A message from Bellaire High School Principal Michael McDonough:

I wanted to offer a few reminders of tools that Bellaire has in place as related to campus safety and security.  Currently we have the following in place:

– We have Three full time HISD Police Officers

– We have A leadership team that actively supervises the campus

– We have an anonymous reporting tool on the right-hand side of our website.  The submissions come directly to me and then I employ the appropriate team members.

– We have 11 counselors, a social worker, nurse, Grad Lab coach, and a number of student support team members that are available to assist students and their families as needs arise.

– We have more than 100 cameras on campus that help us monitor activity.

– Our absolute best tool is the strong relationships that we have with our students.  Our campus is safe in large part because of the confidence they have in us to listen, investigate, and respond to their concerns.

In the last 36 hours the HISD has contacted all campus principals to let us know that safety policies and procedures are being actively reviewed.  We have asked Risk Management to come out to audit our campus in terms of how to make us safer.  And while we have already made some internal adjustments, their expertise will be critical.

I am a father of two and the last two days have been incredibly tough.  As my heart extends to Florida, I remain committed to Bellaire and ensuring our students can attend school with as little distraction as possible.

Thanks,
Michael