CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Tuloso-Midway High School had quite the scare Wednesday afternoon when an intoxicated intruder attempted to enter its campus, but superintendent Steve vanMatre said thanks to the school's layers of security, the man was unable to enter the school.
It was a typical Wednesday afternoon until vanMatre got wind of some shocking news.
“My assistant superintendent for operations and my assistant come barreling in the door," he said, describing the sequence of events.
He said he was then told that someone attempted to get on the high school's grounds without permission.
"They tell me that there's an intruder that's at the high school that's currently under arrest," VanMatre said. "You can imagine what I'm thinking: Is he armed? What happened prior to him being under arrest? Did our safety and security protocols work?"
When he arrived at the high school, vanMatre said he was greeted by multiple Corpus Christi Police Department units.
He was told that the man made it through the vestibule, and past the concierge, who vets everyone coming in.
“(The concierge) immediately calls our officer -- we have an armed security officer at the high school and two unarmed (officers)," vanMatre said. "That individual was outside and saw the man coming in.”
One of the officers made contact with the intruder, who then ran to the tennis courts.
“He was apprehended, he was arrested, and we went back and looked at the footage,” he said.
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VanMatre was satisfied with his team's emergency response, especially since no students were hurt. He now wants more of these vestibules at all Tuloso-Midway's campuses.
“This was a situation where, if if we didn't have the vestibule, or if we didn't have the armed police officer, they may have gotten into the school," he said.
It's for equipment such as this that he hopes voters will remember this story in November, when the district's bond package is on the ballot.
He hopes that money can help afford more security measures to keep everyone safe.
He's annoyed that districts have to find their own grants and funding for education and safety initiatives, instead of being able to depend on the state for what it needs.
“They provide millions of dollars for grants," VanMatre said. "But as a superintendent, I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to apply and compete for funding that should be a given to any ISD in the state of Texas.”
He said at least some of the current $27 billion surplus could be put to use in the Coastal Bend.
"Surely, a significant portion of that money can come to Tulsoso-Midway ISD, Corpus Christi ISD, Robstown ISD, so that we can do everything possible so we don't have another Uvalde?" he said.