By Melissa Phy
The Poway Unified School Board unanimously approved to spend nearly $600,000 from the district's capital facilities funds on various safety measure improvements throughout the district's schools Monday night.
The safety measures come as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy last December, where 20 adults and six children were killed during school hours after a gunman entered the campus.
PUSD joined forces with local law enforcement, fire departments and city government agencies to form a safety enhancement plan for the schools' practices and procedures.
"We responded by pulling together a task force and we worked with law enforcement very closely," Collins said at Monday's school board meeting. "We looked at what needs to be beefed up, what needs to be changed.”
Phase I of the priority list includes physical changes to classrooms and buildings to ensure student safety, such as inside locks, blinds, window tinting and door chimes.
"These are the preliminary recommendations… there is another set that they don’t yet have the funding for yet," Collins told the board. "Law enforcement has made these your top priority."
The total cost for these changes comes in just under $600,000, a figure Collins says comes from the district's capital facilities funds.
“It may sound like a lot of money, but when you’re trying to ensure the safety of 30,000 kids... it’s not an expensive proposition,” Collins said.
According to the superintendent, phase II of the safety measures will be brought back around next year when more funding will allow for it. Due to state funding restrictions, seven of the district's schools are not included on the list.
Board member Penny Ranftle asked if security cameras were a priority for phase II. Mike Tarantino, director of facilities, maintenance and operation, said cameras were definitely a priority for high schools, with just Rancho Bernardo High currently without them.
Ranftle also suggested a CIF referee audit, to help control who comes on campus for sports events, but Collins said that may be harder to monitor.
"This work was really focused on from bell to bell," he said. "Unfortunately, we can’t provide the level of security we’d like to 24 hours a day. There is only so much we can control."
According to the district, here are some of the higher estimated costs of safety measure improvements included in the $600,000 figure:
- Inside locks at Garden Road Elementary: $29,561
- Window tinting at Westwood Elementary: $37,290
- Perimeter fencing/gates at Del Sur Elementary: $40,000
- Panic hardware for doors/gates at Oak Valley Middle School: $23,980
- Panic hardware for doors/gates at Meadowbrook Elementary: $20,983
- Inside locks at Mount Carmel High: $38,016
- Inside locks at Westview for double-doored rooms: $46,200
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