Glenbrook District 225 to add security guards during after-school hours
Glenview IL March 21 2018 Glenbrook High Schools District 225 will expand security at Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South high schools beginning April 2.
In a 6-0 vote, the Board of Education approved Monday a proposal to hire unarmed, civilian security officers for after-school hours at both schools. Board member Marcelo Sztainberg was absent.
The proposal recommended hiring three security officers at both schools who would work from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to an administrative report.
On Saturdays, two security guards will work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and one guard will work from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. On Sundays and holidays, one security guard will work each shift, according to the report.
Over the summer, one security guard will work during the day and one guard will work evenings Monday through Sunday, according to the report.
The security guards will be hired through American Heritage Protective Services, Inc., the security company the district currently partners with to provide one security officer at each high school from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., said Brad Swanson, assistant superintendent of human resources. The guards who work the night shift will continue to do so under the new proposal, he said.
The cost to hire the additional guards through the end of the fiscal year is approximately $80,000, and the cost for the additional guards for an entire fiscal year is approximately $330,000, according to the report. Each guard will be paid $21.64 an hour, it said.
The administration decided to fill the gap in security after school when students are participating in athletics and other school programs, said Superintendent Michael Riggle.
“We do a lot in our schools,” Riggle said. “We want our schools to be used, but we also want them to be safe.”
Board Member Joel Taub said the proposal seems like a half measure if the security guards will be unarmed.
Armed guards are a big step, and an unarmed security guard can still be part of a solution by communicating and being a presence if a situation arises, Swanson said.
“There’s a lot of other options that are pretty obvious for us to take. This is one option that fills a very needed staffing gap in our non-school hours providing more presence, providing more communication, providing more supervision,” Swanson said.
Board President Skip Shein asked what the role of the new security guards will be. Riggle said the security guards “will be a presence” so that administrators know what is going on in the school buildings.
The security guards will protect the buildings, make sure doors are locked and visually screen people as they leave and enter the buildings, Riggle said.
“There is a variety of functions that they are going to be performing for us, but they will be there as a visual presence so that people know that there is someone in this facility,” Riggle said.
The administration will present the board with updated security plans in April, which will include security assessments and crisis plans for each school, Riggle said.
The security plan will include a recommendation to include parent input and involvement, Riggle said. A group of parents sent a letter, which one parent read at the board meeting, to the superintendent asking to be a part of the security process.
Chicago Tribune
