Ashley Cochrane knows there are extra eyes watching her at Central Junior High School these days.

Administrators recently installed security cameras in an attempt to make the school at 1400 Mass. safer.

“The cameras actually do work,” the ninth-grader said. “One of my friends has gotten in trouble twice for fighting. Each time the administration went back and looked at the tape to see who started the fight.”

The camera installation is part of a districtwide effort to make Lawrence schools safer.

The Lawrence Police Department recently completed a first-ever study of school safety issues and made four broad recommendations:

• Installing security cameras so administrators can track who is in school buildings.
• Reconfiguring offices to give personnel a direct line of sight to the front entrance of a building. Currently, six of the district’s 22 buildings don’t have that line of sight.
• Giving administrators radios or cell phones for better communication. Currently, seven buildings don’t have radio systems.


Matt Sarna, resource officer at South Junior High School, assists in a school fire drill. For the first time, the Lawrence Police Department has spearheaded a safety audit of Lawrence public schools.

• Moving away from using portable classrooms because of vandalism and concerns during inclement weather. Also, it’s more difficult to track who enters portable classrooms.

Sgt. Mike Pattrick, a spokesman for the Lawrence Police Department, said the school resource officers who conducted the security audit generally felt schools were safe. With events like the 1999 Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colo., still fresh in people’s minds, Pattrick said the timing was right for the study.

“Obviously in the past several years there has been nationwide violence in schools, so everyone is making a concerted effort to make schools safer,” Pattrick said. “We wouldn’t want to go into much detailed specifics, but Lawrence residents should feel confident the schools and police department are doing everything they can to make their children safe,” Pattrick said.

Rick Gammill, director of special operations, transportation and safety for the schools, said administrators would provide cost estimates for the safety proposed improvements and forward them to the school board. He said he expected the Police Department to update the study periodically.

6News video: School security issues identified in audit Safety audit: How safe is your school?

“This is something we wanted to do, not so much driven by Columbine necessarily but to continue to try to improve,” he said.

Russell Blackbird has already seen the results of those improvements. The South Junior High, 2734 La., principal recently oversaw installation of five security cameras at his school.

“We were always concerned about an intruder coming in and not being able to pick them up,” Blackbird said. “We’re able to see those things with the cameras.”

He said the cameras also could be useful in identifying after-hours burglars and vandals, such as those who entered three district buildings last fall, causing $12,000 in damage.

Chris Bay, principal at Sunset Hill School, 901 Schwarz Road, said recent improvements to his building also have made a difference. The school’s office was reconfigured and a window was installed to allow office personnel to see the front doors.

“The stuff in Colorado raised everyone’s attention,” Bay said. “The school district wants to make sure it’s doing everything it can to keep kids safe.”