Stanley Security makes Pioneer Elementary School a much safer place to be

Published 12:33 pm Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Something is different these days about Auburn’s Pioneer Elementary School, and it hits you at the front doors.

Nobody gets to just walk through those doors anymore.

First, visitors push a button on a shiny panel in the brick wall to the right of the doors. Then they speak into the panel, tell someone who they are, what they are doing there.

And if the visitor checks out, the door unlocks. But if the visitor doesn’t check out – well, they won’t get in.

Months after that guy Stanley – OK, the Stanley Security Company, from whom Pioneer last year won $100.000 worth of security equipment in a fiercely-fought, coast-to-coast school contest – installed its cutting-edge wiring and gizmos at Auburn’s Pioneer Elementary School, the school is much more secure, administrators say.

Having the system there is a weight of worry off of everyone’s mind. And perhaps the most relieved mind of all belongs to Principal Debra Gary.

Alarmed after the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, school leaders decided to act — and that’s how they learned about the contest.

“Why we sought it out and put ourselves through that effort was because we didn’t have a sense of well being after Sandy Hook,” said Gary. “So we looked for something that would give us a feeling of safety, and we thought this would help. What we didn’t realize was just how much better we would feel.

“The main thing is that we feel secure. Before, we were such an open campus, and anyone could just walk in. Now there are barriers in place, and we’ve got safeguards, stopping points that we can check. And just that much makes working here so much less stressful. And I think that’s conveyed to the kids. Staff didn’t feel safe after Sandy Hook. Now everyone feels safe, and that comes out to the kids.”

One big surprise, Gary said, has been the reaction of parents. School leaders imagined there might be some pushback because parents would no longer be able to walk right in.

“Now they have to ring the doorbell,” Gary said. “We have had no complaints. We have had a lot of positive comments from parents who feel more secure because they know we have more than policies in place.”

Stanley staff began installation last August and finished up the last of the system checks about a month ago.

Like the proverbial iceberg, the bulk of the system is below the waterline, out of sight — and for security reasons, school leaders can’t talk about some of the best parts.

“What I can say is that we have immediate access to the police department in a way we didn’t have before, via the technology that Stanley Security supplied. We have immediate monitoring … What we have discovered is how little it does take to make a school staff feel safer. We are the first school in Auburn to have some of these technologies in. And for such a low cost. every school in the district could have that same technology put in and feel, and be, so much safer,” Gary said.

Gary said she can’t thank the community enough for its support.