Burbank Weighs $100,000 School Security System

The Burbank Board of Education, in a continuing effort to address increased violence on school campuses, is expected tonight to approve spending more than $100,000 for emergency communication systems at each of the city’s two high schools and one elementary school.

Three of the five board members said Wednesday they will vote to install the security systems. Two board members could not be reached for comment.

“It sounds like a good idea to me,” board member William Abbey said. “I think it’s consistent with the board’s response to the needs and feelings of teachers at the two high schools regarding campus security issues.”

Board President Vivian Kaufman agreed: “I certainly hope that this will make the teachers feel more comfortable.”

The plans call for the installation of nine emergency telephones at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools and one at Bret Harte Elementary School, said Richard Tighe, assistant superintendent for business. An electronic beeper system also would be installed at John Burroughs High School, Tighe said.

All 47 Burroughs teachers will be equipped with wireless beepers that, when activated, would trigger an alarm indicating the location of a disturbance on a light panel in the school’s administrative office, Tighe said.

If approved, the phones and beeper system are expected to be in place by early January, he said.

The proposed communication systems are part of the district’s recent efforts to improve security on school campuses, where, according to state statistics, violence has increased sharply over the last five years.

Earlier this month, the board approved plans to hire an additional security aide for each of Burbank’s two high schools.

Concern about increased violence at Burbank schools escalated Oct. 20, when teachers at John Burroughs High School staged a one-day strike to protest the board’s decision not to expel a student accused of hitting a teacher and threatening to kill him and another instructor.

The board has refused to comment on the incident, in which a 16-year-old Burroughs student was charged with one felony count of threatening a public official and two misdemeanor counts of battery. A trial is scheduled to begin today in Pasadena Juvenile Court.

Bret Harte officials requested that an emergency phone be installed in the school’s hallway after a former custodian assaulted a teacher on that campus last month, Tighe said.