MSBSD wants $9M for security

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough School District officials want to put a $9 million bond question on the ballot this fall to pay for security and safety upgrades to district schools.

Superintendent George Troxel said new bonds would “create a baseline standard for the school district and see that all the schools meet that.”

According to school district spokeswoman Catherine Esary, a $9 million bond proposition would result in an increase of $3.70 in taxes per $100,000 of assessed property value.

“It could come down if we have more individuals on the tax roll and we won’t have those figures in the borough until the end of May,” Esary said.

Included among the items hoped for are upgraded or new fencing, security cameras, exterior lighting, caller ID for district phones and keyless entry for all the schools, Troxel said. Some of these measures would apply only to the schools that need them. Some already have security cameras and others have perfectly adequate fencing.

“Sometimes it’s not just total fencing, it’d be improved fencing — gates and things like that,” Troxel said. “We’re not trying to keep people off school grounds. Playgrounds are a wonderful place for kids to go.”

Without gates, “it happens kind of frequently [that] people will drive onto lawns and tear them up with their tires,” he said.

Keyless entry would be a new feature to all schools, Troxel said. Instead of keys, employees would be issued key cards.

“We’d just be able to track who’s in and out of buildings,” he said.

Another item included in the bond question is $115,000 to put up lighted signs declaring a school speed zone on Seward-Meridian Parkway in front of Cottonwood Creek Elementary. This issue was one of particular concern at the joint Mat-Su Borough Assembly and school board meeting Tuesday.

Assemblywoman Lynne Woods asked if the Borough could possibly bring some immediate relief, short of installing a permanent lighted sign.

“There are still national standards that we have to comply with for signage for schools,” Borough Public Works Director Keith Rountree said.

Troxel said the state Department of Transportation’s standard for deciding if the district needs to install a lighted sign is whether or not children are crossing the road at that spot.

If money for the safety and security upgrades is given a red light by voters, the Borough will have money available to put up the signs itself.

Deena Paramo, assistant superintendent of education for the district, said that, as a former principal of the Cottonwood Creek, the issue isn’t so much safety as it is access. Seward-Meridian Parkway is a major artery for the Borough, busy at most times of the day. When parents are taking children to or from school, traffic tends to back up.

The school has changed some traffic patterns in an attempt to ease congestion. Still, at pick-up and drop-off times, congestion is substantial, Paramo said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.