More Security Cameras Coming to Baldwin High School

"If there's something going down, and we see a big bunch of kids gathering somewhere, we can get someone (a security guard) there."

Those were the words of Dr. John D. Wilkinson, the 's assistant superintendent for secondary education, after the B-W School Board passed a motion on Wednesday night to purchase 15 more security cameras to be installed at  at a cost of $19,974 to the district.

All 15 were bought from the company OpenArc to be installed in stairwells around Baldwin High.

William D. McKain, the school district's assistant to the superintendent for finance and operations, said that the new cameras will bring the high school's total amount of them to 123.

Each camera sends video to one of 25 rotating feeds each time that it detects movement.

Security guards at Baldwin, as well as school district administration, can view the 25 feeds live or footage from all 123 cameras on replay, according to Wilkinson.

Wilkinson explained that, although it is difficult for anyone to monitor all 25 available feeds at once, all 123 cameras are always recording movement.

"What the security cameras are is to see, if something did happen, what happened," Wilkinson said.

Board members George L. Pry and Nancy Sciulli DiNardo agreed that the presence of the cameras and the threat of recording malfeasance will greatly increase security.

"We're dealing with high school kids," Sciulli DiNardo said, "and if they know that they're being taped, they'll have the fear of, 'Tomorrow, I'm going to get called down to the office because I'm being taped.'

"You're not going to stop everything, but it (security cameras) will help. And it has helped a lot."

The board passed the motion to purchase the cameras by an 8-0 count. Board member Nancy Lee Crowder was absent.

Check back with the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch later on Thursday for more odds and ends from Wednesday night's school board meeting.

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