If you’re inside or outside of George Washington Middle School next school year and thinking of doing some mischief, be forewarned-you’re being watched.
Last week, the Brookfield-Lyons District 103 school board voted to spend $32,000 to install an Integrated Video and Computer System (IVACS) at the middle school, which is located at 8101 Ogden Ave. in Lyons. District 103 serves the villages of Lyons, Stickney, Forest View and McCook and the southeast quadrant of Brookfield.
The company installing the cameras is Woodridge-based Closed Circuit Innovations. Warner said the company will begin the work shortly after July 4.
The system will feature 23 cameras located both inside and outside the building. Superintendent Michael Warner said that eight of the cameras will be mounted outside, with the rest focused on high traffic areas inside the school, including hallways and hallway intersections. None of the cameras will be inside instructional areas of the school, offices or bathrooms.
Outdoor cameras will be aimed at areas not observable from windows and areas where the school has been marked in the past by graffiti.
“As we were looking at the size of the building and the number of students, we wanted to have a more proactive stance for students and community members who come into our building,” Warner said. “It’ll cause people to think twice before breaking school policies or rules. Inappropriate actions will be caught on tape.”
According to the 2006 School Report Card issued by the Illinois State Board of Education for George Washington Middle School, which serves grades six through eight, enrollment was roughly 700 students.
Warner said the decision to install the camera system was not prompted by any particular incident or incidents. Rather, he said, the move “was somewhat independent.”
“It’s something good school districts are doing to protect students and other people coming into the schools. We’re being proactive.”
The system replaces the antiquated and limited surveillance system currently in place at the school, which involved three or four cameras pointed at school entrances. The old system also depended on staff replacing VHS tapes in the machines on an ongoing basis.
The new system will be completely digital and will be activated by motion, according to Warner. While the system will be operating 24 hours a day, the cameras themselves will only capture images when a sensor detects motion. That will also serve to free up space in the computer that operates the system.
The camera captures won’t be actively monitored by staff, but will be there to assist staff in the aftermath of an incident.
District 103 is not considering installing similar systems at its other schools, which includes Lincoln School in Brookfield.