School security measures drawing more sales tax funding across midstate

As Middle Georgia school systems identify projects for their districts, usually through sales tax initiatives, safety and security measures are often a priority.

Bibb and Houston counties are eyeing camera systems, intrusion alarms and other measures, and all that came after Peach County decided to build an entirely new high school partially in response to security concerns.

"The safety and security of our students is always our first priority," said Mike Kemp, Bibb County's assistant superintendent for technology services.

Kemp's department is overseeing the installation of camera systems in classrooms, which started with Ballard-Hudson Middle School. While the cameras have other functions, they'll work with pre-existing surveillance systems in the hallways and building exteriors to further tighten up the facilities.

"It just enhances security in those buildings," Kemp said.

The cameras, which will cost about $4,500 per classroom, will be added to the rest of the middle schools, as well as the new Veterans Elementary School, out of the next education sales tax collection cycle.

Footage from the camera doesn't stream live, but a live feed will become available to administrators if a teacher pushes the call button on a microphone device that hangs around his or her neck. Recordings from the cameras are also available, so that could be useful if an incident takes place inside a teacher's classroom.

"That helps clarify what takes place in certain situations," Kemp said.

MULTIPURPOSE SYSTEM

Security is just one function of the cameras, though, said Eclan David, the principal at Ballard-Hudson.

More frequently, the cameras can be used for professional development, as teachers can record their lessons to watch and review later or even to be used in the evaluation process.

"Really more than anything, we want everyone to know that the professional development side of it, that's just as important as the security piece," David said. "That's something that we're very proud of."

Additionally, the recordings can be saved to a website for students to review later or even watch if they have to stay home from school due to an illness, preventing them from getting behind.

And both on recordings and live in the classroom, the camera hardware amplifies the teacher's voice while the microphone is in use.

"So instead of teachers having to use that standard, loud 'teacher voice,' they can talk at a regular voice level, and it would have a pretty loud projection that can be equally heard in all parts of the classroom," David said.

He noted that when the cameras were first being discussed, faculty members were hesitant. Their concern was that they'd be watched at all times so that they could be caught making mistakes. But the system doesn't allow principals to look in live unless the teacher provides him or her access.

"If you're just conducting yourself as a regular professional, then you don't have anything to worry about. You're just going about business as usual," David said.

Kemp is hopeful that as the systems are implemented across the district, other teachers will see it the same way.

"This is an initiative that is truly for the teachers," Kemp said.

SAFETY UP FRONT

School districts are also looking at the way they secure the entrances of school buildings.

Most of them in Houston and Bibb county are being built with secure vestibules -- the area at the front of the school where parents and other visitors can enter without getting into the main part of the school -- or one has been added.

"They can't just walk through the school," said Scott Hill, facilities director for Houston County schools.

The vestibule directs visitors to the main office to check in or have their student called up.

Only faculty and staff would have a key to go directly into the school building.

Schools that weren't built in a way that supports adding a vestibule, such as Warner Robins High School and Northside Middle, have a call-button system with an intercom to accomplish a similar goal.

New schools in Bibb County, such as Veterans on the west side of Macon, are also being built with secured entrance areas that are aimed at eliminating visitors from gaining undesired access to the building and its students.

"There's actually a restroom for visitors out here to keep you from coming into the school," Jason Daniel, executive director of capital programs for Bibb County schools, said during a recent tour of the school.

Of course, buildings still need to be secured after the children leave, and that's the main goal of the intrusion alarm systems that are part of the Houston County ESPLOST.

The alarms, monitored by Tyco Integrated Systems, will take over at a certain time each day to prevent burglaries and other incidents.

"Basically, it's motion sensors inside the building, so after hours, it arms," Hill said.

The intrusion alarms, which are being upgraded along with fire alarm panels as part of the sales-tax funding, will also help monitor the fire alarms and even the temperature of the refrigerators and freezers in school kitchens.

"It's part of the safety for the school environment," Hill said.

Both districts are making the upgrades to get schools on the "same playing field," in Hill's words, when it comes to the security of students and resources alike.

Paired with existing systems and policies, the hope is to more completely address any concerns that might arise.

"It really just pretty much covers all the areas you have," Kemp said.

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter @MTJTimm.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 8:39 PM with the headline "School security measures drawing more sales tax funding across midstate ."