What’s happening?
Presented by Jo Ann Fey, deputy superintendent for administration, the presentation included updates on door monitoring alarms, secure entries, high school lunches, school flasher lights, crossing guard staffing and hazardous route determination.
For campus entry points, Fey said all door monitoring alarm systems have been fully installed and are currently being programmed to meet specific campus needs.
“Every building has either a secure lobby—all of our elementary schools have a secure lobby—or at the campuses that do not have that, we have staff that’s present at the entry, that’s part of the bare minimum compliance from [Texas Education Agency]. So we are fully compliant with that at the moment,” Fey said.
All exterior doors will be expected to stay closed and secured more consistently. If a door is propped open or used incorrectly, an alarm may sound, or an alert may go to campus staff. Visitors will also be required to undergo a stricter check-in procedure. Entries for elementary schools will be either through a secure lobby or there will be staff stationed at main entrances.
The district will also make changes to the high school lunch procedure beginning in the 2026-27 school year by closing lunch periods at certain high schools. Due to the policy change, students at affected high schools will be required to stay on campus for lunch. However, students who have earned college, career and military readiness, or CCMR, status may be allowed to go off-campus for lunch as an incentive.
“We are looking at high school lunches as an opportunity to provide more safety to our kids, in that we are looking to close high school lunches that are open beginning next year, with the exception of possibly students who have earned their CCMR status, to incentivize that privilege,” Fey said.
High schools that will have a closed campus for lunch will be announced in January.
The conditions
NISD is also in discussion with the city of San Antonio about amending an ordinance so school zone flasher lights are activated during lunch periods at two high schools.
Fey said Jacob Villarreal, the assistant superintendent for facilities, is working with the city to amend the ordinance for Holmes and John Jay high schools, where they have had some "significant challenges." The ordinance change may also allow for the potential installation of “Your Speed” radar feedback signs around different campuses.
Additionally, NISD is looking to create a safer walking environment around campuses by evaluating crosswalk locations and whether or not they need to be relocated or if new ones should be created. The district will also review its crossing guard placement and staffing
Lastly, the district is working to identify hazardous routes near campuses by considering crime prevalence, including aggravated assault, homicide/manslaughter, kidnapping/human trafficking, sexual assault, robbery and weapons violations.
“Some of our challenges is that there's no state or national standard found for quantifying high-crime or unsafe walking zones, [for] example, number of incidents over a specific time frame. So this determination is left to individual jurisdictions,” Fey said. “In this case, that would be Northside ISD, [San Antonio Police Department] and UTSA, too, which is the violent crime reduction plan—identifying hot spots based on concentrated robberies, aggravated assaults and homicides over the past 12 months and the most recent 60 days.”
Stay tuned
The district will formally propose a local, quantified standard for “high-crime” areas at a board workshop in the spring, finalize and announce school lunch closures by January and work to finalize a key work process document with the transportation department to incorporate new safety standards implemented by the district.
