Palm Beach County parents push for increased security

Parents on Wednesday pressed the Palm Beach County School Board to bolster school security, urging the members to add police officers, allow only one entry point and strictly check IDs after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shootings.

Board members met in a closed session about security before the meeting, as they are permitted to by law. They said after that meeting they plan to conduct a public workshop in the coming weeks to explore security options and urge legislators to give them enough money to pay for additional security and school counselors.

Several members praised students at West Boca, Olympic Heights and Boca Raton high schools who walked out of school in recent days to support Douglas students.

Still, board member Frank Barbieri asked parents to urge their children not to continue the walkouts. He said the thousands of students who have left their schools have forced school security to follow them off campus and leave the kids exposed on the streets during school hours. “We cannot protect them when they leave the campuses,” Barbieri said.

More than 20 parents and students addressed the board on school safety on Wednesday.

Lisa Eisenberg, an Olympic Heights parent, said she walked on the Olympic Heights campus the same day as the Douglas incident and was not stopped or asked for an ID. “If I had the desire to hurt someone, I could have,” she said.

She recommended metal detectors and a single point of entry at each school.

Olympic Heights seniors Julia Eisenberg and Carly Terkiel recommended mandatory code red drills (“We’ve never had one,” Terkiel said) and a student security liaison to the administration at each school.

Superintendent Robert Avossa said every school has code red, or extreme emergency, drills.

Eisenberg said students have been skittish for the past week. “We hear a knock on the door, or someone drops a book, and everyone jumps,” she said.

Parent Heather Moss, whose son attends Olympic Heights, said she was concerned about a new gun store that opened near the school. She also said she is concerned about the school’s layout, which she called a “vast and open campus.” “Olympic Heights was built before we had to worry about mass murders during the school day,” she said.

Parent Amy Lundy, whose firstgrader attends Morikami Park Elementary west of Delray Beach, suggested more locks on doors, security cameras, more police and parent security volunteers in hallways.

“I will not let funding be the reason our children are at risk,” she said.

Parent Corey Ende, mother of two Morikami Park students, said parents are ready to do their own fundraising to hire an armed security guard, which would cost $58,000 a year. She said each family could contribute $71 toward the officer.

She called students waiting outside for their parents to pick them up “sitting ducks.”

Middle and high schools have full-time police officers on duty, while four elementary schools share a single officer in most parts of the district.

Parent Renee Bailenson at Sunrise Park Elementary west of Boca Raton asked board members to pay special attention to portables as they brainstorm new security measures. She said her son is exposed to outsiders as he switches classes during the school day and fears being stranded outside during an emergency.

“Mommy, where do I go to hide?’” she said he asked.

“We hear a knock on the door, or someone drops a book, and everyone jumps.” Lisa Eisenberg, an Olympic Heights parent