HISD advisory panel member asks how district was short nurses, working AEDs on 1st day of classes

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- After a middle school student died, a Houston Independent School District advisory committee member said they were pleased to hear a safety plan but weren't thrilled with what they learned.

As HISD's new school year starts, safety will be at the top of some educators' minds. Bray Wray is part of the district advisory committee, a group that works with the district leaders to help set goals.

One of those Wray said is to keep students safe. After a middle school student died last month, Wray asked for more details about HISD's safety plan.

He got some of those details Tuesday during the committee meeting. Wray said they learned the district is about 20 nurses short, and they plan to fix this soon.

He also said HISD plans to install officers at all schools within the next few years. Currently, all middle and high schools have officers.

Wray also wanted to learn more about automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. Last month, HISD said a student suffered a medical emergency during gym class at Marshall Middle School. He later died at the hospital.

The teachers' union said a nurse tried to use an AED, but it wouldn't work.

HISD said that after the student's death, there was a working AED in each school. However, nearly 20% of its devices aren't functioning, mainly due to batteries.

"How is it acceptable that our district is so unprepared for day one? We have campuses with no nurses. We have non-functional AEDs," Wray said. "It's not acceptable."

SEE MORE: HISD silent on alleged AED failure when middle school student suffered fatal medical emergency

Last month, the district said the safety committee received a report from an outside vendor looking at its AEDs before the middle school student died. When Eyewitness News asked to get a copy of the report, a law firm representing the district sent a letter to ABC13's Nick Natario, showing HISD is asking the Texas attorney general to allow them not to give Eyewitness News the document.

ABC13 asked HISD about the nurse and police officer additions revealed in Tuesday's meeting, but those questions weren't answered.

However, the district responded to questions about inspections that it said were going to take place last month on its AEDs following the student's death:

"The reinspection of campus AEDs has been completed. The data is being assembled and will be reported to the District Safety Committee. The data will be made available to the public shortly after review by the committee.

As a reminder, all campuses currently have at least one working AED."

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