Columbia high schools will upgrade security measures
Columbia Public Schools has plans to make changes to several schools, including Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools.
Crews will work to remodel the older schools, making one point of entry for students and visitors. On top of the remodels, CPS will hire door monitors for Hickman and Rock Bridge.
Hickman will have one entrance, while Rock Bridge will have two.
The remodel at Hickman is estimated to cost around $250,000, while Rock Bridge will be slightly more.
Cory Prasch has a daughter who is a freshman at Hickman High School.
She said the remodel would make her feel like her daughter would be more safe at school.
“I mean, it sounds like it would be more efficient anyway because being her first year at Hickman, I always have to text her and ask her which door she wants me to pick her up,” Prasch said. “Sounds like it would be a little more streamline and easier to keep track of the kids coming in and out.”
Michelle Baumstark, spokesperson for CPS, said the door monitors will not be security guards and will not be armed.
Their job will be to control traffic in and out of the building by answering when people buzz into the school.
Prasch said she thinks the door monitors will provide an extra layer of security.
“I think if you can have more eyes on what’s going on around the school it’s probably a benefit,” she said.
Baumstark said this is especially important in the high schools because there are thousands of students coming in and out.
Parsch said it sounds like CPS is taking step in the direction of increasing security like they have discussed for more than a year.
She said there could be one small issue with the remodels.
“The only thing I can see being an issue is maybe traffic flow because you have two areas to pick up as opposed to now being one, but I guess we’ll see,” she said.
Baumstark said CPS is still testing out exactly what they want the remodels to look like. Crews will start work on Blue Ridge Elementary School and Oakland Elementary this summer.
