New Security Measures At Some Schools

Entrance Requires Being 'Buzzed In'

Joanna Rubio, secretary for Jones Elementary School, talks Friday to a person wanting to enter the Springdale school. A new security system was installed at the school in the beginning of the year allowing staff to see the person entering the school through a monitor before buzzing them into the building.
Joanna Rubio, secretary for Jones Elementary School, talks Friday to a person wanting to enter the Springdale school. A new security system was installed at the school in the beginning of the year allowing staff to see the person entering the school through a monitor before buzzing them into the building.

— A new security measure the School District is testing at some of its buildings has won praise from administrators and parents alike.

Schools using the new system keep all of their doors, including their main entrances, locked during the school day. Visitors must be “buzzed in” at the front door by a staff member in the main office. Staff may communicate first with visitors through an intercom and observe them through a camera mounted above the door.

Gary Compton, assistant superintendent for support services, presented the concept last summer to principals. Several of them expressed interest.

Walker Elementary has worked with the system since August.

“We really like it,” said Dondi Frisinger, principal at Walker. “The parents have said they appreciate the safety, even if they have to wait a few seconds to be buzzed in. The parents have given us very positive feedback.”

Through video monitors, staff can see what visitors are wearing, what they’re carrying and whether they appear suspicious in any way.

It’s a helpful system, especially for schools configured in such a way that visitors aren’t immediately channeled into the main office, Frisinger said.

The system also has been installed at Jones and Elmdale elementary schools, as well as the Alternative Learning Environment sites on Meadow Avenue and on Emma Avenue.

Five more buildings — Bayyari, Hunt, Lee, Sonora and Turnbow elementary schools — will be equipped with the same system soon, Compton said.

The district eventually will explore installing the system at upper-level schools, which present bigger challenges. The Springdale High School campus, for example, has dozens of entrances to multiple buildings.

“Kids are coming and going between one building and another,” Compton said. “We’re just not ready to do that yet.”

Elmdale’s system launched right after the winter holiday break, but it worked only for about a week before it broke down. District employees are working to repair it.

All of the installation work has been done by district employees who specialize in electronics and technology. The cost of supplies amounts to about $3,000 per building, Compton said.

“Right now, building security and building safety are a big, big issue,” Compton said. “We don’t want to overreact, but we want to act as appropriately as we can. It’s a difficult line to walk.”

A similar security system was in place at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., the site of a mass shooting on Dec. 14. The door was locked when the shooter, Adam Lanza, arrived. Lanza reportedly gained access by shooting through a window near the front office.

Julie Shook is the mother of two children who attend Walker Elementary. While acknowledging no safety system guarantees against something like a Sandy Hook incident, she said the new measures at Walker certainly could deter people with malicious intentions.

“I absolutely love it,” Shook said. “It’s been wonderful. I have not seen any drawbacks. I’ve heard so many positive comments from parents who are so thankful for it.”

She said she has friends whose children attend other schools, some of whom have expressed an interest in the buzz-in system.

Melissa Fink, principal at Jones Elementary, said new construction at the building last summer caused the front office to lose its windows to the outside. The buzz-in system was implemented there to make up for that loss.

“From day one our parents have been very understanding,” Fink said. “They appreciate our No. 1 priority is to keep our kids safe.”

There are two video monitors showing visitors who come to the front door: one for the receptionists, and one in the principal’s office.

If receptionists or secretaries have doubts about a visitor’s intentions, they will contact the principal, who will go outside and speak with the person.

“If ever a person didn’t have a legitimate reason to be in the building, then they’d be refused entry,” Fink said. “And if they refused to leave, we’d call the police.”

Springdale isn’t the only school district using this system. Bentonville uses it at buildings where visitors do not have to enter through the front office, spokeswoman Mary Ley said. Those buildings include Apple Glen, Sugar Creek and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools, as well as the administration building.

No buildings in either the Rogers or Fayetteville school districts use the system, officials there said.

Compton said the new security measure is just one part of the Springdale district’s widespread effort to address safety.

The School District has a safety committee that meets regularly, often with Springdale police officials, to consider ways to improve safety.

Springdale police continue to train on the most up-to-date procedures to keep children safe, said Derek Hudson, department public information officer. Last week, a Springdale police sergeant and corporal attended a training course in Texas on what to do in the event of an armed intruder at a school.

“They may bring up some new ideas that we can bring to the safety committee and administrators,” Hudson said. “”We’ll see if there are some things we need to change.”

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