Las Vegas School District Gives Overview of Security Improvements for New School Year

August 1, 2022

Clark County School District students in Las Vegas cross the street with the help of a crossing guard. (Photo courtesy of CCSD.)

The Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas is highlighting some recent security improvements ahead of the start of the 2022-2023 school year, after a year marked by reports of violence in local schools, reported KTNV News.

Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara stated via the article that district staff members have worked overtime to complete safety upgrades and installations over the summer.

The district will be reportedly upgrading on-board cameras on nearly all 2,000 school buses in the fleet, for more efficient video storage and real-time monitoring capabilities for CCSD transportation investigators.

District officials said they expect all systems to be upgraded by the beginning of the second semester. They noted the new camera systems are being bought from Safety Vision using approximately $6 million in bond funds.

Furthermore, the district outlined numerous improvements including a pilot program testing the Centegix CrisisAlert. According to officials, the system equips each employee with a badge that allows them to instantly notify school safety officers in an emergency.

The badge can not only be used to send an alert for a “low-level incident” but can also initiate a hard lockdown.

CCSD started the instant alert pilot program at nine school campuses. The system reportedly costs approximately $11,000 per campus and is being paid for with Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III funds.

According to district officials, there will also be changes to fencing and traffic flow on campuses as schools enforce a single point of entry. Furthermore, the district is also working to upgrade to 4k security cameras.

CCSD Police recently engaged in active assailant training with other local law enforcement. The department has 175 officers to assign to 154 middle and high schools district wide.

Officials said two police officers would be assigned to each high school and one officer would be assigned to each middle school.

Each campus also has an emergency response plan that is reviewed yearly with principals, emergency management and school police. According to CCSD, the district also requires all employees to complete annual training courses including lessons on emergency response at school.