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The Safety Hub

SWISD will conduct its first Safety Week of the school year from Sept. 23rd to 27th. All campuses will conduct the following drills: Secure, Lockdown, Hold, Reverse Evacuation, and Shelter for Severe Weather. Please review the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) actions before Safety Week to ensure everyone knows the expectations. Review the definitions by clicking the link on the right. 
Need help or know someone who does? Use the Speak-up reporting tool below to report your concerns. The tool can be anonymous if requested. If you are about to recommend a student for an emergency or life-threatening situation to the student or others, please call 911.
SWISD is proud to make Safety & Security our top priority. To do this we know we must be prepared to respond to any emergency situation that may arise. Our students and staff go through various drills, trainings, and we have policies that regulate access to all of our facilities along with a close relationship with our first responders in the SW side of San Antonio. We pride ourselves on our layered and collaborative approach to ensure all students and staff are safe with the walls of our district sites. 
 
Please use the side navigation bar to see our district's comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to safety and security:
 
Facilities:
 
  • Our District provides all staff with ID Badges to ensure a controlled access and manage our visitors to our facilities. 
  • We are proud of our layered security at all sites including fencing, gates, locks, signage and electronic access control systems.
  • Campuses are secured with vestibules that allow for a controlled access into all of our schools, with access only through our front offices personnel. All doors are to remain secured and checked regularly throughout the school day. 
  • Our campuses also utilize extensive camera systems that are monitored at multiple district locations, SWISD Police Department, Safety Department, along with the campus itself. 
 
Communication/ Notification Systems:
 
  • At SWISD we have adopted an active alert system that all staff have access to at all times throughout the school day. Any member of the staff can initiate an emergency if there is a threat in the area, medical issues, or suspicious behavior that administration needs to be notified about. 
  • Our district utilizes our emergency management software program to perform drills and inform all staff of an emergency on campus. This sends a message to all district administration as well to inform them of an incident happening at the campuses. 
  • SWISD administrators are also issued radios that communicate directly with our SWISD Police Department and district administrators from inside the campus and can be utilized district-wide.
  • We also use the help of School Messenger, Remind, phone calls, email and social media to inform our parents and community of issues that may arise at the campuses. 
  • The District has also adopted early detection of student behaviors that may be concerning and cause violence to themself or others. We have adopted a Behavior Threat Assessment program that will document such behaviors and is able to be transferred to any campus throughout the district as the student advances or moves to another school within our district. This allows us to provide students with support and interventions as needed.
Partnerships with First Responders and Community
 
  • Our district has a strong partnership with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Von Ormy Police Department, SAPD, and other local and state law enforcement agencies. We also have our school resource officers (SROs) for campuses.
  • We have coordinated with our local and state agencies for their support in emergency situations along with other first responders such as Fire Department and EMS. 
  • SWISD does engage regularly with our Safety and Security Committee to assess safety across our district. This committee consists of staff, community members, first responders, parents, and our Board members.
Emergency Preparedness and Response:
 
  • At SWISD we have adopted the Standard Response Protocols provided by the I Love You Guys Foundation. Our students and staff practice these drills throughout the school year to ensure their safety and ability to respond in an emergency situation.
  • We have also implemented their Standard Reunification Method to ensure students to be successfully reunited with their parents or guardians following an event, should the need arise.
  • Our district utilized specific drills and actions that align with state requirements and drills set fourth by the SA Fire Marshall. These protocols are practiced district-wide and remain the same for all tiers of campuses. 
  • SWISD also maintains a multi-hazard emergency operation plan for all campuses. This outlines the specific need at a campus due to hazards on roadways, railroads, and country living. This plan is reviewed, practiced and updated regularly.
  • We have provided all campuses and departments with maps, signage, and door numbering to support any emergencies that may arise at our district. All maps are checked on a regular basis for accuracy and if new numbers are needed at all doors into our buildings. 
  • Our district is proud to announce we have provided emergency go-kits to all our classrooms district-wide. In the case of an evacuation or other emergency We have provided our staff with basic supplies to assist with immediate needs in an emergency until first responders arrive. 
Continuous Improvement Process:
 
  • At SWISD we are constantly seeing the need to improve our procedures and harden our campuses to outside threats. During the beginning, middle, and end of the school year we are hosting trainings for improvement. We always accept any kind of feedback for what the students, staff, and parents feel is needed to provide a safe learning environment for all students. 
  • Two times a year, SWISD hosts Safety Weeks at all campuses. This helps us to gain the feed back needed from the policies that are in place. We want to hear about issues with our emergency management system, PA issues, door issues, and any and everything we could help to improve our campuses.
  • We do encourage visitors to participate in these drills so they can also provide feedback for improvements.