Security upgrades approved for 4 more Clark County high schools

The Clark County School District has allocated money for security upgrades at four more campuses on the heels of security concerns that surfaced last school year.

The district previously allocated funds for 13 schools, with the bulk of the money — more than $26 million — going to Eldorado High School, where a teacher was brutally assaulted by a student in April.

The latest security upgrades include:

$1.4 million for Basic Academy.

$751,684 for Bonanza High School.

$1.1 million for Chaparral High School.

$1.1 million for Western High School.

The district has entered into construction agreements with Martin Harris Construction for security upgrades at the four schools. Included in the work is upgrades to security cameras, establishment of a single point of entry and new fencing.

Under Nevada law, Superintendent Jesus Jara is authorized to approve a contract to address an emergency if it affects public health, safety or welfare.

The emergency upgrades have been reported to the board as information items on its agenda for the School Board meeting next Thursday, Aug. 25.

The board will not vote on the information items.

High schools for which the upgrades previously were approved are Canyon Springs, Cheyenne, Cimarron-Memorial, Clark, Desert Oasis, Desert Pines, Eldorado, Foothill, Legacy, Mojave, Rancho, Sierra Vista and Sunrise Mountain.

The district also has adjusted the amount of money it is allocating for upgrades at Foothill High School.

The district originally reported at its Aug. 11 meeting that it would put $1,276,151 toward security upgrades, but it updated that number to $1,279,441 because of a clerical error, according to School Board documents.

In the wake of the attack on the Eldorado teacher, the district began implementing instant alert badges for employees to use to call for help to their location, or to trigger a campuswide emergency lockdown.

The district said at the time that it determined which schools get priority for the alarms based on how many points of entry a school has, which schools have the most calls for service and which schools have outdated camera systems.

“Adding these security feature upgrades are a life safety necessity for added protection of students and staff,” the district wrote in board documents accompanying the new security upgrades.

Contact Lorraine Longhi at 702-387-5298 or llonghi@reviewjournal.com. Follow her @lolonghi on Twitter.