Carbon School District Press Release
The emphasis on school security across the nation based on recent and not so recent events has not left Carbon School District untouched. This summer, the district is implementing not only new protocols for building security but also constructing new types of physical security measures to protect students, staff and the public from possible violent acts. In addition, the district participated with law enforcement agencies and Castleview Hospital on a drill at Carbon High School on June 21 as a follow up to the active shooter drill that was conducted during class hours this past spring on the campus.
“We have a continuing effort to train and coordinate with local law enforcement and health care in the area so that we are prepared,” said Carbon School District Security Supervisor Ken Labrum. “Everyone wants to train so they can be ready. In this drill, the hospital was widely involved so they could see what they would need to do to respond and proceed in the case of an emergency in one of our schools.”
Labrum said that the drill was quite real with not only shooters involved, but casualties as well, from which the hospital staff learned some details that would help them in such an emergency.
The shooter drill began early in the morning of June 21 as members of the cross country team came to the high school as volunteers to be “victims” of a shooter. They spent some serious time learning about how they needed to act, what to do and then some time as makeup artists put on touches to make the drill seem real. In the end, a lot of lessons were learned and officials walked away with some good information for all parties involved.
“We appreciate everyone who was involved in the drill from the peace officers, to the medical staff to the students who volunteered,” he said.
While the drills are important and timely, so are some of the physical changes that are taking place at many schools across the district this summer. From the Lighthouse High School to Helper Middle School, things are changing so that buildings can be made more secure.
“The changes in the entry ways to the Lighthouse is similar to what we are doing at Helper Middle School,” stated Labrum. “We are creating access control to many of the buildings so that no one has direct entry into a school building without someone either buzzing them in or knowing about it.”
Lighthouse High School is probably seeing the most changes as the front entrance of the school is being moved entirely. An access control vestibule is being put in and that entire part of the building is being remodeled.
Another control factor that is coming into play is that key cores to outside doors through much of the district are being removed. This is so the doors cannot be accessed from the outside even with a regular key. All doors are going to be converted to electronic mechanisms that can only be manipulated with an access card.
“At this point, we still will have keyed entrances on the inside of buildings,” said Labrum. However, that could change someday. The new controls that are now in place and will be in place in some buildings will keep someone from getting into more than the front office.
“Castle Heights is a good example,” said Labrum. “The doors to the halls and to the kindergarten area can only be opened from the office.”
Since Castle Heights, Creekview and Wellington are sister buildings, they all displayed a perplexing security problem until recently. The kindergarten rooms in all the schools are right off the main lobby. Now, they are protected by access doors. And Sally Mauro, after the remodeling of the office area last year, has also been secured so no one can enter without going through the office area.
Some people have suggested that all schools have a police officer in them for protection. However, a police presence in all the schools is not financially viable at this time. At a recent Price City Council meeting, an additional school resource officer position was approved so that now there will be two from the Price City Police Department, one at Mont Harmon and the other at Carbon High.
“We will continue to improve our security as we go along,” said Labrum. “We continue to look for new ways to make the schools safer for everyone.”
