Sandy High's many entrances, exits pose security risk

New district security position will help evaluate security at all Oregon Trail schools

By Garth Guibord

The Sandy Post, Sep 10, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Garth Guibord / Sandy Post

Tom Malone, Sandy High School Security, checks on the status of the Freshman Hall as students pile up outside the doorway, waiting to get in.

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The three modular classrooms at Sandy High School add extra educational space to help accommodate the over-capacity student body and reduce class sizes. However, the portable buildings also added six additional entrance/exit points at the school, contributing more logistics to an already difficult security situation.

“You’re looking at ensuring that a lockdown or lockout can be done efficiently and in a timely manner,” said Julia Monteith, Oregon Trail School District spokeswoman. “Unless you have a lot more security personnel than what we’ve got now, you’ve got to count on other staff.”

As it stands, there are now 54 entrance/exit points at Sandy High School, which are protected by a system of cameras, three security officers and a student resource officer provided by the Sandy Police Department.

Security at the high school – and the other nine schools in the district – will get more attention, thanks to the addition of a district security position that will be responsible for safety and security in all schools and evaluate the current state of each school’s security.

“I believe that having a coordinated effort and that consistency between buildings will do nothing but improve communication and consistency,” said Sally Tripp, vice principal at the high school. “I think any time communication and consistency are improved, it’s going to help reduce the number of incidents. To have everybody on the same page is always a good thing.”

Other than the new position, the district does not have any other security additions planned for the school.

“I know we would like to have more security cameras,” Monteith said. “But we don’t have anything in the near future.”

The most common security threat at the school, according to Monteith, is strangers on campus. While the security cameras can help, a knowledgeable security staff is another advantage on identify people who shouldn’t be there.

“One of the nice things about having their own security staff … is they get to know all the faces,” Monteith said.

Security incidents during the 2007-08 school year decreased in five out of seven areas the high school tracked, according to school administrators. Incidents of trespassing dropped from four to one, fighting decreased from 87 encounters to 67, threats with weapons from one to zero, sexual harassment from 20 to 10 and drug possession from 54 to 39. Harassment increased from 38 to 40 incidents, while incidents involving alcohol increased from seven to nine.

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