Safety measures proposed

Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.儲存M.Sept. 14--Rio Rancho school district officials are looking at ways to make campuses safer, including video intercom systems at every school entrance and modified windows that are harder to break.Last month, Michael Baker, director of Rio Rancho Public Schools security department, gave a full report to the school board recommending a number of measures.Baker said he and his staff reevaluated safety needs across the district over the summer by visiting every campus and looking at windows, landscaping, parking lots, entryways, lighting and the overall layout of the campus. From these visits, the staff came up with several recommendations."We are trying to make improvements," Baker said. "We have to find a way to balance an environment for learning versus having a safe environment."Baker said he does not know the exact cost yet, but it will be over $1 million.Among the suggestions was adding a video intercom system at every school. Such a system will be piloted at two schools this fall and if those work, Baker said the district will install them at every campus. He said the two schools haven't been selected yet.The system requires visitors to stand in front of a camera and push a button to alert staff inside. It will read their identification, and the school will run a quick background check to make sure the visitor is not a registered sex offender.Eventually, the district would like to access court records to make sure the visitor doesn't have a restraining order in place with staff or a student at the school, Baker said.Only after that is done, will a visitor be buzzed into the building. Baker said personal data will not be stored in the district's database.The new procedure, he said, will not be as convenient as it is now. Currently, visitors must sign in at the front office, state the reason for their visit a新蒲崗迷你倉d then receive a visitor badge. They may not necessarily have to show ID."It will take a few more minutes, and that's unfortunate," he said of the new system. "But we are making sure those coming to the school have legitimate business there."Baker said the problem is not so much adults coming to the campus, but high school students going to the middle school to visit their friends or students from other districts coming onto campus.In order to make the system work, campuses would have to be made more secure. That could include installing a six-foot fence around some of them.In addition, Baker recommends all district schools use an electronic entry system instead of keys. He said only about half use it now."It prevents others from entering without permission and records who is entering," he said. "It also notifies security when a door is ajar for a certain amount of time."Other safety measures will be done in the near future, Baker said. One of those is making the windows more secure.Baker told the board that some windows can be easily broken, allowing a gunman to see into the school. He said the windows could be replaced and built higher, or the district could install a piece of tinted film that would make it harder to see into the school and make the windows harder to break. He's recommending the film, because it is the cheaper alternative.Baker said he also wants to make sure the shrubbery at each school is kept at an appropriate height and doesn't provide a place for someone to hide.The district has 25 security guards for its campuses and two certified police officers at both Rio Rancho and V. Sue Cleveland high schools, as well as cameras at every campus.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at .abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage