YOUNGSTOWN Schools will be renovated, built with security in mind

Administrators will be able to see inside the schools with cameras.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Merriam-Webster definition of security includes "protection" and "freedom from fear," the Youngstown City School District security chief says.
Those two things are what Ted Terlesky hopes to give children in the schools being renovated and built as part of the district's $182.5 million Ohio School Facilities Commission construction project.
Terlesky said security has been highlighted with recent national events and all items in the new schools will use modern technology.
"It's of utter importance," he said.
Terlesky highlighted plans for the Taft and Harding elementary schools Tuesday during a caucus of the school board that preceded the regular board meeting. Terlesky said the security measures will be implemented systemwide.
Cameras
Each school will have about 16 digital surveillance cameras with monitors in the schools' main offices, he said. Administrators will be able to access images from any camera in any school via the Internet.
Cameras will capture color images inside each school; outdoor cameras will send images in black and white. Cameras will be hidden in black spheres mounted throughout the school buildings, so it will be difficult to know which spheres contain cameras, Terlesky explained.
Terlesky said a black-and-white video camera system was piloted at Rayen High School about five years ago. Such cameras, he explained, enable security officers to get a clear picture of individuals who commit crimes at the schools.
"We would hope that they would be a deterrent," he said. "But if we can't deter, we want to have the ability to apprehend."
Main office staff will be able to see visitors to each school via monitor and visitors will ring a buzzer to gain entrance. Parking lots will have updated lighting systems
Entrances
Schools will also feature two main entrance doors -- one for staff, another for students -- and most outer doors will require keys, Terlesky said. Some will be equipped with magnetic locks to be opened only with card keys by approved personnel.
Inner doors will have locks, and teachers will have emergency buzzers in each class room and telephones programmed to reach the office or other designated areas, Terlesky added.
Metal detectors will be installed at middle, junior high and senior high schools. Some are portable in case they are needed at the elementary level. Hallway gates will be used to cordon off various areas during special events. Terlesky also said random searches of lockers for weapons and drugs will continue.
Also Tuesday, the board of trustees voted to pay $10,000 to the Youngstown Playhouse and Youth Theatre. Board member John J. Maluso, who is on the Playhouse executive board, said the money will be used to offset the cost of tickets and transportation of the roughly 6,000 district students who attend productions at the playhouse each year. Students receive discounted tickets and free transportation, he said.
Board Vice President Tracey S.M. Winbush supported the measure after expressing concern that the Playhouse board does not have minority representation, even though it sits in a minority community on the city's South Side. Maluso said the Playhouse is recruiting two black board members.
, including a man from the Youngstown Area Urban League. Board member Clarence N. Boles said the Playhouse has also had minority actors and actresses, including himself, and puts on a black Nativity play each year.
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