Board members remain unconvinced that cameras are necessary at
San Benito High School
While San Benito High School administrators say video cameras
are necessary for student safety, members of the board of trustees
remained unconvinced they are the sole solution.
Board members remain unconvinced that cameras are necessary at San Benito High School
While San Benito High School administrators say video cameras are necessary for student safety, members of the board of trustees remained unconvinced they are the sole solution.
“I think what we are saying is we want to look at a security strategy that includes cameras,” said Joseph Gardner, a member of the board of trustees, at the board meeting on April 23.
A security package would include fencing, monitoring of campus by more staff members and possibly cameras, said Steve DeLay, a member of the board of trustees.
Those items will be future agenda items, said Bill Tiffany, president of the board of trustees.
Purchasing 25 cameras and equipment would cost $145,000. Annual maintenance costs would be about $11,000.
The administration would be willing to start with fewer cameras and purchase more later, said Stan Rose, superintendent of the San Benito High School District.
The cameras would be purchased using funds that could not be spent to support operations, Rose said.
Board members will make a decision about cameras after receiving a demonstration at a school with comparable cameras, Tiffany said.
Fencing is an important part of a security strategy for San Benito High School, DeLay said.
“I wanted to put in fencing when I was the director of finance,” DeLay said, “And we never even got around to looking at it.”
Parts of the campus have fencing, particularly the newest section of campus, Rose said.
It would cost $64,660 to enclose the rest of the campus, according to documents from Rose.
Fences would not protect students, said Richard Brown, a deputy for the San Benito County Sheriff’s department.
“That’s great, if all your administrators are Olympians, and are going to jump the fence just like our young, potential suspects are going to do.”
Gilroy High School has had a fence for more than a decade.
The fence helps keep intruders off campus, said James Maxwell, principal of Gilroy High School.
Maxwell would recommend fencing to school administrators, in combination with security cameras.
There has been an increase in non-students attempting to enter school grounds, according to a report from the Board of Trustees agenda packet. Law enforcement officers have identified some of those people as having gang affiliations.
“I can’t give you a number of times that it has happened, but I do think the frequency of it has increased over the last five, six months,” Rose said.
Antonio Vela, the assistant principal at San Benito High School, deals with security staff frequently.
“We’ve been able to point to at least two severe incidents,” Vela said. “We believe that one incident is too many.”
Asked what happened in those incidents, Vela said that he could not give details because they involved minors.
Unlike the security cameras at Gilroy High, nobody would monitor cameras at San Benito High School.
Although the cameras could provide evidence after a crime has been committed, some board members do not believe that it would act as a deterrence or keep intruders off campus.
“After a while I get so used to cameras everywhere, I don’t worry about them,” said Evelyn Muro, a board member.
Bob Kusche, a consultant for Ojo Technologies, made a presentation for the board at the April 23 meeting.
It did not address his concerns, DeLay said.
During the presentation, board members watched a fight that was caught by video cameras at another school.
“I even had a hard time picking out the kid in the fight,” Delay said. Campus supervisors and administrators monitor campus before school, during break, lunch and after school, Rose said.
Muro was worried that staff members would become more lax about monitoring students if video cameras were installed.
Nothing replaces supervision by human beings, Muro said.
Mary Encinias, a board member, agreed.
“It seems to be that some of the people who are supposed to be out there have a meeting, or a phone call,” Encinias said. “I think if the administration wants the cameras, get the staff out there and you’ll get the vote.”
At the January 2007 meeting, board members directed administrators to get more staff members on supervision duty.
“I want to support this, but I’m frustrated because I’m being ignored,” DeLay said.
Rose did not understand the board’s directive, he said.
“I missed it,” Rose said. “I’m sorry. I’m the one whose hand is being slapped.”
