Tuesday evening, the Marion County Board of Education met for its regular meeting and heard a presentation from Marion County Sheriff Jimmy Riffle and Marion County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Executive Director Chris McIntire for an update on the district's facility security.
The county is collaborating with emergency responders to standardize and update the safety and security of every school in the district. So far, the team has walked through all three high schools as well as Watson and White Hall Elementary schools.
Safety checks will be conducted at rest of the schools throughout the school year.
"What started out as, what we thought, wouldn't be much has turned out to be pretty time consuming," Riffle said. "So far, we've seen some generalized problems."
The issues Riffle laid out were kept general, so as to not jeopardize weaknesses in specific schools. Windows with mismatched numbering systems, outdated response plans, outdated floorplans, defunct locks and many other issues were found in the first few locations analyzed by the team.
Major concerns such as a lack of accessibility for law enforcement and unsecure doors and windows have been flagged and a comprehensive report will be issued for each location so solutions can be recommended.
"We're hoping to standardize these things throughout the school system," Riffle said. "If there is — God forbid — a critical incident at a school, we as first responders ... all need to know where to look to find this information."
McIntire proposed some technological solutions that may help standardize and upgrade the security in the schools. Keycard activated locks and digital peepholes were some of the suggestions, and McIntire offered his department's assistance in seeking grants to fund these security improvements.
The fixes implemented will ultimately be up to the school board, but School Superintendent Donna Hage said that the partnership between the school system and these agencies has already been eye opening.
"It's a wonderful process and there's a wealth of data they are providing us — not as a 'gotcha' moment, but to provide us recommendations based on their expertise," Hage said. "That's invaluable for what we can do for our schools and communities."
FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE
While the board is yet to implement any changes regarding results from these security reviews, Tuesday night's agenda did have an item that will hopefully make the schools more secure.
Rank One Computing, a Morgantown-based software developer, presented one of their products to Marion County Schools in August. Tuesday, the board approved the implementation of facial recognition software in the schools.
ROC's product is a software that "makes dumb cameras smart" and upgrades a school's existing security and adds facial recognition and other capabilities.
The system works by the schools setting up a local database containing photos of faculty, staff and parents who are approved to visit school grounds. This allows secretaries and front office personnel to identify who is at the door before the visitor ever hits the buzzer.
The software can also recognize sex offenders and known criminals by syncing with law enforcement data. The camera can also alert school officials if a guest is carrying a firearm.
"This gives us a unified system that we can utilize at all of our schools. Many school systems have looked at solutions that address someone who's already in the school building. What I like about this software is it stops them at the point of entry," Hage said.
Marion County Schools will be the first school system in the state to implement this software and others are not far behind. Board members agreed that the investment will be worth it.
"We need to give our administrators every tool in the toolbox to keep our buildings safe," Board Vice President Tom Dragich said.
The $150,000 software will be purchased with unspent technology funds.
Other business:
- The board heard an update on the improvements coming to East-West Stadium.
- The board heard several readings for policy revisions regarding the employee handbook and state compliance.
- The board prepared for an upcoming meeting with the county assessor regarding Amendment 1.
The board's next meeting will be Sept. 19 at 6 p.m.
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