Schools to see security upgrades

WOONSOCKET – The School Committee is expected to approve some $400,000 worth of security improvements at the entryway to Woonsocket High School during its regular meeting tonight, according to Schools Supt. Patrick McGee.

The work is the final component of a series of safety and other improvements at WHS and the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center that were on track well before the mass shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., two weeks ago, the superintendent said.

But McGee said school officials recognized the need for better security at the high school when they applied for roughly $2 million from the state’s School Building Authority last year. A chunk of the money has already been used for new roofs at WHS and WACTC, but some of the money was also dedicated for other security upgrades, including more cameras and a telephone system that allows calls to be placed between the main office and every classroom at WHS. Previously, some classrooms had no phone connection to the main office.

“This has nothing to do with Florida – this was already in our plans before then,” said McGee, adding that the need for security upgrades “was something that we recognized internally.”

The architectural consulting firm Robinson Green Beretta will handle the upgrades at the entryway, with work expected to get under way shortly after the school committee approves the job. As a condition of accepting the SBA money, the job must be finished no later than June 30, so crews will be in the school while classes are still in session this season.

The improvements will make it more difficult for visitors to enter to the school before they are identified and properly cleared by school personnel at the main

office, according to the superintendent.

Visitors attempting to gain entry to the school after normal student arrivals will always find the door locked. They must press a button that activates an intercom to the main office, identify themselves and state their purpose for coming to the school before workers “buzz them in” by unlocking the door with a remote electronic device, according to the superintendent.

Currently, the school is potentially fully accessible to visitors after they’re admitted to the building through the main door, but that won’t be the case after the security upgrades.

The entryway remodeling job would add another layer of security for visitors by funneling them into an enclosed foyer after they pass through the main entrance, according to McGee. They won’t be allowed to leave the foyer and move about anywhere else in school until they are properly vetted by personnel at the main office.

“When they come in they can’t leave that foyer area without showing identification,” said McGee.

Personnel at the main office will unlock the foyer remotely, much like they do the main entryway door now, to free visitors from the safety enclosure. Initially, visitors will be steered into the main office, where staffers will firm up their appointments with teachers or other school personnel before they’re allowed access to other areas of the school.