News and Information

Bay City tightens school security
By Sarah Wells, Bay City Tribune

November 15, 2006 – School violence headlined news broadcasts all over the United States in the past year with two school shootings that left many shocked and afraid for their own children’s safety.

With incidents like these still fresh on parents and educators minds, Bay City Independent School District continues to step up efforts to make local schools a safe, secure environment.

The district has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in a visitor identification system, security cameras, staff training, lockdown action plans and a campus police force.

“How do you put a value on school security?” asked Superintendent Richard Walton.

Parents and visitors already may have experienced the tightened security when entering a campus.

All visitors are required now to present a valid, government issued photo I.D. to office workers.

The I.D. is scanned through Raptor Technologies’ V-Soft program that gives a report on any criminal background — especially child-related offenses — he or she may have.

This system already has proved itself invaluable in a recent incident with a family friend attempting to pick up a high school student, Walton said.

“Our system identified him as having a background of child abuse. At the same time, the young lady was reporting an incident to our campus police and they were able to resolve the situation,” said Walton.

“If we got that girl some help, it is worth whatever we spent on the program.”

Raptor was introduced first as pilot program in a few Bay City schools and was expanded district-wide after proving its effectiveness, said Walton.

The district spent more than $20,000 to install the software in the district.

Another hefty investment was the installation of 32 video cameras — at a cost of more than $50,000 — in Bay City High School.

Campus police watch multiple live feeds of hallways, multi-purpose rooms, the cafeteria and parking lots.

“The cameras have helped us catch vandalism, thefts and inappropriate activities in the school. We’re able to look at exactly what happened and who was involved,” said Walton.

BCHS also is equipped with roll-down doors, able to disconnect portions of the building quickly in emergencies or in everyday activities such as cleaning.

The doors were in the original plans for the building’s construction in 2001.

The doors also correspond with campus lockdown procedures. They are part of the training every staff member receives.

“The procedures outline how we would respond if there was an intruder, such as immediate actions like locking classrooms or secondary actions like the roll-down doors,” said Walton.

“We don’t have these scenarios to scare anyone but we have to make sure that we’re prepared.”

Walton praised the BCISD Police Department for spearheading security at the schools and acting as extra “adult eyes” for everyday activities.

The department includes six officers, marked vehicles and their equipment — a combinations that many small districts don’t have, said Walton.

“Our police officers are not security guards. They are certified, trained police officers that have the ability to handle situations effectively.”

The officers also help BCHS staff with patrolling stairwells and bathrooms — common areas for trouble, said Walton.

All the cost and efforts in school security directly relate to BCISD’s mission to provide the safest, most secure learning environment.

“We can never say that our job is finished with school security because we always continue to review it and keep it foremost on our minds,” Walton said.

“We stay extremely diligent in watching for warning signs and making sure that our schools are some of the safest places for the students to be.”