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EDGARD, La. (AP) — The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board is considering installing electronic fencing and metal detectors at the parish's two high schools after a knife was found on the newly renovated East St. John High School campus.
District spokeswoman Jennifer Boquet tells The New Orleans Advocate (http://bit.ly/1FS2DMm) there was already an urgent need to improve safety measures, but after Thursday's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, concern has peaked yet again.
"Anything we can do to increase security is important," Boquet said.
The proposal in St. John includes installing up to 10 metal detectors at East and West St. John high schools, as well as perimeter fencing, said School Board member Albert Burl.
If the board decides it has the cash available, the schools could get the upgrades as early as this school year.
Officials at the schools have used portable metal detectors, according to members of the School Board, but the new initiative would bring permanent detectors.
St. John Parish schools already got a safety boost this summer when the Sheriff's Office provided each elementary and high school with radios that allow direct contact with the parish's 911 communications center. The program is the first of its kind in Louisiana, Sheriff Mike Tregre said.
Schools in southeast Louisiana, like other districts nationwide, are increasing security in response to mass shootings, including the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty children and six adults were shot to death there.
St. James Parish also recently finished a nearly $2 million security upgrade at its schools. Schools now have security cameras, alarm monitoring, a key card system for teachers and a digital visitor badge system, thanks to money from a $13.5 million bond issue in 2012.
Although local educators laud these measures as a way to prevent tragedies, at least one school safety expert cautions against placing too much emphasis on technology.
"It's a knee-jerk reaction," said Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting company. "What's happened since Sandy Hook is that schools are focused very narrowly on physical security measures. They're invested on the hardware and technology side but haven't been invested in the people side."
The St. John Parish School Board hasn't scheduled a date to vote on funding the permanent metal detectors or perimeter fencing or even decided how much it would cost, board members said.
Burl said the board's Finance Committee is waiting to hear presentations from principals of the high schools in order to determine if the initiative is necessary.
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Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, http://www.neworleansadvocate.com
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