School Officials to Upgrade Security Measures at Elementary Schools
Lisa Watson McCarty
Publisher
Publisher
At last week's meeting of the Scott County School Board on the suggestion of School Board Chairman James Kay Jessee, members unanimously agreed to seek bids to add new locks to Duffield Primary School and Weber City Elementary School.
Jessee said he was motivated to consider replacing the current door locks with the electronic key card system because of last year's thwarted abduction of a child from school property. The chairman had raised the issue at last month's meeting and was given permission to seek some cost estimates.
"The possible abduction last year threw up a red flag to me that our schools aren't locked down especially in schools where our smaller children are," Jessee explained.
The system is anticipating the new system to cost less than $20,000 for the two schools and will include a video door intercom system.
District 4 Member Kathy McClelland, a former mathematics teacher at Dobyns-Bennett High School, suggested the notion was great for elementary schools but not necessarily for high schools. She explained the doors are open in the morning when school starts and when the bell rings to symbolize the start of the school day, doors are automatically closed and locked.
McClelland said the scheduling of high school students makes the system not practical because students are constantly changing classes and going in and out into other doors.
She added that the county's current identification cards could be used with the addition of a magnetic strip that is read by a keycard reader placed on the door.
Scott County Superintendent Jim Scott said the school system had enough money in their budget for the projected estimate and was advised to seek bids on the new equipment. The new system should be in place by the start of the 2009-10 school year.
M.A. Lunsford, a longtime volunteer with the Scott County Imagination Library, urged the school board to work with the Scott County Board of Supervisors to find a volunteer to keep the program ongoing. He explained that with his recent marriage, he resides in Alabama part of the year and couldn't devote as much time as necessary to seek the funding for the program.
Both the school system and BOS donated $3,000 to the project last year, an amount Lunsford would like to see increased. The Scott County Imagination Library became the first program in Virginia and has given out more than 30,000 to youngsters from birth to 5 years old since its inception in the county.
"I am 76 years old and I don't have the time to devote to the library, so I hope the two boards can get together and come up with a joint plan to oversee the operations of this project," Lunsford said. "This board and the county board of supervisors have totally supported the reading program. I want the two boards to get together to see what the future of this will be."
Lunsford added that the program currently faces a $5,000 shortfall and has received no pledged donations for the upcoming year, which he blamed on the "economy."
New enrollees, totaling 564, cannot be added to the program because he doesn't have the necessary money to complete their applications with the Dollywood Foundation. District 3 Member Joe Meade asked about Dolly Parton's involvement in the project.
Lunsford said Parton set up the foundation, which allows localities to purchase books that regularly retail for more than $12 at a discounted price of $2.77 per book. They also handle the mailing and packaging of books to the recipients.
Each locality is required to raise their own funds to keep the program on-going, an amount that varies due to the number of participants. Last year, Lunsford said, his single largest donor was a former resident of Nickelsville, currently residing in Asheville, N.C., who donated $6,000. Due to health problems, the donor was unable to provide any money this year.
Lunsford also attended the Scott County Board of Supervisors' meeting the following day and asked the board to plan a meeting with school officials to decide the fate of the Scott County Imagination Library.
Editor's note: This is an abbreviated article that was published June 10, 2009 in the Scott County Virginia Star. To read the complete article, pick up a copy of this week's edition which includes new personnel hired.