Shawnee Mission approves $250,000 in school security upgrades
By Marleah Campbell
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JOHNSON COUNTY, Kansas (KCTV) — Visitors in the Shawnee Mission School District will use a new system to enter school doors beginning later this month.
The district has approved roughly $250,000 in security upgrades at Monday night’s board meeting.
“Given the scope of things, it’s certainly an investment we’re willing to make,” David Smith, SMSD’s chief communications officer, said. “Our schools are an incredibly safe place for our children and staff to be. This helps to enhance that.”
Currently, exterior doors to all schools are locked. A staff member in the office looks through a security camera, identifies the person at the door, and buzzes them inside. The person then walks into a vestibule, through another door and into the building.
“We got feedback that it would be helpful to have a second lock on that door,” Smith said. “Feedback from folks in the offices in our school buildings saying that sometimes it’s a little bit difficult depending on the weather, lighting conditions to really identify that person.”
Under the new changes, both doors in the vestibule will be locked, and buttons will be installed at each front office desk.
Visitors will walk into the vestibule, where a front office person identifies them, then presses the button to let them through the second door.
“If that person’s in the vestibule, then you get a much better look at them,” Smith said. “You’ve got line of sight to them, so it just makes it easier to confirm exactly who’s there.”
The buttons will be added to all middle and elementary schools in the district.
High schools already have the double-locked door system, plus an added security officer at the front.
The one exception in the plan is Hocker Grove Middle School, where a larger renovation project to build a vestibule will take place.
“Just the way the building was designed, the office is right against the glass wall to the outside, so we’re just going to have to build out,” Smith said.
The planning and design phase of the Hocker Grove project begins in September or October, according to Smith.
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