N.Y. schools implement security technology

Nov 28, 2006 12:40 PM

Several New York local school districts have increased spending on security after recent school shootings across the country.

Administrators say they think preventative measures already in place -- including single points of entry and checking in visitors -- work well.
But some school leaders say they are constantly looking for ways to make their schools more secure, and money put toward students' safety is well spent.

"Money is being set aside as equally as it is for textbooks and curriculum development because they're all equally important now," Michael Stalteri, principal of Staley Upper Elementary School in Rome, N.Y., tells the Utica Observer-Dispatch. "Safety is first before instruction, curriculum, salaries, you name it. Without that, none of us are going to be able to perform to do all those other things."

According to the newspaper's report, earlier this month, the Utica Board of Education approved spending about $138,000 to increase security in district schools, including stationing door monitors in each of the nine city elementary schools.

The Rome school board is considering spending about $435,000 to secure buildings, including installing 86 security cameras in elementary schools.

Increasing security is a typical reaction to clusters of highly publicized school shootings, experts say.

Since August, at least eight people -- including five girls at an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a principal in Cazenovia, Wis. -- have been killed inside U.S. schools.

"We have been asked by more schools if there is separate funding available for security," Jonathan Burman, spokesman for the New York Education Department, tells the newspaper. "We do aid physical plant improvements, security cameras and metal detectors."

Districts boost security and spending to make parents feel safe, said Bill Woodward, director of training and technical assistance at the Center for Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado.

But without identifying their weaknesses and developing a comprehensive plan, districts might be wasting their money, he said. Woodward suggests school districts do a comprehensive review of their individual needs before spending.

The Rome school district is in the process of awarding a contract to install a $435,000 video surveillance, monitoring and access control system in the elementary schools. The plan calls for 86 surveillance cameras to be installed at the eight elementary schools in the city. The recent school shooting prompted the district to take a more proactive approach toward getting new cameras.

"After the recent episode, we pushed for the project," says William Thomas, assistant superintendent for business and finance. "We knew we had to do this."

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