Keeping Kids Safe at Piedmont Elementary Schools

Perimeter fencing with automatically locking gates is being installed at Piedmont's three public elementary schools and, once the work is complete, gates will be locked during certain school hours, says a report from Piedmont Unified School District Supt. Constance Hubbard.

Hubbard prepared the report for last night's meeting of the PUSD board of trustees.

Fencing and locked gates are among the measures being taken to ensure student safety locally in the wake of a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, last December.

PUSD has already implemented some new safety procedures at the elementary schools, Hubbard's report says.

Those include:

• Requiring members of the public, including parents, to use only the main entrance at each school;
• Having visitors check in at the school's main office; and
• Issuing identification badges that visitors must wear or display.

The report says the new fences will will limit public access to schools during portions of the school day and will also affect access patterns for the public, especially around the Witter Field Complex.

The changes will also affect student walking patterns for middle and high school students during the middle of the elementary school day.

Parents' access to the Schoolmates child care programs at each elementary school site may also be affected during certain hours.

"The protocols will be developed with school and Schoolmates staff at each site and will make every effort to accommodate families while maintaining reasonable, safe access," the report says.

Piedmont's police and fire departments are reviewing the new procedures.

Signs explaining the new policies and hours when schools will be locked have been ordered and will be installed over the next several weeks, Hubbard said.

The report said that once installation of fencing and signs is complete, parents and the public will be notified of the changes via district newsletters, local news media and letters to neighbors around Witter Field.