Texas schools might have a new way to improve school security: drones.
An Austin-based startup, Campus Guardian Angels, wants to put its camera-and- speaker-equipped remote-controlled drones in schools to help identify and deter an armed shooter.
The company gave a demonstration at University Park Elementary school in Highland Park ISD Monday.
Mark Rowden, the district's police chief, requested the demo and after viewing it, said he was impressed.
He said the camera-equipped drones could help identify an armed intruder from a safe distance.
"[It] gives us situational awareness, so far as what we've got and what we're going to encounter, that, in what we do, is absolutely imperative," he said.
A 2023 state law, House Bill 3, requires an armed officer on every Texas campus. But more than half of districts requested waivers known as good cause exceptions, which explain why a district can't meet the requirement and offers its alternative.
While they don't replace armed guards, if the drones work as promised, they could give districts who've been struggling to find and pay for armed campus officers another way to improve school safety and security.
Highland Park ISD was not among the districts to request a waiver, but Rowden said the district needs to "stay at the forefront of anything that we can do to be able to keep kids safe in our schools."
HB3 gave districts $15,000 per campus and $10 per student, which districts argued wasn't nearly enough for a fulltime armed guard with benefits.
CGA said its drones cost $15,000 for a box of six, plus $4 a student.
Justin Marston, co-founder of Campus Guardian Angel, talked to state lawmakers during a meeting of the Senate K-16 education committee. He said CGA remote-piloted drones could help better secure these schools until guards or police arrive.
"If a shooter walks into a school that we're defending," Marston said, "our goals are to respond in 5 seconds, confront the shooter in 15 seconds, then degrade or incapacitate the shooter in 60 seconds."
In Uvalde, the deadly shooter in Robb Elementary school was on campus for more than 70 minutes.
The drones have so far been tested in some Florida districts and in Boerne ISD, near San Antonio. Security Chief Rick Goodrich, who's helped test the CGA system in his Texas Hill Country district, told the Senate committee last week he believes drones like these could affordably buy life-saving time.
"There are districts in this state where one officer is covering as many as two or three campuses at the same time," he said.
House Bill 462 would increase the funding allotted per school for armed guards and make a "remote-human-operated aerial device" an option for districts to be eligible for funding. The bill hasn't received a committee hearing.
Marston said his drones are piloted remotely by drone-racing experts who are trained in safety and security. They're based in Austin, Texas, and would launch a school's drones from their charging boxes on campus once alerted by the school's officials that a shooter or possible threat had invaded the school.
Marston said each drone carries a flash crack — a loud, firecracker-like distracting bang — as a first distraction. It can also shoot pepper spray. Finally, he said a drone itself, while not lethal, can become a weapon.
"If you get hit at 60 to 70 miles an hour by a drone, it is less lethal, but it will cause significant injury," Marston said. "We would send multiple waves of those until the person is incapacitated or law enforcement arrives."
Marston said the drone would essentially be like a police dog, "but more difficult to shoot."
Sen. Royce West of Dallas, who serves on the Senate education committee, said the CGA presenters had "caught the attention of everyone in this room."
West asked if Marston might demonstrate the drones in other districts.
"We'll do it in any school you want us to," said Marston.
Bill Zeeble is KERA's education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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