Students at Magnolia, Magnolia West and Magnolia Junior high schools will see structural safety changes and upgrades as early as January 2020, Assistant Superintendent of Administration Jason Bullock said at the Magnolia ISD board of trustees meeting Oct. 14.

House Bill 3, the school finance reform bill passed in the 86th Texas Legislature, included a school safety allotment of about $9.72 per student, which resulted in roughly $125,000 for Magnolia ISD to use for school safety improvements, Bullock said.

A portion of this money will be used to update entrances to all three schools, he said, although exact costs could not be determined as of publication Oct. 21. The district plans to install a security vestibule with doors located near the library, a roll-down gate in the reception area, and a buzz-in door and a new attendance window in the reception area of both high schools, Bullock said during the meeting.

"We can open these doors at the beginning and end of school so kids can still come in and out, but then during the day it lets us have a truly secured area to verify people before they're able to go any further into the building,"  he said.

Bullock said work on the high schools is scheduled to begin during the district's holiday break, which begins Dec. 23, and be completed in January.

Magnolia Junior High will have a new front entrance with dual-entry doors on either side of a security window, including thicker glass and a buzzer-controlled system for the new doors, run by a security guard, according to Bullock. Bullock said construction on the project will take longer as he anticipates needing permits from the city, so a timeline could not be provided as of publication Oct. 21.

"We believe this will do what we're trying to accomplish, which is to have secure entrances at the front of these three schools," he said.