The Richmond School District (SD38) is planning to install video surveillance cameras on school grounds, starting with all 10 secondary schools.
This comes four years after $600,000 was approved for surveillance cameras, and after the newly installed rainbow crosswalk at Palmer secondary was hit nine times with homophobic graffiti this summer.
Police have sent out an appeal for information with photos to help identify the graffiti suspects.
In 2019, the school board originally approved the budget, but it was delayed because of COVID-19, explained Rob Laing, school district’s director of technology.
In the first phase, cameras will be on school perimeters and in large gathering areas at 10 high schools for the first phase.
Laing estimated there will be 15 cameras at each school, with fewer for smaller schools.
High schools are the main priority followed by elementary schools if any funds remain.
A public tender was held for proposals on the surveillance project with four bids coming in.
“The project’s primary focus is for the surveillance of the external perimeter of schools where there are ongoing challenges with vandalism and graffiti,” Laing told the board of education last week.
He added a video surveillance policy was updated in 2019 by the board of education and described it as “strong and stable” on who can have access to the footage and how the data is handled.
“We are being very specific with the policy in making sure we are aligned with the safety of students and staff,” said Laing.
