PSJA ISD presents intruder-detection audit findings; district says campus names withheld for security

Dr. Noyola, presenting for student services, told the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District Board of Trustees on April 14 that keeping students and staff safe is a district priority and described results from intruder-detection audits conducted by the Texas Education Agency.

The audits examine four areas — intruder access, exterior door audits, classroom door practices and weekly door-sweep logs — to see whether an unauthorized person could enter campuses and whether required door inspections and logs are being maintained. Dr. Noyola said the district treats a green result as having no corrective action required and explained steps the district takes when findings are identified.

"Our top priority for PSJA ISD is to keep students and staff safe every single day," Dr. Noyola said. She described the audits'criteria: whether an intruder could access the campus without using the front door, whether exterior doors close and latch properly, whether classroom doors are locked during instruction and whether weekly door-sweep logs are maintained in front offices for three years.

Dr. Noyola said that when audits find problems, district staff including Guadalupe Garcia work with campus teams, maintenance and security to train personnel and submit work orders for repairs. She told the board there is a safety-and-security committee that reviews corrective actions. "If any specific details that you're interested, then we'd have to go to executive session," she said, and later added that the district does not share which campuses were visited because "it could lead to compromising important campus security information."

Trustee comments and follow-up questions addressed the committee visit and access to the memo. A board member who attended the committee meeting said they came away "very blessed and satisfied" and praised the small number of infractions that were "easy to fix." Trustees asked whether the board had received a memo listing the visited schools; Dr. Noyola said board members already had a memo in their binders and that more detailed information could be reviewed in executive session.

The presentation emphasized training for all campus staff and substitutes, weekly door logs and rapid maintenance responses for door repairs. Dr. Noyola said the logs are required to be kept in a binder in the front office and are reviewed during audits.

The board did not take formal public action on the audit at the meeting; trustees were offered the option to review campus-specific findings in closed session, which Dr. Noyola said is intended to avoid releasing information that could weaken campus security.