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HD Cameras Aid Risk Assessment In Buena Vista
With the recent school shooting in Apalachee, Ga., serving as a stark reminder of the need for state-ofthe- art security, area school officials this year are continuing to evaluate their security systems and update them with new technology as needed.
These updates, in the works long before this latest shooting, are being made possible by multiple federal and state security grants. These grants typically recur, offering a steady supply of funding for security improvements every year.
One new grant this year, the fiscal year ‘24 Safety & Security Grant, was a one-time payment, made up of state and federal funding and distributed by the state. The amount received by schools was determined by various resources held by schools and survey questions given to administrators earlier in the year. All three school districts received money from this grant.
In Buena Vista, which received $139,290 from the grant, all four schools recently finished getting set up with new door entry measures and technological advances that allow administrators to check up on guests’ backgrounds and check them against much higher-definition camera footage than was previously allowed.
Buena Vista City Public Schools Superintendent Tony Francis was excited to talk with The News-Gazette about the HD imagery made possible by the new cameras.
“It’s more of a modern system and a lot higher resolution. You can read license plate numbers with it,” he said, making it easier to identify certain guests and their information if needed.
The new ID-scanning technology at Buena Vista schools also helps with guest identification and risk assessment.
“You have to hand your picture in,” according to Francis, after which the system “will scan the driver’s license, and give us any hits” if it finds any suspicious or relevant information.
“In that case,” he said, “it sends an alert to our administrator, SROs, and so forth.”
All of these security measures run from the same Cloudbased system, which means old equipment, like a DVR unit on which to record footage, is no longer necessary. - Lexington Superintendent Rebecca Walters expressed sympathy following the recent school shooting. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the Apalachee High School community in Georgia,” she said.
Lexington City Schools, which received $127,384.81 from the grant, are “currently evaluating our options for security enhancements,” according to Jason White, director of operations and student services.
Lexington’s future security enhancements will build off of changes the division has been making to security operations and policy in recent years.
“In the past few years we have implemented an emergency notification app,” explained White, “that our staff can use to do many things in an emergency, including report the incident, communicate during an incident, and account for students, just to name a few of the features.”
White also outlined the procedure surrounding doors and entry. “Our staff is required to keep all internal doors locked during the school day. All exterior doors are locked and closed at all times, and each school has a single point of entry for visitors,” he said.
“The entry points are located at the main office of each building where staff may allow visitors access to the main office after using our ‘buzz-in’ system to request access.”
In recent years, the role of school resource officer (SRO) has become an important part of the school security discussion, as they are often the first responder to a campus emergency.
Lexington City Schools only have one SRO, who “is dedicated to Lylburn Downing Middle School, but is able to assist with matters at Harrington Waddell Elementary School when needed,” said White. - The Rockbridge County Public Schools, with four more schools than Lexington, requires more attention.
“All but one of our schools has a full-time SRO in the building,” according to Randy Walters, RCPS’ chief operations officer.
Rockbridge County received $128,872.98 from the Safety & Security Grant. Some of that money will be going toward completing safety measures on doors, said Walters.
“Within the last couple of years we have worked to install electronic access control devices in all of our buildings. With the support of our School Board, the Board of Supervisors, and through various grants, we have been able to install devices on most of our interior doors,” he said.
“We are now working to update exterior door hardware to make it compatible with the electronic access control devices,” he said.
Walters highlighted a new technological security angle the division is looking at — gunshot detection. “We have also received a grant to install gunshot detection software in certain schools. We will continue to work to install this software throughout our school division,” he said.
The money from the ‘24 Safety & Security Grant must be allocated by school divisions by December, and spent by June 2025.
The government provides other grants for security equipment funding. The Stronger Connections grant, part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enacted in June 2022, provides competitive funding for “high need” schools. Buena Vista was the only school division in the area to be awarded money from this grant, receiving $339, 917.
In addition, the Security Equipment Grant “gives priority to schools most in need of modern security equipment, schools with relatively high numbers of offenses, schools with equipment needs identified by a school security audit, and schools in divisions least able to afford security upgrades,” according to the Virginia Department of Education’s website.
This year, the Buena Vista and Rockbridge school divisions received this grant, with Buena Vista being awarded $149,762 and Rockbridge receiving $185,126. Applications are being evaluated for next year.
