School officials and Morgan Hill police are working together to
make sure Morgan Hill Unified School District students are safe,
according to MHUSD Superintendent Alan NIshino.
Joint committee discusses proposed security system
n By Marilyn Dubil Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – School officials and Morgan Hill police are working together to make sure Morgan Hill Unified School District students are safe, according to MHUSD Superintendent Alan NIshino.
During last week’s City Council/School District Liaison Committee meeting, Nishino described a security system that the district is considering for its three high schools.
Part of the plan includes security cameras at the middle schools; the high schools are already equipped with a camera system. In the event of an on-campus emergency, police can access the cameras remotely, although they cannot continually monitor the system, Nishino said. School Resource Officers on the campus or school officials can monitor the cameras during non-emergency situations, if needed.
MHPD Cmdr. David Swing told the committee that while the computers in the patrol cars currently do not have Web access, they have the capability to do so.
The system is the product of a company called Prepared Response, said MHUSD Coordinator of Student Services Bob Davis.
“This is one in a series of steps the district is taking to upgrade school security,” he said Thursday. “The tragic events at Virginia Tech and other similar tragedies heighten everyone’s awareness about the potential vulnerability throughout the nation particularly at school sites.”
The district is making other improvements on school campuses, Davis said, including installing security cameras and “Columbine locks,” which he said allow teachers to secure their classroom door without opening it.
Funds to pay for the safety upgrades come from the restricted fund budget designated for school safety, Davis said.
School sites have held “code red” drills with the help of the MHPD, and officers have provided staff training.
“The police department, Chief Cumming, have been extremely helpful, working with us,” Nishino said. “The chief wants to have more drills, so that all the sites have that experience, and I think that’s great.”
MHPD Chief Bruce Cumming said Thursday that school safety is one of his highest priorities, not because he believes Morgan Hill schools are unsafe, but because he believes that being prepared is extremely important.
“It’s something that’s always on my mind,” Cumming said. “When I look at what happens in the rest of the country, those are warning signs for me. It is vital that we be as prepared as we can be. That’s one of the really good things about local law enforcement, local law enforcement. You have to have those relationships, like the relationships the school district and police department have built over the years.”
Davis said something else the district is focusing on is standardization at the county level.
“We are working with a task force being developed at the county level to standardize crisis response at our schools,” he said. “We are looking at common elements in our school safety plans. This year, in our district, all of our school sites have brought their safety plans up to speed and standardized them. We are looking to do that with a county consortium, move forward with all school districts developing common crisis responses.”
