Wichita school board gets update on district’s new $3 million security plan

New security measures at Wichita schools may be “a little inconvenient” for parents and visitors, Terri Moses told Wichita school board members Monday.

“But I always ask, ‘If you have the choice between convenience and safety, what is your answer going to be?’ ” said Moses, director of security services for the Wichita school district. “And that answer is always, always safety.”

Moses updated district leaders on the progress of a $3 million security upgrade that includes new high-definition cameras and other surveillance equipment, computers, keyless-entry doors, a revamped dispatch center and more.

The overhaul, approved by the board more than a year ago, is intended to replace a hodge-podge of surveillance and security systems at 95 district buildings, some of which not long ago depended on dial-up modems. District security officials collaborated with law enforcement agencies and building administrators to design the systems and continue to roll out security initiatives.

Over the past few weeks, schools began launching the Hall Pass visitor security system, which will be in all Wichita schools by mid-October. The system requires visitors to swipe a driver’s license, which is checked against a nationwide database of sex offenders, and then prints a dated, personalized badge for each visitor.

The system has led to lines at some schools in the morning, particularly at elementary schools, where some parents are used to walking young children to their classroom doors.

The district’s security plan also calls for updated crisis plans for each school building and mandatory crisis drills twice a year at each building, Moses said.

Before the start of this school year, teachers and other district employees watched a video about the “Run, Hide, Fight” intruder response plan. The strategy urges people confronted by a shooter to assess the situation and respond accordingly, either by escaping to a safe place, taking cover or attempting to disarm the intruder.

School board members watched the video Monday as part of the security update.

“There are times when I know I’ve struggled with us talking about security, because I think it can create a panic, create a fear,” said board member Lynn Rogers.

“But at the same point, if I look and see the incidents that have happened around the country, the response is often, ‘I can’t believe it happened here.’ And I guess one of the things I’ve realized is, it could happen here. It could happen anywhere,” he said.

“ Talking about it and preparing for it doesn’t mean that the schools are unsafe. It just means we’re prepared for it.”

As part of the recent upgrades, some district security officers completed advanced training in a program called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and have redesigned entryways, added or improved security cameras, added fencing or installed buzz-in entry systems at some schools, Moses said.

At Chisholm Trail Elementary School, for example, visitors must hit a buzzer to request entrance to the building, and a camera beams video footage of the visitor to a monitor in the school office.

“Over 100 new cameras, 25 DVRs and TV monitors. … That’s a prevention tool,” Moses said. “When somebody walks in and sees those screens there, they know there are cameras throughout the school.”

Recent security assessments of Wichita schools led the board last fall to close the Planeview Community Library, a small branch inside Colvin Elementary School. Security officials said the public library posed a security risk because patrons couldn’t be adequately monitored once they passed through a front-office checkpoint.

First look at new Southeast

Bond managers on Monday provided the public’s first look at a new Southeast High School, scheduled to open in about two years.

The board unanimously approved a $1.17 million contract with Unruh Excavating to complete preliminary ground work – rough grading and base paving – at the site.

An aerial video “sketch” presented to the board showed the massive 300,000-square-foot high school, which will sit on about 125 acres near 127th Street East and Pawnee. It includes a two-story “tech plaza” extension on the east side of the building.

“We’ve taken all the technology programs and kind of grouped them together … which we think is going to be very exciting,” said Kenton Cox of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture. “Something different for Southeast High School.”

The preliminary sketch also featured a large black-and-gold buffalo, the Southeast High logo, along one side of the school’s main entrance.

Musical beginning

The North High Madrigals singing group opened the school board meeting Monday with a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2014 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Wichita school board gets update on district’s new $3 million security plan."