Anderson County school security good, improving

Information from WYSH Radio

During a joint workshop between the Anderson County Commission and the Anderson County School Board on Thursday, schools’ security director Joe Fogerty outlined security measures already in place across the system and discussed future plans for school security.

Fogerty told a large crowd in the Clinton Middle School auditorium that there are currently eight uniformed, armed school resource officers and a DARE officer patrolling the county’s two high schools, four middle schools and alternative school, and those officers are available to answer calls at the nearby elementary schools. Fogerty also said that there are currently 259 surveillance cameras in nine of the county schools and that similar cameras are being installed on school buses.

Many of the security upgrades currently being undertaken were started before the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and include requiring all school employees from administrators to bus drivers to wear photo identification badges. Also in the works for several months now are comprehensive emergency response plans for all 18 county schools that include detailed floor plans and evacuation routes that cover a wide range of emergency scenarios from a shooting to severe weather.

Following the presentation, members of the County Commission and School Board agreed to pass a joint resolution creating a school security task force to be chaired by Fogerty and include law enforcement and school officials. Representatives of the Clinton and Oak Ridge city school systems will also be invited to join the task force, which is expected to have recommendations ready to submit to the Commission and School Board within six to eight weeks.

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