Skrocki Named Head Of District Safety & Security For Hays CISD

Hays CISD has announced Jeri Skrocki has been named the district’s new director of safety and security. This is a position that is dedicated to ensuring students and staff members are prepared for emergencies and that district facilities are safe and secure.

The position of Head of Safety & Security was created in 2018 in Hays CISD following the tragic school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, and in recognition of the need for the district to employ a senior-level leader who has no other duties besides safety and security management.

“Our district is incredibly lucky to have Jeri joining our team. Her skill, experience, and leadership in terms of student and school safety is unrivaled,” said Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright. “She has worked at the Hays County Sheriff’s Office for 30 years, developed a model school safety practice in standardizing emergency response protocols, and she has developed a rich network of contacts and colleagues who work day and night to keep our campuses safe.”

In 2018, Skrocki was recognized by Governor Greg Abbott for her role in helping to coordinate a county-wide standard response protocol in Hays County. This practice was extolled as a model that should be adopted in counties statewide.

She was also included as a member of the governor’s roundtable discussion team that evaluated school safety solutions following the deadly mass shooting at Santa Fe High School.

Prior to 2013, the four school districts that call Hays County home all used different language for school emergencies and had their own, self-designed practices to handle crisis situations.

Local law enforcement and emergency services agencies used different plans and language too. Skrocki, and a small group of county law enforcement and emergency management innovators, worked to implement a single response protocol for the entire county and to train everyone to use the same language during emergencies.

The standardized response protocol they effected, and the annual, comprehensive training schedule they adopted, continues to this day at all schools in Hays County.

Skrocki began her career with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office in 1989 and worked her way to the senior rank of lieutenant. Her most recent role has been to supervise the criminal investigations division and its 30 employees. 

She has worked in the Sheriff’s Office in a number of capacities, including managing the School Resource Officer (SRO) program for the school districts in the county, like Hays CISD, that utilize full-time sheriff’s deputies for school safety,

“I believe our most precious resource is our children and the dedicated men and women who serve them,” said Skrocki in her letter of interest and application for the position. “With a long-standing record of initiative and innovation, I have developed and executed strategies which I believe will bring value to Hays [CISD]. I am an astute problem-solver capable of prioritizing and managing complex projects with proficiency. I strive to build a permanent connection between emergency services and school campuses to ensure the safety of faculty, students, and staff.”

In addition to serving as the supervisor of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division, Skrocki is a Master Peace Officer, a certified Mental Health Peace Officer, a certified expert in the area of child abuse, and a TCOLE instructor with a record of several hundred hours of teaching law enforcement trainers.

She is also the commander of the award-winning Hays County Crisis Negotiation Team. Her volunteer work includes having served on the board of the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center.

Skrocki holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Southwest Texas State University, now called Texas State University. She graduated with honors, completing her education in four years while working and paying for college on her own.

Skrocki began making the transition from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office to Hays CISD by working two days a week at the district in June. She started full-time at Hays CISD in mid-July.