What they're saying
Chris Contreras, HISD's district emergency operations and safety coordinator, told trustees Oct. 24 that the district has just about wrapped up an effort to install impact-resistant film to windows at several campuses, with a final installation taking place Oct. 28.
The window film is just one of several required safety updates school districts are undertaking across the state.
This "hardening" of school facilities, as described by Dustin Barton, HISD's assistant superintendent of operations, includes:
- Marking and numbering exterior doors
- Providing law enforcement access to each campus via access cards, in anticipation of using key boxes to store a set of keys to each campus for law enforcement use
- Adding distributed antenna systems to strengthen radio signals, in particular at Farley Middle School and Ray Elementary School as they are located at the bottom of a hill, hindering reception
Several safety initiatives have been funded through state grants:
Safety grant round one: $451,588
- Fencing around all campuses except Hutto High School, Hutto Ninth Grade Center, and the River Horse Academy and Disciplinary Alternative Education Program
- Access control and security additions to campuses
- Window film
- Access control and security camera additions for administration, Hutto Middle School, Farley Middle School, Ray Elementary School, Cotton Creek Elementary School, Veterans Hill Elementary School and Kerley Elementary School
- Door numbers
- Window film at Hutto High School
- Fencing at the district's DAEP
- Cenegix silent panic alarms
To learn more about safety in the district, watch the Oct. 24 meeting here.
