Safety & Security
All visitors to the school, including parents, are required to enter through the front door, sign in, and wear a visitor badge or Post Oak name tag.
Visitor Registration
The safety of students at The Post Oak School is our highest priority. The school uses Raptor, a visitor registration system that enhances school security by reading visitors’ driver’s licenses, comparing information to a sex offender database, alerting campus administrators if a match is found, and (assuming no match was made) printing a visitor badge that includes a photo. Raptor provides a consistent system to track visitors while also protecting our students.
All visitors to the school must present a valid state or government-issued photo identification card to the receptionist. If there is no match, the system will print a visitor’s pass, which includes the person’s name, photo, date of visit, and destination within the building. In case of a match in the system, guidelines are in place to positively engage the visitor and consider the validity of the request to visit the school. Parents need only to present their ID once, and on subsequent visits their names will be entered manually to create a visitor badge.
Raptor is only scanning the visitor’s name, date of birth, address, and photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The system also keeps the driver’s license number in the event law enforcement should need assistance in identifying a visitor to the campus. Additional visitor data will not be gathered, and no data will be shared with any outside company or organization.
MDC Guests
When arriving on campus, all guests must report immediately to the Museum District Campus office located in the High School building and request permission to visit within the school. Students and staff members who are expecting guests must provide the school office with the guest’s name, affiliation, reason for visit, and duration of visit at least one school day before the guest arrives. All guests must present an ID to be run through the Raptor system and wear the provided name tag while on campus.
MDC Student Identification
MDC students are issued a name badge and a student ID card. The name badge must be worn visibly above the waist while on the extended campus in the Houston Museum District during the school day and on all school-related outings. Students must carry their student ID card with them at all times. Lost student ID cards and name badges will be replaced for a fee.
Security
The school employs Peace of Mind Security and off-duty police officers, who provide security on both our Bissonnet and Museum District Campuses from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Off-duty police officers are on campus during arrivals and dismissals to assist with traffic flow, safety, and security. In addition, security officers are provided during evening special events on campus.
The Post Oak School administration reviews security procedures on a routine basis. If you have concerns or recommendations, please send a note to the head of school.
At the Bissonnet Campus
During the school day, children are not to leave their classroom or the building without the permission of their teacher. However, freedom of movement within the classroom is a part of the Montessori approach to education. Immediately adjacent to many of the classrooms is an outdoor environment that acts as an extension of the indoor environment and, as such, is open to the children in accordance with the ground rules of their class. Some classrooms allow children to work in the hallways of the school as well. Children are often given permission to walk to other parts of the building during the day. Each classroom develops a monitoring system that lets the teacher know the comings and goings of each child.
Parents dropping off or picking up their child(ren) in Full-Day Young Children’s Community or Primary will use a swipe card to gain access through the gates, which will remain locked at all times. Parents receive swipe cards at the classroom walk-through.
Museum District Access
The MDC is a subset of the Greater Houston Museum District (see map following this section) and students must comply with boundaries. The level of access in effect at any time for a given student depends on the student’s year in school, the time of day, and day of week. At the outset of the school year, the faculty will take students on a walking tour of the campus and indicate the various boundaries for the campus. The freedom to move in these areas at appropriate times is both integral to the school’s Museum District partnerships and a great privilege. When traveling around the Museum District, Middle School students must be with a faculty member and High School students must be with at least two other students.
The boundary areas are created to facilitate safety and supervision of students. Students enrolled at Post Oak agree to follow the rules regarding the campus boundaries. Violations of the permitted campus access will result in disciplinary action. Repeated boundary infractions by a student may result in campus restrictions or other disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
Students moving about within the Museum District Campus must sign out and make arrangements with the supervising staff member on duty before leaving the school campus. Upon arrival at a partner institution, students must immediately check in with the appropriate staff member. Students are expected to report their location to the on-duty staff person and to notify the on-duty staff person if their location changes. The use of mobile phones is encouraged in this regard.
Late arrivals at destinations, late return to campus, or failure to report location changes, regardless of reason, may result in loss of privilege. All students must be back on campus by 3:20 p.m.
Child Abuse Reporting
The Texas Family Code requires reports of suspected child abuse or neglect to Family Protective Services (FPS). A person who suspects that a child may have been abused or neglected, and fails to report it within 48 hours, has committed a punishable offense. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, or if you have questions about whether the concern you have constitutes abuse or neglect, call the 24-hour toll-free Abuse/Neglect Hotline at 1-800-252-5400. The Post Oak School abides by these requirements.