Area school departments are buzzing with new security measures, although superintendents say recent initiatives are only tangentially related to the last month’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Perhaps the most overt measures are in Cape Elizabeth, where the school board has approved plans to install a “controlled access” system on the main doors of the high school, the middle school and Pond Cove Elementary.

Meanwhile, in Scarborough, Superintendent George Entwistle has formed a Health, Safety and Security Team in hopes of eliciting a quick response to a variety of issues, while the South Portland school board is slated to adopt an updated emergency plan.

Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Meredith Nadeau said the new entry system was proposed last summer by the department’s emergency management team, a group of school and town officials that meets monthly to review action plans and procedures. However, the idea was put on hold when news came last fall of a pending curtailment in state subsidy dollars. In the meantime, a “lockdown drill” was held in November to acclimate new administrators to Cape’s emergency management plan.

The door proposal then gained renewed urgency following the Dec. 14 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 children and six adults were killed by a gunman. In that case, it is unclear how the gunman gain access to the building, though police say he was not buzzed in.

“The buzzer system is used in schools throughout the country,” said Nadeau said. “It certainly doesn’t prevent the type of incident that occurred in Newtown from occurring, but I think it is a preventative measure. The emergency management team, including Police Chief [Neil] Williams, feels it is an appropriate step forward.”

Nadeau said at a Jan. 8 school board meeting that she is still awaiting final cost estimates for the new security system. However, she noted the funds will come from the schools’ operating budget and will not be affected by the $196,872 state curtailment, which is being borne by savings on budgeted line items for fuel and health insurance, as well as contingency funding.

Once the new entry system is in place at the main and service entrances of each school, access will only be available when a visitor is “buzzed in” by staff in building’s the main office. A video monitor and intercom will help office staff decide whether to allow entry. The only time doors will be unlocked will be “for the few minutes when students are arriving,” Nadeau said, adding that visitors will still be required to check in at the main office, as they are now, even when granted access under the new system.

The new doors and communication devices will be installed during February vacation, said Nadeau.

“One of the difficult tasks of the emergency management team is balancing convenience and a welcoming atmosphere, but also the many difficult and various threats that schools face,” said School Board Chairman John Christie.

“In the long run it will likely feel less convenient but we hope it won’t be less welcoming,” said Nadeau.

Cape’s emergency management team has also called for better communication within and between the department’s three schools and the central office in town hall. Nadeau said she also plans to buy a set of hand-held radios, similar to those used in police and fire departments.

Nadeau said information will be shared with parents “on a school-by-school basis” when the new doors are installed. However, she stressed the purpose is not the exclude parents and volunteers from the buildings.

“If people can make clear the purpose of their visit, we’re happy to help them find their way,” she said. “We value having parents and volunteers in our school.”

State law requires each school board to review and approve a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan every year. Cape did so in June. However, South Portland school directors last put their stamp to an emergency plan “about two years ago,” according to Superintendent Suzanne Godin.

At the Jan. 14 school board meeting, Godin distributed the plan, reviewed by fire, police and school officials in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

“While we can’t prevent these things from happening, we can be prepared and try to protect as much as possible,” Godin said.

The updated plan, which includes color-coded procedure documents for teachers and staffers, is kept in every classroom in the district, as well as the central kitchens. The plan also includes sheltering and lockdown procedures, as well as protocols for dealing with everything from student fights to a tornado from initial preparedness to post-disaster recovery efforts.

“The one piece that we have not done that we need to be more diligent about is having the school board actually vote on this emergency management plan,” said Godin.

The board is slated to vote on the plan at its Feb. 11 meeting. A workshop on the plan, as yet to be scheduled, will be conducted before the vote, with Fire Chief Kevin Guimond attending to answer questions, said Godin.

In Scarborough, the school board has not adopted a new comprehensive emergency management plan since 2008. However, Entwistle did announce the creation of a new emergency team made up of himself, Assistant Superintendent JoAnne Sizemore, Town Manager Tom Hall, Fire Chief Michael Thurlow, Police Chief Robert Moulton, Facilities Director Todd Jepson and Technology Director Jennifer Nitchman, as well two principals, two parents, a guidance counselor, a school resource officer, a health team member and one representative each from the school board and the Town Council.

The group had its first organizational meeting last week.

Entwistle has tasked the group with addressing not only security issues, but also any potential crisis in the schools, listing things from bullying and texting to an outbreak of the H1N1 virus or similar pandemic. In this way, he said, it will deal with “the nuts and bolts of issues” that go beyond the school’s existing plan for crisis management.

“We did a brainstorming exercise of the types of things this group might take on in the future,” said Hall, of the initial meeting. “Obviously, school security is top of the list. But there’s a whole lot of other stuff. I think the strength of this committee going forward is that many of the problems that manifest themselves in schools are community problems.

“We can’t expect the schools themselves to sort them out all alone,” said Hall. “There are larger societal issues.”

Copy the Story Link