The Philomath School District will move forward with the installation of a new electronic door system at the high school, middle school, elementary school and primary school as part of efforts to improve on-campus safety and security.
During its Oct. 10 meeting, the Philomath School Board approved of the $97,233 project on a unanimous vote.
Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday said the district is in dire need of the upgrade.
“We’re in a place where the system we have still works but making updates to it gets harder and harder and harder because of the software system and how creative we need to be to be able to make those kinds of adjustments,” Halliday said.
The school district’s technology department, which put the issue before the School Board back in April, gathered information for a solution and solicited a quote for both the hardware and software from Ednetics, a company with offices around the West, including Portland.
The Ednetics work includes $74,177 for installation services. Broken down by school, materials costs are $12,131 at Philomath High, $9,482 at Clemens Primary, $8,904 at Philomath Elementary and $5,429 at Philomath Middle School.
The effort follows an April conversation that the district’s technology director, Mark Neville, had with the School Board regarding various needs, including outdated door access.
The project appeared to only increase in importance following a safety concern that surfaced in the spring involving a threat that had been made by a parent. The school district then held a work session to discuss various aspects of the district’s safety policies and protocols just a few days after a separate threat involving Philomath Academy.
In a separate project, the school district is also updating its phone system, which ties into the overall safety system.
Earlier in the meeting before the vote on the new electronic door system, Halliday updated the board on progress that had been made in several areas following last month’s work session on student and employee safety, such as proposed updates to policy language.
Halliday also briefed the board on required drills that occur over the school year — at least one is required each month. Fire alarm drills are the most common but schools also have earthquake and safety threat drills twice a year. And, the district works with its bus company on bus evacuation drills.
“We’ve had a couple of lockdown or secure-in-place drills,” Halliday said. “Most of it has been for students and staff to be able to hear the sounds of the alarms and how they differ.”
School officials are also checking during such drills on where alarms and announcements can and cannot be heard.
Halliday said she was scheduled to meet Oct. 11 with the Philomath Police Department and Philomath Fire and Rescue to renew safety conversations.
The district also plans to move forward with the resurrection of a full safety committee. Quarterly meetings would include facilities and technology employees plus representatives from the employee unions and the school district. Monthly meetings also occur between the facilities department and campus stewards that represent each school.
Among the discussions taking place is a look at windows at each school, a topic that gained attention when the high school’s air-conditioning system failed and certain classrooms could not be aired out. Beyond ventilation, however, other safety-related concerns were raised.
Halliday also mentioned that Sue Graves, safety coordinator for the Lincoln County School District, spoke to Philomath personnel about threats and emergencies.
“This was a woman who when all the shooting happened at Sandy Hook (in Newtown, Connecticut), they called her to go as one of the resource people,” Halliday said. “It tells you that she’s been involved quite extensively unfortunately in looking at those kinds of crisis areas. They have put together one of the most incredible safety manuals I think I have ever seen that we’re taking a look at.”
