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JBSA News
NEWS | Dec. 18, 2020

Feedback Fridays

By Brig. Gen. Caroline M. Miller 502d Air Base Wing Commander

Feedback Fridays is a weekly forum that aims to connect the 502d Air Base Wing with members of the Joint Base San Antonio community. Questions are collected during commander’s calls, town hall meetings and throughout the week.

If you have a question or concern, please send an email to jbsapublicaffairs@gmail.com using the subject line “Feedback Fridays.” Questions will be further researched and published as information becomes available.

Q. I and many of my coworkers are trying to understand why JBSA-Fort Sam Houston has 13 gates open (some 24/7) and JBSA-Randolph (four gates) can't open the East Gate.

The East Gate accommodates the entire east flight line operations and maintenance teams. It accommodates traffic from Schertz, Cibolo, New Braunfels and Seguin.

Having this gate closed is causing enormous delays at the Main Gate. In some cases it forces drivers to go all the way around the base to the South Gate, causing work reporting delays. It also increases pollution with all the idling vehicles.

Finally, it forces all the normal East Gate traffic to enter the Main Gate and work their way around base housing to get to the East flight line.

COVID-19 is not an excuse. Operations and maintenance at JBSA-Randolph have been hard at work this entire time. We'd just like some support getting our personnel to work more effectively. Thank you for your time and consideration.

A. Thank you for your suggestions about the JBSA-Randolph gates.  Gate availability is based on the need to balance the safety of our JBSA community with our mission partner and traffic volume demands. 

We regularly monitor these demands for senior leader-requested changes or significant shifts in traffic patterns. We will respond accordingly while maintaining that balance. 

To date, our data shows wait times at the gates have decreased to minimal and pre-COVID-19 levels due in part to taking advantage of the South Gate and because a significant portion of JBSA-Randolph's mission partners are still teleworking.  Thank you for your patience and understanding during this unprecedented time.

Q. The Gateway Child Development Center at JBSA-Lackland screens children when they’re dropped off in the morning.

One morning, I noticed multiple parents had answered “yes” to a screening question and still dropped their child off with the Lackland CDC team.

When questioned about this, the staff did not realize the parents had marked “yes” for the question about someone in the household having/showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Why do we have these protocols if they’re not being used? How can we be sure our children are safe when providers are overlooking these critical questionnaire responses?

A.   Thank you for bringing this observation and concern to our attention. 

The staff at the Lackland Gateway CDC location who are working the health screening stations have been retrained on their role in receiving children and the steps to take when a screening question is answered with a “yes.” 

The management team will also be providing additional oversight to ensure procedures are being properly implemented to reduce the exposure risk within our programs. 

The intent of the health screening questions is to gain baseline information about a child’s overall health and potential exposure to COVID-19. 

When a parent answers “yes” to a question, it is the receiving staff members’ responsibility to notify the supervisor on duty. Additional questions may be asked to determine if the child can be admitted into care for that day.

Please feel free to ask to speak with the Lackland CDC director to discuss any additional questions or concerns, in person or call 210-671-3675.