Mesa schools pay $2.34 mil for security improvements

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Mesa Public Schools spent $2.34 million on school-security improvements ranging from state-of-the-art security cameras to remodeled front offices.

The district is still designing plans for adding security fences to 50 of its 82 schools, which are expected to cost an additional $570,000.

Money for the improvements comes from a $230 million bond approved by voters last November.

District security director Al Moore told the district governing board Tuesday that he believes the 34 new security-camera systems and 22 system upgrades are already deterring theft and vandalism at Mesa schools.

“They are creating a mental barrier that keeps people away,” he said. “Our schools are not a soft target anymore.”

Moore, a retired Mesa police sergeant, led a team to review security after the fatal shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last December. The team included security staff, assistant superintendents and representatives from the Mesa Police Department.

Other security improvements made in schools over the summer include peepholes in classroom doors, security glass in classroom and office windows, and remodeled and relocated front offices. Before this fall, some Mesa school offices were in the middle of their campuses, which allowed visitors — or intruders — to walk past classrooms without first signing in with school staff.

The district also is in the process of installing machines that will create photo ID badges for all visitors. It also has a new requirement that all employees wear visible ID badges during the school day.

Superintendent Michael Cowan told the board that school officials are still in the process of “reprogramming” parents who are used to walking directly from parking lots to their kids’ classrooms with no questions asked. Now, they are stopped if they do not check in with office staff first.

“During the calls I have received from parents, if I say ‘It’s safety vs. convenience,’ ” Moore said, “at the end of the conversation, they usually say, ‘That makes sense.’ ”

The board approved a $567,000 contract with Merge Architects for construction of the additional school-security fences.