District will lock doors, screen entry into buildings
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A new process for entering four of SAD 1’s public school buildings was officially implemented yesterday. The main entrances at Presque Isle Middle School, Pine Street, Zippel and Mapleton elementary schools are now equipped with an electronic entry system that is operated by the school administrative assistants from the main office.
All doors to these schools will be locked from the start of the school day until the students are dismissed. Anyone wishing to visit the schools, or enter during the school day, will be cleared for entry by the school administrative assistant or other administrative staff.
A surveillance camera is located outside of each main entrance, and the school offices have a video monitor and the ability to lock every door in the building, as well as open and close the front door. The office staff will be able to see and speak to the person, as well. The assistants will “buzz” someone in after the purpose of the visit is determined.
According to a letter that went home to parents last week, “If you are unknown to the person in the office, you may be asked to show some identification. If you are dropping your student off late at one of our schools, you must escort your child into the building. Please be patient with us in the transition. The school office is a very busy place, so your ‘buzz’ to the office may not always be answered immediately.”
Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said these types of security measures are being implemented across Maine and the nation.
“We hope this new entrance method increases our security within our schools and deters any unthinkable acts that could occur,” he said. “We all realize that there are no methods for school security that are 100 percent guaranteed, but this is a big step in the right direction.
“We want every parent and every community member to feel that our schools are accessible and open to the public,” said Johnson. “By taking these smarter steps, we hope that we’ve also added a sense of increased security to our students, staff and anyone visiting our schools.”
Due to the high number of entrances at Presque Isle High School, the decision was made to install the buzz system at the other schools first and evaluate its effectiveness.
“We’ll then look at doing something similar at the high school,” Johnson said. “The situation at the high school is different because we have so much traffic coming in from different directions because parking lots are spread out around the building. PIHS is a very large building. We have 37 doors, and four presently accessible by the public. One entrance would mean a lot more walking [to get to that one entrance]. We’re going to explore it and make a decision at a later date.”
The school security measures cost $73,100, and were paid for with funds through a $2.3 million bond referendum that was approved by district voters in June.
