Lawton middle school students taking new security measures in stride

Students at Central Middle School are dealing with two new security measures, but they are taking it in stride, Principal Skeeter Sampler said.

The Central Middle School/Lawton High School campuses are the first secondary sites in Lawton Public Schools to get security fencing, a project that is essentially making the two schools a single campus. But, as those measures are being put into place, students already are dealing with a new weapons detection system that was put into place in January. The system is more efficient because it allows scanning of the student and whatever he/she is carrying at one time, rather than having separate scanning of students and backpacks.

“There’s still some tweaking to do,” Sampler said in the days following the installation, adding he expected repetition to ease the process easier for students and staff. “The more students do things, the more they get used to a change in procedures. When they are used to the procedures and following it daily, it obviously runs smoother.”

For students, the process means they aren’t pulled out for separate scanning unless an alarm sounds. Sampler said that doesn’t necessarily mean a weapon was detected, but it does mean students must submit to a hand wand scan. The process is new — personnel were trained earlier this school year — and is part of the district’s overall emphasis on security.

The measures don’t really add an excessive amount of time to the beginning of a school day, Sampler said, adding while students can’t come into the building before a certain time, the staggered arrival times of school buses means students also stagger into the building so his staff isn’t left scanning the entire student body at the same time.

“We’re hoping to shave some time off,” he said of the 20-minute process, adding he knows that will happen as students and staff become familiar with the process.

It’s not the only change at the front door. While the days of visitors coming directly into the building are long gone, LPS has refined the process even further.

“Parents don’t have free rein of the hallways. We have a zone where they come in, where we can see them, and they come into the office,” he said, adding that unless the school has made plans for those visitors to be in the building, they don’t leave the office until escorts are arranged. “People do understand. They know they have to go through hoops.”

The fencing is campus’ newest security measure. It’s a concept long used at the elementary schools, but a new one for secondary schools. For Sampler, it essentially means his school and Lawton High are one campus, one that will include a portion of Shoemaker Education Center, the district’s administrative complex that is located between the two schools along Fort Sill Boulevard. Sampler said the fencing means different egresses for vehicles entering the school complex, most especially, school buses. And, a longtime public access point that allowed bike riders to pass between Central Middle School and Shoemaker is gone, meaning the campus truly will be limited to those who are supposed to be there.

“It provides more security measures for our students and patrons during the school day, when we need to know where people are,” Sampler said. “We can’t have free rein to classroom windows. This is a little more security.”

Sampler said fencing is another security measure for a school that has had to make adjustments over the years for student movement because of the school’s placement along two busy arterials. He said that fencing will be less of an issue for middle school students; unlike their high school counterparts, middle school students don’t drive their own vehicles to school and usually don’t leave campus during the school day.

Sampler said the changes being created by increased security measures are worth the effort.

“At the end of the day, it’s difficult to argue against student safety,” he said.