The Houston Independent School District's High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice began in spring 1981 as a recruitment source for minority police officers and is designed to teach students about careers in law enforcement and criminal justice.

Each grade level offers classes related to public safety, but the call-taker training portion didn't get into full swing until the last decade. The Emergency Telecommunicator course has been brought to eager students, thanks to a partnership between the school and the Greater Harris County (GHC) 911 Emergency Network in Texas. It's one of several programs the school offers through its cooperative training program, according to Valgene Holmes, the program director and criminal justice co-op coordinator who spearheaded its implementation.

"Back in 1995, the principal of the school at that time came to me and said that we needed a program to teach our seniors to have an opportunity for them to pursue a career path, especially for those students that will probably not be able to afford to go to college," he said. The principal, Norma Morris, gave him two options: corrections or telecommunications. He chose telecommunications and began working with the GHC to develop lessons.

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[Photo courtesy of Jason Pack/FEMA News Photo.]