Milton School District spending $430,858 for new school security cameras, access system
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MILTON—The Milton School District is spending $430,858 for more school security cameras and a new building access control system.
The project approved by the school board Monday includes new internal and external security cameras in all eight of the district's schools and in Schilberg Park. Broken or damaged cameras will be replaced.
Security cameras in the schools are about 10 years old and have internal moving parts that can stop working. The new cameras won't have such parts, communications supervisor Jerry Schuetz said.
“It should be much easier to maintain them and worry less about them breaking,” he said.
The new cameras will generate higher-quality video to make dealing with incidents easier, Schuetz said.
The district has 46 security cameras, about half in good working condition, grounds supervisor Stephen Schantz said. Most of those cameras are at Milton High School.
By the end of the project, the district will have 126 cameras in schools.
New access control systems will also be added to district schools.
School employees use a card or fob to access schools, but “sporadic challenges” have surfaced, Schuetz said.
“Aging technology has added to some of those challenges,” he said.
Nothing will change for visitors. They still will need to be buzzed in when school doors are locked.
Upgrading the access system alongside the cameras is part of a “full and complete system upgrade,” Schuetz said.
The $430,858 cost will be paid with unspent money from 2014-15 budgets. The district's fund balance will cover any leftover costs as necessary, Schuetz said.
The project will begin as early as this month with an estimated completion date of June 30, he said.
“The safety and security of our students and staff is of the utmost importance to me, our board of education and to our parents,” Superintendent Tim Schigur wrote in the release. “We have financially prepared and planned for these necessary security system improvements throughout the district, using existing financial resources available to us.”