Conroe ISD outlines 2023 bond rollout for districtwide safety upgrades

Conroe ISD staff updated the School Safety and Security Committee Wednesday on the district's implementation of safety and security projects funded by the 2023 bond referendum, saying work has begun at multiple campuses and the district expects to standardize security features systemwide by 2028.

The update focused on three primary elements of the bond: secure classroom corridors at elementary and intermediate campuses, exterior card-reader access for exterior doors, and exterior cameras aimed at driveways. "The task given by this committee with the funds allocated in the 2023 bond referendum were for elementary and intermediate to provide secure classroom corridors," staff said, adding that exterior card readers are a priority to reduce key distribution across the district.

The committee was told the work began in earnest after school ended May 27 and covers a large volume of material deliveries, programming and infrastructure inputs. New campuses opening in August, including Timber Mill High School, were included in the rollout list, and projects with later openings remain in progress. Some campuses are still in design; construction-manager and design teams have been assigned for upcoming bids. The presenter said the plan is to have every campus brought to the same standard by 2028.

Committee members asked about license-plate-reader capability for driveway cameras. Staff responded the cameras being installed are not configured to automatically run plates against a database but are high-resolution enough to allow manual zooming to capture a plate. A committee member recommended testing for image clarity because buffering and refresh rates sometimes produce images that cannot be enhanced to read a plate; that member noted one vendor's service charges roughly $2,500 per camera per year while other vendors sell an LPR-capable camera with a one-time cost.

Staff agreed to gather sample images after initial commissioning of systems this fall and return to the committee with a report. The presenter reiterated that exterior cameras are intended to aid post-incident review rather than to serve as a tracking mechanism.

The committee heard that the exterior card readers are being prioritized so maintenance can reduce the number of exterior keys in circulation. A list of campuses currently being worked on was shown to the committee; staff said many campuses have multiple driveways and therefore multiple driveway-focused cameras.

District staff took questions and said they will return with a follow-up report on camera image tests and the schedule for remaining projects.