Recently, Judson High School students and staff returned from the weekend and were met with a new iron fence barrier around the school, sparking confusion among the student body about why it’s there. 

While many students believe this is another way for Judson to enforce the closed campus policy, this has more to do with keeping others out than keeping students in. 

The new barrier surrounding our school is one of many initiatives that plan to manage and promote a higher degree of safety in Texas public schools.

 Since Texas’ deadliest shooting at Robb Elementary May 2022, Texas policy and lawmakers have brainstormed and created policies to bridge the gaps in public school safety. The new fencing is just one of many safety policies that will be taking effect during the upcoming months within JISD. 

The new district-wide iron fencing 

House Bill 3, passed unanimously by the Senate and effective as of September 1, 2023, lays out a series of requirements and policies that boost security in Texas public schools. In addition, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has laid out a series of standards, to aide schools in this process as well.  

According to Interim Principal Gutierrez, in compliance with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Judson High School, Olympia Hills Elementary and a few other schools in the district are a part of phase one of the new district-wide fencing. 

“This all came about because we wanted to figure out how we can protect our kids and staff,” Gutierrez said. “This is something we’re doing as a district to all our schools to provide safety for all kids in every campus, everything’s just happening in phases.” 

Because Judson High School is very close to FM-78, as Mr. Gutierrez pointed out, the iron fencing is necessary for keeping random people off of our campus, especially with various points of entry within and around our school.    

Superintendent Dr. Fields added to this, saying the new fencing is a major component in ensuring student and faculty security, and in acknowledging the school zone. 

“The key to all of this is for it to be a line of demarcation that identifies the school zone so that students understand this is a gun-free, drug-free, drama-free zone,” Dr. Fields explained.

What’s funding the fencing?

Because the state is requiring schools to boost security without the help of funding, our district had to find an alternative way to fund these safety measures. Through the 2022 bond our community voted on, which was greatly based on both physical and cyber security, Judson can fund this new fencing, in addition to other safety initiatives and components that will also be funded through the bond. 

Section 22 of House Bill 3 grants schools permission to use bond money to purchase necessary equipment and construction associated with complying with school safety. 

Though keeping our school safe costs a great deal of money, in the words of Mr. Gutierrez, you cannot think about price when it comes to student and faculty safety.  

Other Safety Measures the District is Applying 

Dr. Fields wanted to ensure the student body that safety is a top priority for the district. Along with the iron fencing, many security measures will soon be going into effect:

“We’ve increased our door panels for teacher entry and will soon upgrade these for students, so they’ll have the ability to walk up with their IDs and scan for entry. We’re still in the middle of implementing that, but we’ve been upgrading and will continue to update these panels for staff and student access only,” Dr. Fields said. 

“We’re incorporating a film on the windows that is supposed to be resistant to ammunition, we’ve done some upgrading within our police department, along with the two new campuses that will open Fall of 2025,” Dr. Fields explained. “We also are upgrading our transportation, which we got new buses with seatbelts, hoping to incorporate seatbelts in all of the buses. In addition to this, we are upgrading our technology, getting better WiFi and wireless connectivity capacity across the district, along with athletic upgrades with fences going around our open baseball, softball, and soccer fields, etc.” 

“One of the big things we’re doing facility-wise is implementing air conditioning in our 14 campuses at the elementary and middle school level, that way it will increase their ability to shut the door [during class] and be safe.” he continued. 

A closer look at how this will impact our campus specifically

With new safety measures being implemented, Mr. Gutierrez explained there will be some new protocols developed for students, particularly those who drive and will need to leave early. While these protocols aren’t solidified and are still in the planning stages, here are some things students should expect: 

“Let’s say you drive to school, [the student] will need to notify the attendance office, where they’ll notify our admin team to open the gate,” he said. “Let’s say a student is coming from a doctor’s appointment, they’ll have to notify the front office that they’re here so we can go unlock those areas. It might seem like a headache, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s about protecting our students,” he continued.

“We’re looking at how we can ease the flow, possibly, for the after-school traffic with all the fencing going up,” Gutierrez added. “We partnered with our JISD police— they are going to fly the drone over [the school], and see how things working and how we can ease the flow for our students getting picked up by their parents, as opposed to the double parked cars down the lane. At this point we know parents have been upset about the traffic and we’re wondering how we can make things more efficient to accommodate everyone,” he said.  

Above all, student safety is a priority

In the next few years, the district will continue to put forward solutions to ensure security within the district. Mr. Guttierez explained that though this process may require sacrifice and patience, above all safety is the priority. 

The goal is to be proactive, not reactive.

“Everything is a part of the protection process, and safety isn’t always convenient, unfortunately,” Mr. Gutierrez. “We’re still in the brainstorming phase so that we can make things work for everyone on campus on a day-to-day basis, however, there will be some growing pains with all of this, but we will get through, because the most important thing is the students on this campus.” 

Students are a big part of keeping our campus safe as well.

If you see, or hear something that seems or feels unsafe or unusual, report it immediately to a trusted adult. Many students think that “snitches get stitches,” but how can our schools keep a safe environment if we, as the eyes and ears of this school, don’t do our part?