SAUGUS — With events occupying all three of the town’s school buildings after hours during the school year, district officials are seeking to bolster nighttime security in the schools since doors have frequently been propped open.
Deputy Superintendent Margo Ferrick explained that the district is seeking part-time employees, likely already working in Saugus, to serve as after-hours security at the Veterans Early Learning Center, Belmonte STEAM Academy, and Saugus Middle/High School. Officials noticed a need for the position when they realized the Middle/High School had sports games scheduled at the same time as after-school activities and no designated person was in charge of ensuring the safety of the building.
“Very basically we need someone to be there to open the door because what we’re finding is coaches, community partners, they peg the door open, and people can get in and out and then go hide in the building,” Ferrick told the School Finance Sub Committee last week. “This person would allow people in, they would also do sweeps of the building to make sure everybody is where they’re supposed to be and then make sure the building is secure.”
Superintendent of Schools Michael Hashem, the former principal of Saugus High School who helped spearhead the construction of the new Middle/High School complex, said the phenomenon is not a new problem. In fact, he said, one of the aims of constructing the new building was to create a sort of community center.
As a result, officials foresaw an issue like the one Ferrick outlined cropping up. Hashem said custodians had served to fill the role in years past, but the responsibility fell away when they left. Now, he said, the buildings are still being cleaned after hours but not necessarily by Saugus Public Schools employees.
“There’s certainly no process to make it available to sort of man the door and make sure they’re sort of the gatekeeper of who’s coming and going and that way there’s no security issues and you have somebody that’s our employee that can speak for the schools,” he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic played a part in the need for such a position cropping up, Hashem said, as the complex never opened the way that district officials had intended it to. As a result, security fell by the wayside as administrators adapted to the new building.
On the night of the meeting, Hashem said there remained a question about who was going to open the door for that evening’s basketball game.
“Having somebody there to staff it … I know it sounds silly, just keeping the door open, but that’s a huge thing,” he said.
Members of the subcommittee expressed support for the idea, and Ferrick said there has already been interest in the position from school engagement officers and the assistant facilities manager.
However, funding for the position remains an obstacle, Ferrick said.
“This is our proposal of what the cost would be per hour per person [but] we don’t have a solid funding source,” she said.
Hashem suggested that the new position could be a pathway to implementing a rental fee to charge groups that use the district buildings after hours, an idea discussed by the policy subcommittee last month.
“Putting this in place would also pave the way for the building rental moving forward,” he said.
