CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The Harrison County Board of Education was already in the process of rolling out a series of security changes and upgrades when the rash of school threats began across the state two weeks ago.
Harrison County Board of Education Director of Safety and Discipline Jason Snider said they are continuing Active Shooter Preparedness Training (ALICE) and Safe School entrances will be fast-tracked to six schools over the next year. Access software for employees will be updated, and a gun detection system will also be used at at least one location in the county.
“Daily, at a few of our schools we are using the detectors as our kids are walking in, and we are doing classroom walk-throughs with our students to keep our staff and students safe.” Snider said.
Snider said for the first time, first responders in the county will have access to all county facilities in the case of an emergency. The change could improve response times if a catastrophic event were to be reported.
“Harrison County EMS and all first responders have key FOB access to be able to get into our schools at any time in case of an emergency,” Snider said. “They have been denied access in the past, but they now have full access to get into our schools if they need to.”
The Siemens Beacon system is a security system with the ability to interface with other software to provide a range of alerts that can be transmitted at the moment of the incident, according to Supervisor of Technology and Information Todd Poole. Installation is underway that will provide lanyards to staff and teachers to enable them to report an emergency in real time.
“So, we can program those however we want, and an administrator can press those in a situation to get a Code Blue,” Poole said.
The gun detection system is provided by Rank One Computing, a tech company that opened in 2022 in Morgantown at WVU’s Vantage Ventures. They start with defense industry roots and, based on facial recognition technology, will deploy a weapons detection system described by ROC Director of School Safety Adam Cheeseman.
Cheeseman describes the notification in the main office of the school when a weapon is detected.
“It has an audible, “ding, ding, ding,” and she was clearly able to look and send the report out,” Cheeseman said.
Snider reminded board members at a recent meeting that when the electricity is out, the only thing they have to rely on are the prevention resource officers. Coty Shingleton works at Lincoln High School and said sometimes he hears more than he wants to, but he is able to help students with a wide range of issues. Cell phones and a generational gap are some of the most challenging yet important issues they face in the wave of school threats.
“A lot of students are being raised by their grandparents and I don’t think they realize the capabilities they have when they have that phone in their hands,” Shingleton said.
Story by Mike Nolting, WAJR