New security cameras will be implemented as part of a $600,000 plan to improve security, the Creston Community School District board approved unamiously during a regular board meeting Monday.
The board approved the security plan that included a new phone system, exterior door entry system and more surveillance cameras in buildings more than a year ago.
At the time, the board budgeted $200,000 per year for three years to phase in the new security upgrades.
With no action being taken last year, CCSD now has $400,000 available this year to begin the security upgrades.
“Within the camera portion of the security system, we’ll do some phasing in,” CCSD Superintendent Steve McDermott said. “We’ll also phase in those other significant portions and watch our funding along the way so that we don’t undercut one part of the system overspending on another. We have time and funding to do this the right way, so we want to balance the systems we have installed.”
CCSD will work with Communication Innovators, headquartered in Pleasant Hill, to replace existing surveillance cameras at school facilities, some of which have been in place for more than 12 years.
McDermott said cameras will primarily be placed in the three buildings that house students, but there will also be a security addition at the transportation building.
“Of course, the cameras themselves will be included in the electronic entry system that we’re working toward, as well,” McDermott said. “Eventually, there will be main entrances that will be identified at each building and that’s where folks will come and go. At that point, they will need to buzz in, where someone will see them on a monitor and allow them entrance when they’re identified.”
Student fees
In McDermott’s report to the board, he brought up student fees and confusion regarding who pays those fees at registration.
“I think the interim superintendent before me had made an agreement or two on having some of those fees waived,” McDermott said. “You can’t do that. So, we’re three years beyond that, we’ve learned that and (we’re) trying to comply with state guidelines.”
Now, a student fee will be charged if a student takes any class or participates in any activity at Creston Community Schools. Activities include arts, music and sports.
This affects students who receive their education at St. Malachy School, Mayflower Heritage Christian School or who are home-schooled. If those students take any class or participate in any activity at Creston Community Schools, they now need to dual enroll and pay the student fee at registration.
“There aren’t a lot of people that impacts,” School Board Member Galen Zumbach said at the meeting. “The fact that to come into compliance with the state, it has to be done. It’s not like we’re trying to gouge them.”
St. Malachy or Mayflower students who only receive transportation from Creston Community Schools will be charged the student fee but do not need to dual enroll for transportation.
Orient-Macksburg students who come to Creston for high school classes are not charged a student fee. The Orient-Macksburg School District has an agreement to pay CCSD on a per-student, per-class basis for those courses. Orient-Macksburg students who participate in sports or other activities in Creston are also covered by that agreement.