First responders and emergency personnel from across the region joined their Katy ISD counterparts and school principals on July 17 for the 2025 Annual First Responder Forum, held in Katy. The event emphasized collaboration and partnership through an integrated, area-wide emergency response strategy to ensure the safety of students and staff as the school year approaches.

Hosted by the district’s Office of Emergency Management, the forum highlighted strategic safety planning, updates on Katy ISD’s standard response protocols and information on emerging technologies and new state legislation pertaining to school safety.

“Effective emergency preparedness and response rely heavily on strong partnerships our District maintains with first responder agencies,” said Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski. “Each organization plays a vital role in risk assessment, crisis communications, response coordination and a range of recovery efforts that support our schools and the greater community.”

Missy Dodds, a survivor of the Red Lake school shooting, delivered a powerful keynote address highlighting the critical importance of trauma-informed preparedness in schools. She underscored the role of the entire community in fostering safety by building strong, healthy connections between students, educators and the broader community. She advocates for a comprehensive, integrated approach to school safety that includes interrelated components like mental/behavioral health, health and wellness, safety and security, culture and climate, legal policy and emergency management.

“At Red Lake, we had amazing security things, but we forgot about the child,” Dodds said, referring to the school shooter. “I didn’t understand what a complicated life that this student, whom I couldn’t bond with, had lived.”

Katy ISD’s Annual First Responder Forum builds upon several prior initiatives of Katy ISD designed to strengthen school safety, the district said in the July 17 news release. In January of this year, the district hosted a Department of Justice (DOJ) Critical Incident Review presentation focused on the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde. The event provided local law enforcement, educators and emergency personnel with observations and recommendations from the DOJ independent review, including best practices in leadership, incident command, trauma response and public communication.

As part of Katy ISD’s ongoing commitment to school safety, district police and crisis management teams work closely with external law enforcement partners to regularly train and prepare for a wide range of potential threats and scenarios, the district said.

“The district takes great pride in these strong partnerships and the community’s steadfast support for maintaining safe learning environments,” the press release said. Exceeding state requirements, every Katy ISD campus is staffed with armed police officers and/or security personnel, equipped with integrated alert systems, 24/7 surveillance, and routinely conducts safety drills. Designated staff at each

campus receive extensive training in the latest mental health resources and crisis intervention techniques. Additionally, Katy ISD police collaborate with contracted K9 units specializing in narcotics and weapons detection to perform random inspections at secondary schools, further enhancing campus security.