San Benito High School added fencing to the front of the campus so it can shutter its doors after classes end to keep out nighttime troublemakers.
“We want to make sure that we can close the campus in the evenings,” John Perales, the district superintendent, told the Free Lance.
The summertime project involved adding 200 feet of black, eight-foot tall custom fencing to a stretch of school property parallel to Monterey Street. The new fence stretches between the O’Donnell Gym and the administration building; the administration building and the library; and the library and the cafeteria. The gates have not been installed yet, confirmed Principal Todd Dearden on Tuesday afternoon.
Trustees unanimously approved a bid from the San Jose-based Ace Fence and Gate in mid-March to do the job for $41,580 but urged the district to reach out to the community with a public relations campaign before the structure was built.
So far, there has been “no reaction” to the new fencing, the superintendent said. The lack of commentary surprised the administrator, who remembers the community’s reaction to a red line drawn on the campus sidewalk parallel to Monterey Street. The painted boundarywas meant to keep students back from the road and to minimize the chance of a gang-related, drive-by shooting, he said.
One student did jokingly tell Perales that the new fences made him feel like he was in a prison, the superintendent said. The San Benito High School principal emphasized that the gates to the new black fence will be open during the school day.
“It’s a good thing for our kids’ safety,” Perales said.
