Efforts are underway to increase security at Washington Community Schools.
At the recent school board meeting, Superintendent Jeff Dicks said staff is looking at ways to limit outside access to the buildings and the effort has been led by technology director Jeff Brock, “We are going to have to meet with all of our secretary positions, currently at the high school we have an OJT (on the job training) student who greets and handles a lot of that. That would not be a job for an OJT person, because they’re going to have to make some decisions on do I let them in or do I not let them in. It’s a video and they can interact verbally as well, before they hit the button to open the door. And at the high school, I see you’re going to have to hire someone because we have 150-180 kids moving to Kirkwood throughout the day and you can’t just constantly let that go, leave it open, that defeats the purpose.”
Dicks said the system will include a video camera, which will record who is allowed in and who swipes in. The middle school will take some extra consideration, as the main entrance is not handicap accessible. A timeline for installation is not yet definite and cost is estimated between $15,000 and $20,000.