School security committee continues work in Baldwin Co.

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - A committee looking into safety at Baldwin County schools is looking at pilot schools in formulating plans to make improvements.

MAKEUP OF THE COMMITTEE

The committee is made up of six volunteers with backgrounds in enforcement.

The group has been touring schools.

One of the committee members is retired Secret Service Agent Kevin Levy.

Levy said the school board selected a series of pilot schools.

He said, "We visited those to try to find out what the common things were, the themes, if you will, for security and security issues."

But, he wouldn't name the schools.

EARLY FINDINGS

Levy has said, though, that committee members immediately found things that needed changing, like cameras that were more focused on students rather than possible intruders.

He said another important area is communication, "and how to improve communications, not only between schools and law enforcement, but between the schools themselves, to increase awareness of things as they happen in real time."

NEW RADIO SYSTEM?

Levy confirmed committee members are looking at developing a radio system.

He said, "We received several proposals from various communications companies, and we're evaluating those right now."

Levy also said committee members have seen other safety ideas they liked, but didn't go into specifics.

He said, "Honestly, I would be a little hesitant to speak about something that is currently being evaluated that hasn't been put into place yet."

DIFFERENT IDEAS

Levy said good ideas can be obtained from different schools.

He said, "One school for example may put a feature in place that helps identify people when they come on campus. But, they may be lacking another feature that, maybe, involves physical security or communications or so forth."

WHAT CAN BE DONE FIRST?

Last month, Superintendent Dr. Alan Lee talked about how quickly the school system could make changes.

Lee said, "Those things that cost us nothing will be things we implement right away.  Those items that they suggest we do that are going to cost us money, we're going to look for the money to budget and get those taken care of."

NO TIMETABLE

As far as any dates scheduled for work, Levy said, "I don't want to narrow anybody down to a specific time frame, and, especially, I don't want to put additional pressure on the Superintendent or school board, but I would say its definitely a high priority."

The committee is hoping to tour all 45 campuses in Baldwin County.