Two former Northeast Independent School District campuses that closed amid declining enrollment and budget pressures are now being repurposed into law enforcement training centers in San Antonio.
Bexar County commissioners say this offers a “win-win” solution for the school district and public safety.
Commissioners approved a five-year lease agreement at a Jan. 20 meeting that will consolidate training operations for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at the former Wilshire Elementary School near Fort Sam Houston.
At the same meeting, Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3) announced that the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) would also be moving forward with plans to relocate its Alamo Area Regional Law Enforcement Academy to the former Driscoll Middle School campus. This brings two of the district’s three campuses that shuttered last year into the realm of public safety training.
Moody described the agreements as a solution for school districts left with vacant campuses after closures and a potential model for what’s to come as more school districts continue to grapple with declining enrollment and academic performance at certain campuses.
“I just wanted to highlight it so as we go forward, we can kind of think about these opportunities,” Moody said. “I know we’ve had conversations with San Antonio ISD before and there are likely other ISDs out there who are going to face similar challenges in the future. This is a great opportunity for the public sector to partner and work together.”
Commissioner Tommy Calvert (Pct. 4) also praised the collaboration, pointing to national conversations around school repurposing and the benefit of realistic training environments for law enforcement.
In the wake of mass shootings such as the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Calvert said training in former school campuses can help officers prepare for real-world emergency response scenarios.
“Sadly, after things like Uvalde, we know there is training that can happen in a school where officers can become very sharp about the way these institutions are designed and think through how to respond and run toward that situation,” Calvert said. “This is a great collaboration, and I think it’s worthy of some awards.”
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the Wilshire campus will serve as a centralized training site for the department, which currently splits training for detention and patrol deputies between two leased locations.
Salazar says the move into the former elementary school is a practical medium-term solution that would save the county a “couple of hundred dollars a year” on rent, crediting the idea to former NEISD Superintendent Sean Maika, who resigned last month.
“Ultimately what we need is a dedicated training academy,” Salazar said. “That’s what we’d like to do, build from the ground up a brick-and-mortar training academy ourselves or with partners.”
While commissioners did not formally propose building a new facility, Moody raised the possibility of a collaborative “mega” law enforcement training site later involving AACOG and the San Antonio Police Department at an old school building.
Wilshire Elementary
Under the Wilshire agreement, the sheriff’s office will gain non-exclusive access to the former elementary school campus for $6,500 per month, or $78,000 annually, over a five-year term.
Wilshire Elementary currently houses part of the school district’s police force, along with the security and safety department following the campus’ closure last year.
The consolidation from the two locations on Buena Vista Street and the San Antonio College’s Law Enforcement Training Academy near Atascosa is expected to be largely cost neutral. NEISD will continue providing utilities, custodial services and routine maintenance at the campus, further reducing ongoing costs for the county.
The county will receive access to the facility for up to nine hours a day between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Any additional requests must be approved by NEISD and would be charged to the county at a rate of $60 per additional hour.
The agreement emphasizes that NEISD will retain control of the campus, with district operations taking precedence should scheduling conflicts arise.
Training activities will also be subject to restrictions, including prohibitions on pyrotechnics and any activities that could violate NEISD safety or operational protocols or disrupt district functions. NEISD safety and law enforcement personnel will also receive up to 24 days per year of no-cost use of BCSO’s firearms training range under a reciprocal provision.
According to the agreement, BCSO will cooperate with NEISD in hosting an annual Halloween “Trunk or Treat” event at the Wilshire campus. The sheriff’s office will also coordinate for deputies to participate in educational programs and activities at NEISD campuses and events to provide security and safety services. Officials clarified those activities will be part of deputies’ regular paid duties.
The agreement also calls for a cooperative effort to design and implement an educational program for NEISD students interested in law enforcement careers, with the goal of obtaining eventual certification as jailers and peace officers.
The agreement will take effect 91 days after the county delivers written notice terminating its existing training facility agreement. Sheriff’s office officials confirmed the notice was delivered Jan. 27, marking the start of the transition.
Driscoll Middle School
AACOG Executive Director Clifford Herberg confirmed the organization is converting the campus into the new home of the Alamo Area Regional Law Enforcement Academy, which provides training for police cadets across a 13-county region.
Construction is expected to begin soon, with minor modifications focused on expanding classroom space and upgrading technology infrastructure. Herberg said the academy is expected to move into the facility in August.
The regional academy provides the required training for cadets to meet Texas peace officer certification standards and primarily serves smaller municipalities and rural counties that do not operate their own training academies.
Herberg said the Driscoll campus will be used primarily for classroom instruction, with cadets completing firearms training, driving courses and other hands-on exercises at separate facilities.
A broader shift in how closed campuses are reused
The reuse of closed school campuses has become an ongoing conversation as districts across Texas and the country explore new purposes for shuttered educational facilities amid declining enrollment.
In Austin, school district leaders approved plans to redevelop a former elementary campus into affordable housing for teachers and staff, with hundreds of units aimed at addressing rising housing costs and workforce retention challenges.
Nationally, former school buildings have increasingly been repurposed for housing and community use as some real estate trends shift toward adaptive reuse — the process of converting existing structures for new functions rather than demolition.
County officials say the Wilshire and Driscoll projects represent one approach to putting vacant public property back into productive use while meeting growing regional public safety training needs.
