This vacant Austin ISD elementary school will serve as an active shooter training facility
A former Austin school will be repurposed as a training ground for Travis County law enforcement officers as part of a partnership between the school district and the sheriff’s office.
Law enforcement officials hope the repurposed Rosedale Elementary School will enhance communication and cooperation between schools and county law enforcement and create a more realistic environment for officers in which to practice their active shooter response.
The building’s vacancy gives law enforcement officers a rare chance to train in a school, because it is very difficult to coordinate on an active campus, said Jeremy Striffler, director of real estate for the Austin school district.
“Having a real setting that replicates, unfortunately, what the scenario they could be walking into looks like helps enhance the experience of these officers as they're learning and training,” Striffler said.
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The campus training facility will also give law enforcement agencies across Travis County, from the sheriff's department to local police units, an opportunity train together at the old Rosedale school, Sheriff Sally Hernandez said.
“The more you train together, the better and the safer the community is,” she said.
Students haven’t used the old Rosedale campus at 2117 W. 49th St. since 2022, when the district opened an updated facility at 7505 Silvercrest Drive. The campus caters to the district’s special education students with higher needs.
Eventually, the district would like to repurpose the site for staff housing, but the agreement with the sheriff’s office puts the building to use in the meantime, Striffler said.
Neighbors probably won’t see any training activity outside the building but are likely to notice multiple police or deputy vehicles parked at the Rosedale campus during training, he said.
The sheriff’s office had already been looking for suitable training facilities when the Texas Legislature last spring passed House Bill 1852, which requires more active shooter training, Hernandez said.
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The legislation requires officers to complete at least 16 hours of active shooter training from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University.
Lawmakers developed the legislation in part as a response to the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, in which 19 children and two adults were killed.
Active shooter events are in the news across the country, Hernandez said. The more law enforcement officers train and prepare, the better they’ll be able to respond to a threat, she said.
“We at the Travis County sheriff’s office, we're planners,” Hernandez said. “We're going to plan and plan and plan and plan and hope nothing happens.”
It will probably be several years before any housing comes to the old Rosedale site, Striffler said.
District staff members plan to start looking for a partner for the development project this spring, he said.
The Austin district is also redeveloping several of its other former campuses.
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The Anita Ferrales Coy Facility, which houses the Alternative Learning Center, is slated to become affordable housing for district staffers. The project partner is undergoing the necessary permitting and design processes, Striffler said.
The district also plans to convert the old Pease Elementary School into an early childhood education center through a partnership with United Way of Central Texas.
The former Metz and Brooke elementary schools are housing administrative staffers. The old Sims Elementary School will probably serve as extra space for students whose campuses in the area will undergo significant renovations from the $2.4 billion bond plan approved by voters in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Travis County deputies use old AISD school for active shooter training
