Parkersburg High School unveils secure entrance
Visitors to Parkersburg High School this fall will enter the building through a new secure entrance and waiting area. The new entrance will give officials greater control in allowing visitors into the building during the school day. (Photo by Michael Erb)
A new secure entrance at Parkersburg High School allows visitors to be buzzed into a waiting area. A second set of locked doors controls access to the school. (Photo by Michael Erb)
Officials say visitors using Parkersburg High School’s new secure entrance will rarely need to go beyond the waiting area. Office staff can see and interact with visitors in the waiting room without needing them to come into the main office. (Photo by Michael Erb)
Visitors to Parkersburg High School this fall will enter the building through a new secure entrance and waiting area. The new entrance will give officials greater control in allowing visitors into the building during the school day. (Photo by Michael Erb)
A new secure entrance at Parkersburg High School allows visitors to be buzzed into a waiting area. A second set of locked doors controls access to the school. (Photo by Michael Erb)
Officials say visitors using Parkersburg High School’s new secure entrance will rarely need to go beyond the waiting area. Office staff can see and interact with visitors in the waiting room without needing them to come into the main office. (Photo by Michael Erb)
Trending
PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg High School will have a new secure entrance for parents and visitors this fall.
The new entrance is the last phase in a series of increased safety measures at the school.
"The secure entrance has always been a goal, even back in 2013 when I was assistant principal," said Principal Kenny DeMoss. "With a historical school like PHS, the goal was how do you create a secure entrance without messing up the outside of the school? I'm happy to say, you can't really tell it's there."
DeMoss said while students will have a variety of ways to enter the school in the morning, the secure entrance will be the only entry point for parents and community members. A visitor must press a button and be identified via camera before coming into a vestibule. Bullet-proof glass and a second locked door separate the waiting area from the administrative offices, allowing staff to clearly see and speak to anyone within the room.
"For parents coming to pick up students, they won't even come into the main building. They'll stay in the waiting room," DeMoss said.
Last year, PHS hired security guards to watch the front and back entrances of the school. DeMoss said those precautions will continue this year.
"They'll make sure no one from outside the school is coming in through those doors," he said. "They'll direct everyone to the secure entrance."
DeMoss said the design of the secure entrance required the retrofitting of a seldom-used conference and storage room.
In recent years, Parkersburg High has implemented several safety precautions, including staff and student IDs, upgraded camera systems and lockdown procedures and equipment.
"This really is the final phase of that safety plan," DeMoss said.
Superintendent Will Hosaflook said several other schools – Emerson, Kanawha, Jefferson and Madison elementary schools and Parkersburg South High School – also are receiving new secure entrances this summer as part of a district-wide security improvement plan.