Safety at Mesa schools could be improved by adding fencing, replacing chainlink fences with wrought iron fences and relocating offices to the exteriors of campus, the district’s security director told the governing board Tuesday night.
After December’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the Mesa Unified School District moved up plans to do a site-by-site analysis of all the district’s campuses. Al Moore, Mesa’s director of security, led the effort and gave the first presentation.
While noting that proper fencing will improve security, Moore also told board members that “terrorist” acts like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School would be difficult to defend against.
“Someone who is intent to carry out an act that like will do it,” he said.
But the district can take steps to stop “opportunists” who may try to harm a child in an area that either doesn’t have fencing or has inadequate fencing.
“I think overall what we need to do is focus first on our elementary schools. Our junior highs and high schools have SROs (school resource officers) assigned to them,” he said. There are also 10 district security personnel who patrol the 51 neighborhood elementary schools, as well as the specialty campuses like the East Mesa Early Childhood Education Center.
There are seven elementary campuses where visitors have to walk onto campus to check in at the office, he said. “You already passed kids and classrooms to get to the office,” he told the board.
Working with staff, Moore said there have been low-cost ways identified to move the main entrance for those schools closer to the exterior.
Fencing also could be improved at the junior high and senior high schools, Moore’s report states.
All improvements will require funding. School Superintendent Mike Cowan said the board can access funds approved by voters in November as part of a $230 million bond package.
“There are recommendations in here. We need to identify what is most important and prudent for us to maintain and continue safety for our students,” he said.
The district is also looking at “safety protocols, procedures and practices,” such as what identification is needed by someone to come onto campus and how visitors sign in and out. That analysis could curb other potential safety issues, school board members said.
“I do think if we look at the recommendations, as well as the practices and procedures, we can certainly provide a more secure campus,” said Bruce Cox, the district’s associate superintendent.
While the district could build 8-foot-block walls with wire on them, that’s not what they - or the community - wants, board members said.
Moore noted as much in his report.
“This is not practical,” he said of those types of walls.
Board president Mike Nichols, a military veteran, said he served in communities around the world where those are the types of security measures are in place at schools.
“We live in a free country. I don’t want to see concertina wire around our schools. I hate those situations,” he said. He acknowledged schools like Mesa are taking more steps to secure schools, but he hopes procedures, and mental health services, will also improve.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6549 or mreese@evtrib.com
downtownresident posted at 8:07 am on Sun, Feb 17, 2013.
Not sure how a wrought iron fence gives more security than chain link?
It'll make some contractors rich, though. How is a 6 foot high iron fence more secure that 6 feet of chain link?
You can climb over or shoot through either one, so, leave the chain link fences in place and be reasonable.
If someone's intent on doing harm,a fence won't stop them!
ConservAZtive posted at 10:22 am on Sun, Feb 17, 2013.
Why don't we start by getting rid of the politically correct jargon and misdirection. What the heck is a "School Resource Officer?" Someone who helps with homework? A person that provides construction paper and glue for projects? It doesn't exactly strike fear into the hears of the bad guy with a gun... or the kid thinking about bringing a weapon to school! How about calling them armed police officers... or maybe armed security specialists... or perhaps good guy with a gun? Let's get serious by letting people know we are serious. It won't work if we can't at least start by calling it what it is!!!
carin1029 posted at 10:53 am on Sun, Feb 17, 2013.
A school resource officer is a sworn police officer assigned to a particular school. That means they are armed, and changing what you call them won't make any difference in that. Police are only supposed to be scary to those who have done something wrong. Kids need to be able to feel safe going to the SRO to provide information about fights, weapons, drugs, etc. A good part of the job is being accessible to the students on campus. Giving them some scary name won't make them more effective in stopping bad guys, but it might make them less effective in protecting the people they're there to protect.
k33j88 posted at 4:59 am on Mon, Feb 18, 2013.
There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when a student could learn responsible gun ownership through a program called------a "rifle club". This program was offered, even encouraged, to remove the mystery and fear now being taught to our youth. We never had a cop at school, there were not any shootings, then again, food stamps were not considered a badge of honor.
amymacfever69 posted at 9:06 am on Mon, Feb 18, 2013.
At my daughter's elementary school in East Mesa (and the Jr High AND high school), the front doors to the schools are never locked and there are classrooms that are in the front of the school. My daughter had a class in one of the front classrooms and the door was never locked and most of the time, it was propped open. When we lived in Elk Grove, IL, EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL in the district, whether it was an elementary school, Jr. High or high school, there was a security foyer. Once inside the foyer, you had to buzz the front desk, state your name, child's name, child's teacher and reason for being there. When I was a mom going there several times a week, it was a nuisance but now I look back and think that the extra security measure was appropriate. Also, every single door was locked from the outside and every single teacher and aid had to have a badge that needed to be swiped, along with a passcode (in case it was lost or stole) to enter ANY door in the school. It wouldn't take that much to install the same security measures in all schools. Makes more sense than replacing chain link fences with wrought iron.