By Mary Wolbach Lopert 

How safe is safe? This is the question being asked by the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD). Does the district need to invest in metal detectors in its secondary schools? What about cameras? How does security match up to a student’s right to privacy? The results of the bond issue will play a part in determining what security measures are implimented.

According to St Vrain Valley School Board member Jim Martinsen, funds for metal detectors are not included in the November school bond. As has been well publicized, Skyline High School has been the district’s beta site for Idaho-based Milestone Technology Systems Inc., SecureScan 2000. Given to the district for free for a 12-month period providing that Milestone can use the school to demonstrate the device’s capabilities for other school districts, the detector is sensitive enough to distinguish between coins and a knife, according to St. Vrain Valley School Board President Kathy Hall. 

Nancy Herbert of the St. Vrain Valley School District stated that while the Secure- Scan will stay at Skyline for the year testing period, the district will have to study the issue before proceeding any further.

What the bond will include is $3,066,850 for outdoor surveillance cameras as part of the support function for school safety and security. Herbert stressed that if the bond passes, the number and placement of these cameras at any particular location would have to be studied by the individual school and district safety committee.

Both Herbert and School Resource Officer (SRO) for Skyline High School Craig Mansanares of the Longmont Police Department (LPD) stressed that the cameras already in place at Skyline have had a positive effect. Mansanares stated that due to a combination of factors, the 1999-2000 school year "had an increase of over 300 percent of incidents in the parking lot of any police or school type response. Since the school can’t provide a smoking area, the students used to go to the south end (of the parking lot). There were fights and break-ins." Mansanares stressed, "I don’t want to paint a bad picture of Skyline, but these are typical problems today." 
Both Herbert and Mansanares agree that at Skyline the camera has been a positive addition. Skyline has one camera, which was funded by the booster club. Parents then raised $9,000 to reimburse the club.

"There is just one camera," Mansanares stated. The monitor was placed in the front office where the students could see it. "We didn’t want to be secretive," he continued. "(We wanted) to educate parents and the community. The whole school has been affected…. (The camera) has taken away anonymity. Incidents dropped below the years prior to the 1999-2000 school year." The LPD was able to arrest or identify over 70 percent of the perpetrators.

According to Herbert, "Niwot High School is one of the more challenging campuses. There aren’t enough school administrators or staff to monitor these activities. The cameras help with that."

Niwot High SRO Russ Nanney of the Boulder County Sheriff’ Department agrees. On one day during the past two years there were eight car break-ins in the school’s parking lot. Nanney feels that the camera would be "an investigative resource to go back to. Now, most information that leads to a solved case comes from students or an individual who witnessed (the incident) and had a plate or vehicle description. Most information comes from students."

Nanney hopes that if cameras were installed it would be a deterrent. At the end of the 2001 school year, vandals sprayed graffiti on the south and east walls of NHS. If the cameras could capture such incidents, "The school would be able to collect restitution. This will reduce insurance costs and that is a savings to the school district."

Martinsen stated that saving money on insurance costs would mean more money in the classrooms. 

Martinsen also noted that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has written a letter to the SVVSD stating concerns about students’ privacy. Partially in reaction to the surveillance cameras placed in Boulder High School, the ACLU stated that its studies have shown that funds are better spent on more teachers, counselors and educational programs rather than extra police, metal detectors and surveillance equipment.

Given all the information, the bottom line on whether or not cameras are installed in SVVSD facilities is that voters will make the call when they vote on the November bond issue. 

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