Broken Arrow Schools Implement New Security Measures For Start Of School Year

The first day of the new school year is in the books for Broken Arrow students. They returned to the classroom with new security measures in place.

The district is working to make buildings more secure this year. Broken Arrow schools have completed a project with locked doors at every entrance.

School buses are rolling in Broken Arrow, and while students are being welcomed at schools like Oak Crest Elementary, there's a new level of security to keep the wrong people out.

A new camera system is now inside every Broken Arrow school, giving the front office the option to unlock the door—or not.

"We now have all the doors at every site locked completely, and they will buzz the person in to be able to go to the main office. They still don't have access to the entire school, just the main office," said Jeff Martin, Broken Arrow Public Schools Security.

The system isn't new at every school, but now every school has one. In the office, the doors into the school are locked—the staff controls those too, and before getting inside, everyone has to scan a driver's license and get a pass.

"If you have a student and are seeing them, you can come in, but you have to be checked in. They have a school-safe ID, so everybody gets logged in, and a quick records check is done to make sure you don't have a criminal record that wouldn't allow you to be there," Martin said.

Every school has a camera system—Oak Crest has two dozen cameras watching the inside and outside.

Martin says all the elements work to allow the right people in and stop or at least slow down everyone else.

"Once the kids are in and school starts, every door is locked, it's secured, and basically, it's being monitored," Martin said.

The head of security added that the next step towards better security is likely more cameras to see threats before they reach the locked front doors.