School Fences: Will they Improve Safety?
Written by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, News, People Involved, School Safety Issues, Security
One of the threats that school safety experts see is when unauthorized people get to enter the school premises. That is why they set up elaborate security measures to ensure that only the people who are supposed to be inside the school premises will be able to enter. I suppose that one simple method of restricting access to the school campuses would be to use fences. Of course, we know that fences can be breached – just as other security measures can be – but the fact that fences are up might discourage “casual” intruders from entering the school premises.
I think this idea is the basic premise behind the countywide fencing project that is going to be launched in Putnam County. The Herald-Dispatch reports:
During a Monday night meeting, the Putnam school board approved a $417,954 contract with Alco Fencing for installation of property fencing at 16 of the county’s 22 schools.
Tom Tull, Putnam County Schools’ director of middle childhood education and special projects, says this effort is all part of the statewide safe schools initiative and is directed at helping the county tighten security in order to protect students and staff. The fences will serve primarily as an enclosure to playgrounds and areas that students might be present in during the day, with a focus on mostly the sides and rear of school properties.
Tull said the state School Building Authority received roughly $8 million in legislative funds this year, which were then appropriated among school districts throughout the state for security projects. Each district had the responsibility of a 15 percent match in order to receive the funds. Another distribution of funds is expected this coming legislative year.
“We’re just trying to take a proactive stance on keeping kids safe,” Tull said, with this being just one of several changes expected for the new school year in Putnam County.
More than the fencing project, though, the authorities are installing other security measures which include security doors. As much as I already like the idea of putting up fences around the perimeters of the schools, it also makes more sense to focus not only on the outside but also within the school buildings as well. In addition to these, they will also be installing surveillance video cameras and they will be requiring students to wear ID badges.
I am sure that some people might not like these ideas BUT then again, we really cannot please everybody. How about you, what is your stand on fences and the other security measures mentioned here?
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I would like to know what they are protecting the students from? If you look at data about school safety, you will find that most incidents are caused or carried out by students, who are already inside the school. While fencing, doors and security cameras may add to a safer environment for our children, they are extremely costly and will not prevent the violence that comes from students already in the school. Cameras make a recording to aid in investigation, and may allow a quicker response IF they are constantly monitored, but have never prevented an incident. Indeed, we have surrveillance camera recordings from Columbine and several other schools in which violent incidents occurred.
Schools need to be spending at least part of their security funds on the PREVENTION of incidents through programs that help to create a positive school climate, decrease bullying and violence, and empower students to anonymously report their knowledge of problems BEFORE they erupt into violence.
Prevention is critical and schools are not doing enough in this area.
Catherine Toohey
School Safety Specialist
My son who is 6.5 years old is enrolled in a U.S. based International school in Shanghai. Prior to the school’s Summer holiday, he managed to climb out of the school fence to the outside public road.
The school’s fence is only about 1.8 mtr high and there was not a security camera intalled along the fence. The Infrared sensors was on when climbed over and back. But the response time by the security guard was slow.
Is there a guideline in the U.S. how high should a school security fence be? If a 6.5 years old can climb the school fence so easily within 1 minute, it must mean that the fence height is not adequate and the school is not doing its precautinary measure enough to prevent outside people to come in and children inside to come out from the fence.
The school is based in the U.S. and I’d like to obtain some feedback if there’s any guidelines about this issue?
Thank you,