School more secure

When students return to school Monday after Spring Break, they will find some differences, although not all of the ones originally planned, according to superintendent Rick Neal.

The windows at the entrance to the gym lobby will be bricked

over and safety glass will be installed in all the entry doors to the school buildings.

The Pea Ridge School Board authorized expenditures of up to $150,000 for school security, Neal said.

Not all construction for security measures will be completed during Spring Break, but Neal said he hopes it is all complete by the fall of 2013.

“They have to show great patience with the change. We’re doing it for the safety of the staff and the students. Times have changed and we have to change with them. Safety is first,” Neal said.

When all the new security policies are in place, there will be six entrances into PRHS compared to the former 22; three into each of the other three schools — Primary, Intermediate and Middle schools — which had six, nine and eight entrances respectively previously.

“We’re controlling the amount of traffic entrances and exits at each of the buildings,” Neal said. Each building will have procedures in entrances and exits for parents and students.

Neal said school officials still want the community to use the school facilities.

“This is a community school,” he said, adding that school personnel will be on site when other organizations are using the facilities.