The Director of Safety and Security, Jim Phillips, for the Plymouth Schools tendered his resignation effective June 1, but improvements made under his watch over the last two years will continue to provide a higher level of protection for students and staff.
Superintendent Daniel Tyree said, “When Jim (Phillips) came two years ago, we were vulnerable at a lot of fronts. He has put Plymouth Schools in a situation where we now can feel secure.”
Immediately after his hire in July, 2013, Jim Phillips began the process of assessing needs for individual schools and the corporation as a whole by reviewing an existing security review that had been completed and meeting with the members of the Safety Committee already in place.
He then began pouring over policies and procedures; consulting with administrators, teachers, classified staff, and other school directors to get their viewpoints; visually inspecting each of the buildings in the corporation; and seeking sources to get projects completed.
At a School Board meeting only a few months after his appointment, Phillips said, “The two areas we knew needed to be reviewed were the entryways to each building and visual management systems.
A CCTV (closed circuit TV) system was installed in all of the nine buildings in the school systems that, according to Phillips, allows building administrators to monitor their own facilities as well as adds a monitoring aspect that can be viewed by safety personnel at a central location. New security visitor entrances were installed at Plymouth High School and Jefferson Elementary. There are proposals to compete all of the other school entrances in the future.
Other measures designed to monitor visitors to the schools were put in place. Each school is now able to produce visitor badges and electronically check all visitors against registered sexual offender databases from all 50 states and, if relevant, local no contact orders for example.” Phillips explained how the system works saying, “Once visitors are accepted, an identification badge with a picture and the date of the visit is printed for the visitor to wear. When the visitor leaves the building, he or she must check out of the main office and turn in the badge.”
Phillips said the badge has a picture on it scanned from the ID’s and also show what area of the building a visitor has indicated they are entering. In subsequent visits, an ID will not have to be shown; however a badge would still be printed from the information stored in the school’s database. A background check is run every time, even if the person is a returning or frequent visitor.
The Plymouth School buses are on the roads every school day for some 6,500 miles over 31 bus routes and nine double routes. Now with installations of the latest safety technology equipment, drivers have even more ways to help keep kids protected.
Within seconds after a bus is started and the brake is touched , an audio reminder is given to drivers that a Child Check-Mate System is turned on. As each child enters or exists the bus, there is a video recording that can be reviewed quickly if needed. When the bus is turned off, a series of short beeps is activated as a remainder to drivers to walk back of the bus, while checking each seat, to deactivate the system. If the rear button is not pushed within seconds, the bus horn is activated and continues to sound until the rear button is released. Philips said, “It brings a mental focus back to checking.”
According to Phillips, the GPS system allows security personnel to locate the exact location of a bus in the event of an emergency.
Tyree listed a number of other safety actions implemented in the last two years including: Electronic key entrance in all schools, elimination and accurate inventory of the few outside keys remaining, bullet-resident film on all outside doors, and outside directional signage. He also pointed to the organization of fire, tornado and a active shooter drills, initiation of Crisis Intervention Teams, training for CPI (crisis prevention), PHS hall security monitors, and evening security for extra-curricular actives as vital to overall school safety. Phillips said they have developed a better working relationship with “The Crossing” for alternative educational opportunities as well.
According to Tyree, Phillips was instrumental in the schools system receiving two grants from Homeland Security.
Philips said, “Working at PCSC was a great opportunity to develop a safe and secure environment for our children. Being safe while at school is the last thing our children should have to worry about.” He added, “The School Board, administrators, teachers, staff and students were supportive and instrumental in implementing the entire new Safety Program.” He also praised the efforts of other security staff including Gary Cook and Ted Brown as central to implementing safety and security programs.
Phillips came to the PCSC from the Kimberly Clark International Security Department. Phillips said he plans to stay in the community initially and will return to corporate security.
Tyree said, “Losing Jim was a shock to me. Jim is a good friend and I am going to miss him, but the legacy he leaves for us is invaluable.” Tyree said, “I believe we have candidates to move it (safety and security) forward.”
Carol Anders Correspondent
