By Don Rush

It may seem hard to believe, but in Oxford, the new school year is only a few weeks away and Oxford Community Schools are gearing up and getting ready for a safe year.

“We’re excited to get back to school,” said Jill Lemond, Assistant Superintendent of Safety & School Operations. “We want to get back to see the students and start getting back to what we went into education for, preparing students to be successful in their lives.”

Lemond said the district is finding the balance between getting back to “normal” and making sure students, staff and parents feel safe. One aspect of safety is making sure the district’s 300 cameras are functional and placed in the correct locations. She said all buildings have cameras and none are placed in school bathrooms. This past summer, about two dozen new cameras were added.

In the elementary schools, there are cameras in the entryways and overlooking the playground and parking lots.

“We’re mostly ‘camera’d up’ in the middle school and high school,” she said, noting the high school alone has over 180 cameras.

“The high school is unique,” she said. “It doesn’t have straight hallways. It’s basically two concentric circles. One camera aiming down the hallway doesn’t work. We need more cameras to cover all the angles.”

Entry points, and where security badges are swiped are also critical areas for cameras, she said.

Lemond said the district’s safety committee met last week. The committee is made up of school administration, community first responders and leaders from local units of government. She said the group talked about the three year safety plan. She was expected to give a formal presentation about the safety meeting at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

Cutlines:

Cameras like this one in the administration building, play an important role in Oxford schools safety plans.

Jill Lemond