Though it’s only halfway through September, the first mass shooting of the U.S. school year has already happened, at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4.

Three additional school shootings followed within the week, in New York, Maryland and Nebraska.

As school shootings and threats keep happening, the first question in parents’ minds is: How are my children kept safe when they are in school?

Most Central Oregon schools have secure entryways with two locked doors keeping someone from entering. Some schools have one locked door. Security updates are underway in several districts this school year.

Keeping students safe in Redmond

Cyndi Ganfield, principal of Terrebonne Community School in Redmond, said parents have been pleased with the new vestibule with a second locking door, which was installed in August as part of the district’s 2020 bond work. This is her third year at Terrebonne Community School.

“To me it was such a little thing, but to them it’s a big thing,” she said. “They say it adds a sense of security for their students and for them.”

Terrebonne Community School’s secure entryway allows office managers to speak with a parent or visitor before they enter the building through a second door. Parents can ask questions or pick up a student while waiting in the vestibule. Staff have added a couch and an information table to make the space “homey,” Ganfield said.

“(Parents) love that other people don’t have access into the school,” she said.

Previously, the school had one locking front door at which someone could buzz for entry. Office staff could see the front through windows, and generally would expect someone to come right into the office.

“That did not always happen and last spring, I just happened to be walking by, and this stranger was at the front door buzzing,” she said. “It was a man who had no business being in the school. He was known to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, and he had been trying to get into local schools under the guise of doing a historical presentation.”

Ganfield spoke to him through a crack in the door, and was able to photograph him for the school’s resource officer, who is a police officer.

“The buzz-in system with one door would have allowed him, if I hadn’t caught him, to actually be in the building,” she said. “We need to be able to assure that we are doing our best at keeping the kids safe and having one more stop point to say ‘I’m sorry, you can’t come in.’”

Logan McGinnis, Redmond School District communications manager, said all schools have secure two-door entryways other than Ridgeview High School, which is secured with only one door. Installing a secure vestibule with a second door is included in the plans for the $97 million bond measure that will be on the November ballot, he said.

In the past year and a half, all Redmond schools have had new security cameras installed.

Door lock upgrades continue for Bend-La Pine Schools

All Bend-La Pine schools have secure vestibule entryways. The district is also adding another school resource officer who will start in the middle of October. The district will then work with eight officers, six with Bend Police Department and two with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, through partnerships with those agencies, said Scott Maben, the district’s communications manager. The officers are employed by the law enforcement agencies and their salaries and benefit costs are shared by the district and the agencies.

The district is continuing to install new door locks, and occasionally entirely new doors, in buildings across the district. The project will alter about 3,200 doorways, and is funded by the 2022 $249.7 million bond.

“This will improve school safety with up-to-date, easy-to-use classroom door locks,” wrote Maben in an email.

Several schools on the east side of Bend, Sunriver and La Pine, as well as Cascade Middle School have had their door locks upgraded, said Maben. The project overall began last year.

Several elementary schools, Bend Tech Academy, Summit High School and High Desert Middle School will be upgraded this fall and winter.

The rest of the elementary schools, including the three elementary magnet schools, and Pacific Crest and Sky View middle schools are scheduled to be upgraded next spring and summer.

Bend High School will have its door locks upgraded as part of its four-year renovation. North Star Elementary and Caldera High were built with new door locks. The district leases the spaces for Realms Middle and High schools, and those door locks will be upgraded using other funding.

Crook County Schools instituted new safety procedures this school year, including locking all doors in all school buildings during the day. In recent years, new camera systems were added to the middle and high schools.

Sisters School District has secure vestibule entrances with two doors in all three schools.

Culver High School was upgraded in 2016, and also has two doors to provide entry into the building. Both doors are locked aside from 4-minute passing periods, said Superintendent Stefanie Garber.

Both Madras and Bridges high schools, in Jefferson County School District, have two-door secure entrances. The district spent the summer upgrading security in each of its schools.

Bend High students attend class amid construction this year