Aztec High School Security Improvements

Aztec High School sits on 44 acres and is bisected by Zia Street. It is a multi-building, college-style campus that is fully open to the surrounding community. The administrative office is located in the heart of the campus, creating challenges to restricting visitor access. Following a tragic school shooting in 2017, Aztec Municipal Schools sought to improve school security by securing the campus. Greer Stafford provided recommendations in an earlier District-wide Security and Safety Assessment that included new perimeter barriers, strategic crossings at Zia Street, and a freestanding guard shack.

The security improvements project installed decorative, welded-wire fencing along the perimeter of the campus. New traffic gates with automatic openers and card readers & keypads were installed at all staff parking lots. New pedestrian security gates were placed strategically to allow for full emergency egress and pedestrian access at crossings and on-street drop-offs. Lastly a new main entrance was created to limit visitor access. Greer Stafford designed ADA compliant stairs and ramps that connected a raised pedestrian bridge over the irrigation ditch that separated the visitor parking lot from main campus. A new prefabricated guard shack and exterior security vestibule were installed to serve as the new ‘front door’ of the campus. The guard shack has a visual design aesthetic that is complementary to the existing campus and incorporates nearly 360-degree views for supervision of the exterior commons and visitor parking lot. Three other existing pedestrian bridge crossings were demolished as part of this project.

SIZE

130 GSF of renovations

SERVICES

Security assessment, programming, design, construction documents, construction administration, project management

HIGHLIGHTS

Security improvements using CPTED principles

Construction on active school site

Incorporates prefabricated guard shack