August 10, 2022 | Safety & Security Update



Letterhead for the Superintendent with Logo

August 10, 2022

Dear Alamo Heights ISD staff, 

We are excited to welcome our students and families back for the start of the 2022-23 school year on August 15! Safety has always been our top priority, and we have worked diligently over the summer to strengthen these efforts and ensure that we remain vigilant on our campuses.

Back in 2019, AHISD implemented a School Resource Officer (SRO) partnership with the City of Alamo Heights. I’m pleased to report that we have worked quickly and responsively to expand this partnership for the coming school year. In addition to the SRO at the high school, we are working to hire an SRO at the Junior School and a third SRO who will rotate daily through Cambridge, Woodridge, and Howard ECC.  All of our SROs will be able to be dispatched to any campus to support our administration if a safety situation should arise. 

We released a comprehensive community message last week that details the safety and security practices and protocols on each of our campuses. Listed below is a summary of the many layers of prevention and protection that are in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff:

  • Security vestibule lobbies and access control technology at all of our campuses

  • Visitor screening system that runs criminal history checks on all visitors 

  • External safety fences at all campuses

  • Digital video surveillance systems at all campuses

  • Locked classroom doors and secure classroom door hardware to facilitate lockdown procedures quickly in case of emergency 

  • Regular and ongoing emergency drills 

  • Campus specific emergency operation plans 

  • District-wide external safety audit (last reported to trustees in June 2022)

  • Annual active shooter response training for all employees

  • Anonymous tip line to report concerns available on the AHISD website 

  • District Safety and Security Committee meetings to elicit community input

  • Campus Safe and Secure Teams trained in threat assessment for early identification and intervention 

Please note the following updates for this school year:  

  • Bullet resistant film added to all campus vestibules

  • External door safety audit/Campus summer security audits

  • Back to school response training for all employees 

  • Lockdown button access at all campuses

  • Addition of cameras and access buttons on multiple campuses

We are committed to a continuous improvement process for ongoing monitoring and adjustment of our practices, and we will work in partnership with local law enforcement agencies to identify and implement additional security measures in response to needs that arise.

I want to remind you about the importance of our community partnership and urge you to have ongoing conversations with your child about safety and the community responsibility to report concerns. Thank you for your continued support as we work to ensure the safety and security of our AHISD students and staff. I look forward to welcoming our students back next Monday!

Sincerely,

Dr. Dana Bashara

Superintendent

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