Burrell security upgrades could cost $1.27 million, but are vital say administrators, police

Burrell School District’s building security systems are so outdated, Superintendent Shannon Wagner is urging the school board to replace them — even if the district has to foot the entire $1.27 million pricetag.

“Every (security) system that we have is outdated,” Wagner told school board members this week.

She said the administration is proposing an all-encompassing system provided by a single company, Verkada/Biztec. According to Wagner, the hefty price includes servicing the system’s components and providing repairs at no further cost to the district for 10 years.

She said the administration wanted to give the board time to review the proposal and then come back with questions for the administration in March, when a formal proposal will be presented.

Wagner said the administration hopes to cover a large chunk of the new system’s cost by landing a $450,000 competitive grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. But, she said, there are no guarantees for that because it’s only one grant, and every district in the state can apply for it. The application deadline is Feb. 29.

If that doesn’t work out, she said it will come down to district finances, mainly its $3 million capital reserve fund.

“We’re hoping the board will still do this with the capital reserve funds that we have,” Wagner said. “This is a capital improvement, and we certainly want to get a grant if there is grant funding. But this is a capital improvement, and we hope the board will still do it.”

Lower Burrell police Chief John Marhefka and the department’s school resource officer, Patrolman Rob Acquaviva, support the upgrade.

Carla Roland, assistant high school principal and the district’s safety and security coordinator, said the information being provided to board members focuses on improving the district’s physical security structure.

She said shortcomings in the current security structure were highlighted in a December risk assessment of all four Burrell school buildings — Burrell High School, Burrell Middle School, Stewart Elementary School and Bon-Air Elementary School — by the state police.

Roland said the district’s security cameras have not been updated since 2010. She said the “Raptor” devices used to provide immediate ID screening of guests entering the schools were installed in 2014, and there are some forms of identification they will not scan.

Kevin Pasko, the district’s systems administrator, said the components of the security system were provided by multiple vendors and require separate management of each.

The upgrade was outlined by members of the administration’s safety and security team at the board’s meeting this week.

But not all of the information was made public. Some information was presented in a closed-door, executive session afterward. Wagner said making public the specific problems with the current security system could endanger students and the schools.

One thing was made clear: new security cameras are a key part of the upgrade.

“It (the current system) is very limited on who and how cameras can be accessed,” Pasko said.

He said the security cameras currently can be viewed only through local access points in the schools and not remotely or online. Its limitations can waste valuable time when searching for and dealing with incidents recorded by the cameras, he said.

Wagner said that’s why administrators want the next system to be all-encompassing from one vendor and user-friendly. She and Business Manager Jennifer Callahan said the all-encompassing characteristic is what drew the administration’s attention to Verkada/Biztec.

Also, it would be acquired through the company’s contract with the state’s Co-Stars co-op purchasing program and, as such, would not have to be put out for bid, Wagner said.

Marhefka and Acquaviva underscored what the safety committee is recommending.

“Updating the cameras is imperative here,” Marhefka said. “Well-positioned cameras deter wrongdoing on campus. There is a need for this.”

Acquaviva’s job stations him in the schools throughout the school year with the aim of defusing or preempting potentially dangerous situations and responding promptly when they occur.

Of the current security apparatus, he said: “The investigative capability that I need to do what I do just isn’t there. There are four buildings and only one of me, and I can’t be in four places at one time.”

“What we are looking at is having a ton more cameras than we did when we first got them,” Wagner said.

She said when the district’s current security cameras were installed 14 years ago, the cost was about $360,000.