By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter
Note: This article has been extended from an original print version to reflect more details and interviews.
Responding to a call for action by students and parents amid a rise in on-campus gun violence, Palisades Charter High School has started a fundraising campaign to pay for increased security measures at the school.
Headed by Director of Development Michael Rawson and Director of Operations Don Parcell, Pali High’s “Campus Safety and Security” campaign is seeking $300,000 to fund tools of increased security like additional fencing along Temescal Canyon and by the tunnel on Bowdoin Street, push-bar gates, an intrusion detection system, services for social media monitoring that can help detect threats to the campus and mental health resources for students.
The additional fencing is estimated to cost around $200,000, according to the Board of Trustees Meeting Operations Report from March 20, with the emergency evacuation push-bar gates coming at a cost of $7,000 to $10,000 per gate.
“We just want to make the connection from the stadium to the tunnel [on Bowdoin Street] and back to the main part of campus over by the pool, we just want to secure that with fencing, so that the kids are protected going to and from the stadium,” Parcell said in an interview with the Palisadian-Post.
Additional steps will be taken to further secure existing fencing around the perimeter of Pali High, like an intrusion detection system that will alert security guards and school officials of any intrusions or unauthorized exits.
“It will allow us to enable a lockdown maybe 60 or 90 seconds faster than we normally would, and that could be a really big deal in an active shooter situation,” Parcell said. “Or, it could just be a kid that decided ‘I don’t want to be at Pali the rest of the day!’”
Regardless of reason, Parcell sees the perimeters of Pali High as an important area to be able to monitor and further secure.
If the goal is not met, whatever funds raised will still go toward installing high-priority items. When funded, some security devices will be installed immediately while larger projects, such as push-bar gates and fencing, will take place when school gets out in June.
Rawson told the Post that there are two prongs to the operation. In addition to hardware, “parents are interested in having more mental health assistance with students because nine out of 10 of these shootings, the school already knows who that person is, and a lot of these people have had issues.”
Pali High wants to add additional mental health professionals to the campus, but is currently dealing with not having enough space for current programs, and will need some time to figure something out, according to Rawson.
Social Sentinel, a social media monitoring service that alerts the school of threats to the students or campus, is also being looked into and strongly considered, according to the operations report. Taking a proactive approach instead of a reactive one, Pali High wants to take these precautions now before it’s too late and will be fundraising until April 8. The public can donate via Pali High’s website or with a check made out to the school.
“We just feel like there is a lot of vulnerability currently, and if we can provide measures to close the gap and make it even safer, then we’ve taken a big step in making our campus safer for not only our students but our faculty and staff as well,” Rawson said.
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