Southside ISD adds 29 metal detectors for fall
District approves $65,000 security measure on all campuses in wake of Uvalde shooting
After a year of fielding concerns about school safety and security in the wake of the Uvalde massacre, the Southside Independent School District has turned to a solution still rare in Bexar County, adding metal detectors on all campuses.
As the 2022-23 school year ended last month, Southside students practiced walking through them, learning the drill so that the flow of traffic in and out of the buildings won't be impeded when school starts for the fall semester.
The 29 metal detectors, which are being installed on all eight of Southside's campuses — at separate entry points for students and visitors — cost less than expected, totaling just over $65,000, said Superintendent Rolando Ramirez. They were purchased with a state safety and security grant.
Last summer, 90 percent of respondents to a district survey of parents and community members said they would welcome the addition.
Although Southside hasn't had any major safety incidents recently, the community harbors concern that outsiders might do harm, Ramirez said. In recent years the district has added a guard shack at every campus, created a police command center, hired police officers who can act as “rovers” and installed card readers at most exterior and interior doors.
Ramirez is the former superintendent of Valley View
ISD, which on his watch became the first school district in the Rio Grande Valley to install metal detectors, he said.
“It took two-three weeks for them to get used to the routine,” Ramirez said. “After that, it flowed very smoothly, so parents knew that, ‘Hey, you know what, I've got to get here a little bit earlier.'”
“It wouldn't be any differ
ent from them going through the door as long as that metal detector doesn’t go off,” he added.
The Southside ISD board approved the expenditure in April after considerable discussion. It had considered it last October in executive session, going over options with the district’s police chief, Don Tijerina, but voted for a pilot program instead, directing Ramirez to acquire six portable metal detectors to use at high school sports events.
Two months of their use at basketball, softball and other athletic competitions turned up no prohibited items and produced no complaints from parents or students, according to a presentation to the board in April by Assistant Superintendent Miguel Castillo and Southside High School principal Gregory Mihleder.
Some board members still questioned if the district really needed the extra security measure.
“I mean, out of everybody who’s been scanned and who’s came onto our premises, there’s been no incidents,” said trustee Lisa Salazar. “I’m hearing you guys say the community wants this. There’s also community who don’t want this.”
Salazar said some parents were more concerned about holes and gaps in campus fences and asked to table the discussion and work on that instead.
“We’ve tabled this so many times already that they’re wanting us to make a decision,” Katie Farias, the board’s vice president, responded.
After continued discussion, Board President Jesse Hernandez put Tanya Mares, the principal of Menchaca Early Childhood Center, who was in the audience, on the spot. He asked her how a 4-year-old might feel walking through metal detectors to go to school for the first time.
“If you go to the mall, you go to the stores, they’re there. They just don’t realize that that’s what they are, and what they’re used for,” Mares said. “I think at the times that we are in now, unfortunately, it’s just something that they would have to get used to… I believe for the safety that we need that, especially in the times we are in.”
The board vote to buy the metal detectors was unanimous. Ramirez plans to assess the flow of foot traffic through the summer.
Southside ISD students’ backpacks must be clear or mesh. They didn’t set the sensors off during the metal detectors’ trial runs. The only thing that might slow things down is when a student is pulled for a secondary check, where a wand sensor would be used, Ramirez said.
“We wanted to do it just to get a test run on, to see how it goes… and then also have them for summer school, so if we run into any issues, we can address those issues at the time,” Ramirez said. “For the start of the school year next year, we’ll hit the ground running.”