In Round Rock ISD in Texas, we are paving the way for what district officials hope is the blueprint for transformative school policing.
In pursuing this innovative approach to school policing, the Round Rock ISD Police Department works closely with Dewayne Street, the district’s chief equity officer, and Dr. Amy Grosso, Ph.D., who is the district’s director of behavioral health services.
The Round Rock Policing Model is built upon what we call The Four Pillars of School Policing:
- Behavioral health
- Equity
- Safety and security
- Student advocacy
Behavioral health
The Behavioral Health Pillar refers to the Behavioral Health Services Department and the work of Dr. Amy Grosso. It is housed inside the police department and is staffed with 10 social workers. Although many large municipal police agencies have social workers on staff who assist officers with critical incidents, from what we could find, we are the only school police department in the country that has social workers inside the department.
We designed our department to use social workers to better serve students with social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs that might result in them having a crisis. Our department is designed for social workers to handle these situations and to provide wrap-around services to the families, including ongoing support to the students.
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