New fencing, scanners part of Lawton Public Schools’ effort to make campuses safer

Metal poles marking the boundary of Lawton High School and Central Middle School are the most public evidence of ongoing efforts by Lawton Public Schools to upgrade security for students and staff.

Security measures have been a priority for the district for years — the first generation metal detectors and security cameras were added to secondary campuses in 2005 — and efforts in recent times have focused on fencing around the outside of schools and measures inside limiting access points. It’s a reflection of the times, said LPS Superintendent Kevin Hime. In fact, a school shooting in Iowa on Thursday left a sixth grader dead and four students and an adult injured.

“As we all know watching the news, incidents happen,” Hime said, adding that in some instances, those incidents were instigated by people who shouldn’t have been on the school campus interacting with students, because buildings and playgrounds were not secure.

Hime said today’s educational environment is a decided change from 20 years ago, when many schools had open buildings and playgrounds. Today, school administrators want secured facilities.

“When I first got here (Lawton), you could drive a car on 70 percent of our playgrounds,” Hime said, adding he and his administrators took steps to analyze each school and identify changes that could and should be made.

That analysis was coupled with discussions with security experts, leading to recommendations for fencing and secured “bullpens” at school entrances. Hime said those bullpens are secured holding areas that ensure everyone enters the building through one point and passes into a holding area that only allows access to the school office. Unless you are wearing an identification badge, there is only one way into the school.

“You can’t get out of the office unless an adult lets you,” Hime said, of a security feature now in place in most schools.

Most schools have completed holding areas; those that don’t will be completed by the end of the next school year. Some were more difficult than others: the open area at Lawton High was a challenge, Hime said, adding the work was worth it.

“Bullpens are a must. Having that area, you control where they can go once they get in,” he said.

The feature complements a long-standing policy for students: they all come in through a single front entrance, and secondary students pass through metal detectors before they are allowed into the building. Screening has changed over the years with technological upgrades. This year, new devices can scan students and their backpacks at the same time, allowing a quick check for weapons without individual scanning of packs.

It’s all about security, school administrators said.

“I don’t care if I’m in Washington with a group of superintendents at a meeting or a national school board or state meeting, the No. 1 goal we all have is to keep kids safe. That is the first thing on our list; education is second,” Hime said. “Parents want to make sure that kids are safe in school.”

That is the primary argument for fences, long a feature at elementary schools and one being added to secondary schools, beginning with Lawton High and Central Middle School. Hime said while the driving factor is security — specifically, keeping people inside a building safe by controlling those who enter from the outside — fences also have upgraded school appearance. New fences are in place at every elementary site, Hime said, adding an effort was made to make those fences attractive.

Still, the driving factor remains limiting access, which is why LPS’ new project is focused on secondary campuses. That process has just begun, as CDBL began working over Christmas Break to install fence support poles around Lawton High and Central Middle schools. The end result will be three secondary campuses, Hime said, explaining each grouping of schools — Lawton High and Central Middle, Eisenhower High and Middle, MacArthur High and Middle — will be enclosed within the same fence.

Eisenhower High Principal Jay Lehr said the result allows students to access their outside campus, whether it is band students practicing marching, athletes training in fields, or middle school students walking to class at a nearby high school.

Hime said administrators were looking at the number of ways people could get onto a school campus, and the solution was to create a barrier to control that movement. Hime and Lehr said some details are being worked out, with decisions to include whether those accessing the parking lot need a pass or whether a security guard will grant access.

The new fencing is a little more complicated because at the high school level, many students have their own vehicles and some leave and arrive on campus at different times. That means finding a system that will work for everyone while still limiting the number of people who have access to a campus.

The process is beginning with Lawton High and Central Middle schools, with the Eisenhower and MacArthur campuses to follow.

Hime admits the process is complex. For Lawton High/Central Middle, it means fencing that will allow access to the district’s administrative offices in Shoemaker Education Center while protecting students using nearby ballfields. It means a process to control everyone who drives vehicles on campus while being flexible enough to allow students to come and go. It also means deciding when gates will be secured and when they can be open.

“The main time we will control access is during instructional time,” Hime said, adding he anticipates opening gates after instructional time for easier access to other events.

The process is a balance, he said.

“We don’t want schools to be too secure, or seem like they (students) are confined, and we want to make people and parents feel welcome,” Hime said. “That’s the balance: how do you secure your school but still make it welcoming.”