Campus security was one of the biggest topics discussed during the Levelland ISD School Board meeting Wednesday. Airing on the side of caution and remaining proactive instead of reactive, each of the six campuses are in the beginning stages of receiving security upgrades. Similar to the rest of the world, the issue will be supply chain issues and getting the upgrades done in a timely manner.
Parkhill Architect Ashlee Horsley presented the potential plans for each campus and the renovations that would most likely happen they have planned for until this point in time. Levelland ISD Superintendent Becky McCutchen added more detail about getting the upgrades finished sooner rather than later.
“There are a lot of safety measures and updates we have been looking at for a while,” said McCutchen. “We would like to have them done sooner than later, but we understand the whole world is trying to rebound from the pandemic with supplies and delivery methods.” The current goal for the board and the district is to have the upgrades done by the Christmas break. After taking on the superintendent role in January, by March the unofficial talks regarding school security began as McCutchen had time to evaluate and see what the district was in need of. “School safety has been a big part of my experience,” said McCutchen. “Having talks about school safety in March got the ball rolling for us, but the horrific events that took place at Uvalde ISD sped up the process for our district.” Safety procedures put in place for students and faculty such as student ID badges, lock down of all doors during operation hours and the ID checks for visitors have become the standard at Levelland ISD and across the state of Texas. Staying proactive in the efforts of keeping students and faculty safe at every campus is the vestibule project. Visitors for schools that have been recently built will notice that vestibules have been a common safety mechanism placed at the main entrances.
The recommended entrance for schools include upgrading the front entrance area to create two sets of doors which should be locked in order to form a secure vestibule.
With both sets of doors locked, there will be an intercom and camera on the outside of the first set of hardened doors that allow the office personnel a complete view of the visitor requesting access.
The vestibule or area between the two sets of doors will have a service window to the receptionist. The transaction roads made with intruder resistant glass to protect the office staff. The secure vestibule is the area where a visitor completes their business he or she has with the school without being given access to the interior of the school.
If a backpack or package is brought to the school, it would be kept in a designated location in the vestibule for delivery. With LISD adopting these elements, school staff will be able to prevent the entry of unauthorized individuals or delay their access until law enforcement can be summoned. For the lower level buildings such as South Elementary and Intermediate School already have a vestibule in place due to the layout of the schools entrance.
McCutchen added that those school would need less work to get the campus secure as possible.
For other campuses such as Levelland High School and Middle School, significant construction will be needed to provide the quality of safety the school board and district desire for those campuses.
With a tighter budget, the goal for the board will be covering the cost to get all if not a large portion of the construction and upgrades done.
With rising costs for materials and labor, the district could potentially find funding from the state, but that is not a concrete option.
“I’m assuming the board is wanting to go through with all the upgrades at all six campuses,” said McCutchen.
McCutchen explained that she has heard individuals with the state say funding for school security is coming, but nothing has come from it. “The safety security allotment coming from the state for each student is $9 dollars,” explained McCutchen. “I believe they are trying to increase the amount for each student to $100 dollars which would be a lot better.” Given the desire to finish the upgrades before Christmas break, if the district decides to wait for Texas Legislature to meet in January for possible funding, the board and district would have to alter their timeline.