Keeping kids safe

HARLINGEN — The superintendent of schools cannot enter a classroom in the district without knocking first.

The doors are locked for student safety, and can only be opened by the teacher inside the classroom.

“We have some great safety systems in place,” said Joseph Villarreal, HCISD assistant superintendent, on the heels of last week’s school shooting in Florida.

But safety in school comes in many different ways.

One of the ways safety has been kept in schools is with the Harlingen Crime Stoppers hotline.

The program’s recent campus progress report states the district’s drugs and weapon offenses last school year were minimal.

There were zero sexual offenses and assault offenses reported to the state.

However, the tips came in, and Harlingen Crime Stoppers did dish out reward money last year.

“We want to let people know that the program is working within the district,” said Lorenzo Hernandez, Harlingen Area Crime Stoppers president.

“It would be great to have those numbers even lower next year.”

In six weapon offense instances by students last year, four were disciplined and two others faced charges.

Hernandez said the numbers in the report are low, but with the recent shootings going on around the U.S. and the state “we would like the weapon offenses to be lower.

“One weapon can do a whole lot of damage,” Hernandez said.

Villarreal said the district does not keep track of the weapons encountered on campus, but students caught with a weapon are sent to the Cameron County Alternative Education program.

Last year by the end of March, eight crime preventive tips came into the district through the Harlingen Crime Stoppers hotline, and seven rewards were handed out totaling $150.

The entire year saw 35 tips called in and 31 of those were worthy of rewards totaling $604.

The tips that were called in dealt with weapons, drugs, theft, alcohol, tobacco and paraphernalia.

Since the inception of Crime Stoppers program in 1994 the District has received 236 tips.

“Regardless of all the numbers that are reported it’s important to work with Crime Stoppers, and that students feel comfortable going to an adult to report a potential threat,” Villarreal said.

The district takes swift action to prevent any sort of drug or weapon offence on campus.

“We have been lucky and people in the community trust the school district, trust the police department and there are great relationships that exist in this community,” Villarreal said.

“Harlingen has never been deemed an unsafe school based on the data that is collected by TEA,” Villarreal said.

He said the low numbers are attributed to the great students in the community.

“The Crime Stoppers has always been very effective,” said Reynaldo Delua, Harlingen police Crime Stoppers liaison. “It’s a good tool that has been utilized by several districts in the county,” Delua said. “Crime Stoppers does work.”