PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School District is planning to implement new security cameras on two of its campuses before school starts in September.
The cameras will be set up within the next two weeks on the Blue Heron Middle School and Port Townsend High School campuses and will be fully functional before the start of the 2017-18 school year, according to Superintendent John Polm.
The School Board approved the implementation of 117 cameras during its July 17 meeting.
A bid from Double D Electrical of Port Hadlock also was accepted during the July 17 meeting.
The bid of $151,399.67 was the lowest of three bids for the project.
These will be the first security cameras put up on any of the Port Townsend School District campuses, according to Polm.
The cameras have been a long-term security project for the district and were a line item in a 2012 capital levy.
“They were more expensive than they thought it would be at the time,” Polm said. “We hope that these cameras will be a long-term investment for the safety and security of the school district.”
Of the 117 approved, 49 will be set up at Blue Heron Middle School and 68 will be set up on the Port Townsend High School campus.
“The high school is a challenge since there’s more than one building,” Polm said.
The cameras will be set in high-traffic areas such as hallways and the gymnasium, as well as at each exit and entrance on both campuses.
There also will be cameras set on the exterior of some buildings in order to survey parts of campus, according to Polm.
The cameras are motion sensitive, so they will only record movement, and all the video will be saved digitally to a hard drive with a backlog of 30 days.
Grant Street Elementary School will not have cameras installed this year, but the school’s replacement, Salish Coast Elementary will have cameras installed during the building process, according to Polm.
Salish Coast Elementary won’t be open until the 2018-19 school year.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
