Greg Peschel introduced Ingram I.S.D. superintendent Bobby Templeton as our speaker last Wednesday. Bobby is a former member of our club and previously was the principal at Tivy high School. Bobby described the way Ingram ISD is addressing security at their campus in light of events in our country over the last several years. Ingram has 74 video cameras dispersed throughout the various buildings, athletic complex, and entrance to the campus. Upon entering the campus, your picture is taken and in addition to being visible to the administration, the pictures also go to Ingram police vehicles and headquarters.
Ingram wants to give their kids a reason to say no to drugs, so they have random drug testing and drug sniffing dogs make the rounds. Ingram is one of four schools in Texas that initiated a School Marshal program this year. The marshals are possible because of a new classification of law enforcement officer that was recently authorized by the Texas legislature. The five marshals have a badge and a gun, and were already school staff, although their identity is not publicized to the general public. This past summer, they went through an intensive training, including psychological test and profile, concealed handgun carry training, first aid training, and non violent deescalation training.
