Vernon school board gets update on security upgrades

VERNON — Security director James Barta came before the Vernon Township School Board with the final draft of the upgrades to be made to each school to keep students safe from unauthorized visitors.

After meeting with several state-approved contractors, the plan for each building has come together.

Glen Meadow Middle School is one of the more complicated modifications, according to Barta. A second set of interior doors need to be replaced and moved back, and a campus monitor will be installed in a space that is currently used a closet. This larger configuration will allow for parents to wait in this area to pick up students and drop off any items.

This is the highest-priced portion of the project at more than $39,000, Barta said. Most of the cost is in the six doors that will have to be added.

The next largest project would be the entryway at Loundsberry Hollow Middle School. Currently there is only one set of doors, so the four doors would be installed just before the entrance to the main office. The monitor for this area will be in a booth along the wall near the office. These improvements will cost $38,700.

At the high school, the plan is to lock the doors at the top of the stairs in the entryway, and to alarm the second set of doors on the first floor. Then a hole will be made in the wall from the entrance to the art office, a window will be installed and a monitor will be seated in that office to check visitors in and out.

A second set of doors will need to be added to Rolling Hills Primary School. There is a window in place that can be used for a monitor, but a pass-through will have to be added as well.

The last two schools, Cedar Mountain Primary and Walnut Ridge Primary, are the easiest schools to work with, Barta said. They both have interior doors and windows in the right places. He said it's just a matter of retrofitting the windows with a pass-through.

All the buildings will use the existing RAPTOR identification system to scan driver's licenses and verify backgrounds of visitors before they enter the building. This won't add to the approximately $130,000 price tag for all of the improvements, according to Barta, but this price is still subject to negotiation.