uvalde changed his thinking.
The district began developing a program with strict controls over who could participate and how guardians would be trained.
Employees who were interested were initially invited to come forward. The district then developed an application, selection and training process.
Not everyone who starts the process makes it through the initial training.
The identities of the district’s guardians and the number participating are confidential.
Castleberry also stressed that the program isn’t simply about arming classroom teachers. The district prefers employees whose regular jobs allow them to move around a campus.
“We want people that work for the district in a capacity that they can move around,” he said.
Guardians train monthly, and that training goes beyond responding to an immediate threat.
They also train in emergency medical response, incident command, casualty evacuation and working with other agencies that would respond to an emergency on a Mineola ISD campus.
The program has attracted attention outside Mineola.
Castleberry said the district has received calls from school systems around Texas and outside the state asking about its approach. Mineola ISD has shared documents and information about the program, and district personnel have presented on the program at a Texas school safety conference.

TAKING SAFETY
INFORMATION TO PARENTS
Mineola ISD has also been working to make more of its safety information available to parents.
Following Uvalde, the district held an evening school safety summit to explain what it was doing. Attendance was limited.
The department decided it needed another way to reach families.
“If we can’t get them to come up here and listen to us, then we need to hit them on the couch with that information,” Castleberry said.
Mineola ISD began expanding the school safety section of its website, bringing information on emergency procedures, anonymous reporting, mental health resources, severe weather, the guardian program and other topics into one place.
The department continues to add to those resources, including information aimed at helping parents understand internet safety and the controls available for their children’s electronic devices.
For Castleberry and his officers, all of that falls under the same job.
“Yes, we’re a police department,” Castleberry said during the interview, explaining that Mineola ISD’s officers serve two roles, both as law enforcement and safety and security.
That means the work can range from traditional police duties to cameras, doors, staff training, online safety and preparing for emergencies before they happen.