More safety measures for local elementary schools approved

A committee has recommended several additional security measures at the elementary schools.

Five of seven recommendations were approved by the board of education at a meeting April 27.

The committee was made up of certified staff, classified staff, parents, school administrators and community representatives from each elementary school, Superintendent Matt Thompson told the Advocate.

Every elementary had at least two representatives including with one of those being a parent, Thompson said.

“We review safety measures constantly but wanted to do a specific review of elementary schools this year,” he said. “Providing additional layers of safety is always our focus.”

The specific recommendations approved include:

• Additional security cameras

• Bollards for the sidewalk areas of the schools. 

• Additional key card access doors

• Additional tint on all windows that face publicly accessible areas

• Screens on all playground fences to limit visibility from outside areas.

The five recommendations were approved by unanimous vote.

The total cost of the recommendations comes to a little more than $200,000, which would be taken out of restricted funds available only for maintenance/facility projects, Thompson said.

Two other recommendations were not approved initially, which Thompson said need more time to work through.

Those include stop-arm gates to stop traffic from the back of the buildings and remodeling the front office areas to include a transaction window. 

The district previously approved several safety measures.

Those include purchase of the Xonar weapons detection system and the Centegix crisis alert system at the high school and middle school.

The district has also improved access to mental health professionals and hired a second school resource officer at the middle school. 

Each of the elemtnary schools currently have one SRO. The middle school has two and the high school has two.  There is also the chief of police.

School officials have also installed new video security equipment.