Page 10 - may 2018

Students will return to hardened campuses in Fall 2018
By Sue Hann director, planning and project management
Brevard Public
Schools wraps
up the school
year having
made many
improvements
to the safety and
security of its campuses through the use of sales surtax.
The district started the sales surtax security program with
a pilot project at Oak Park Elementary in October 2015. This project tested the fencing and access control protocol and also illustrated that the budgets established in the sales surtax program for security may not be sufficient for the program of work requested by the district security team.
Concurrently the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) for the sales surtax began discussing the sequencing of the security program and considered several options presented by staff. Ultimately, the ICOC unanimously recommended to the school board that the district bundle any schools not already under contract for security as a single project and accelerate this project utilizing funds loaned from the facility renewal surtax resources. In April 2016, the school board voted to approve this concept.
Following school board approval, the staff developed and issued a Request for Proposals for design build services relative to the District School Security project. The project was awarded to Wharton Smith in October 2016 and design commenced. Construction was awarded in March and June 2017. The project included fencing and access control at 65 schools. Front entry lockdown, which was not part of the basic security plan, was added to the project.
Since that time the Wharton Smith team has been working at almost every school to implement the sales surtax security program. Although the overall framework is consistent across the district, each school has unique circumstances and operational issues that require a customized approach. During design and construction, district security and the facilities team met on-site at each school to understand and address their challenges.
The Wharton Smith project was substantially complete after Spring Break 2018. Right now, the team is walking through each school to address any punch list items. In addition, some of the schools that were under contract for the sales surtax program prior to the combined project approach are getting another look. The team anticipates some additional fencing and access control work at
11 schools and three other facilities where students are present. This work will bring these facilities up to the same standard as those in the group project. The fencing, access control and front entry lockdown will be complete at all schools before
school opens in August 2018.
The sales
surtax program
approved by
the voters in
November
2014 included
funding for
fencing and
access control
under the
district school
security
program. The
estimated
revenue for the
basic program
was $5.7
million. The
school board
has allocated
additional
resources to
ensure that
every school
has fencing and access control that meets the framework outlined by district security.
The office of district operations, in cooperation with district security, are currently conducting a district-wide security assessment. The assessment evaluates both remaining security elements of the recent initiative, as well as security enhancement measures for each school. This assessment will be utilized in the risk assessment- reporting requirement to the FLDOE as contained in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
The new fencing and access control may cause some operational changes and reduce non-badged access to campuses. As these systems are put to use, routines for students, teachers, administrators, parents and visitors may be changing. Thank you for your patience as everyone adjusts to the new security protocols and understanding that the underlying goal is the safety of our students.
Join as a Sam’s Savings® Member
$ andgeta t
10giftcard
t Gift Card #980036441. Offer expires on July 31, 2018.