In the past four years, Seymour Community School Corp. has implemented new safety procedures, hired two additional school resource officers and purchased security cameras and other equipment for the schools.
The corporation has developed and practiced emergency plans in the event of a school shooting, but there is always more that can be done, school officials said.
At last month’s school board meeting, Scott Gray, corporation maintenance director and safety specialist, recommended a project to renovate the main entrance of Seymour High School along Community Drive to better secure the building’s interior.
The way the entrance is configured now, visitors can walk through the main door and have direct access to the building without having to go into the main office to check in first.
With a new design, that would change, Gray said.
“We want to better restrict access and flow of people coming in at Door 1,” Gray said. “This would entail redoing the inside where people would not be able to go from the main entrance doors immediately to the hallway.”
Instead, visitors would have to come into a main lobby area, check in and then either go to student services or have someone come get them to escort them to their destination.
Besides making the building more secure, school resource officer Keith Williams said renovating the main entrance will allow the school to centralize its business operations.
“All parents, visitors and contractors will come to a central point where they can meet with whomever they need to,” Williams said.
There hasn’t been a specific incident that has happened at the school to require the change. It’s just a different environment and needs than when the school was built, Williams said.
“The school corporation is in a constant state of evaluation and improvement when it comes to the safety of the children and staff,” Williams said. “This project is just the next step in the progression of safety.”
Gray said he would like to have the renovation work completed by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year in August. He will return to the board with more details and for approval to move forward with the project at the March 14 meeting.
As part of the corporation’s 2017 goals to ensure the safety and security of students, staff and school visitors, the district is working to install “buzz in” security systems at all buildings. These systems allow office workers to see who is visiting before they let them in.
Those systems are currently being used at Cortland and Emerson elementary schools. Brownstown Central School Corp. installed them in all three buildings in 2015, and Medora and Crothersville schools also use them.
“The buzzer systems have been a great addition to the layers of security that are already in place,” Williams said.
The district also is looking at ways to improve safety and security in the high school parking lot and to build an enclosed secure “passway” from the school gymnasium to the main building so students do not have to walk outside to get to and from the gym.