Two decisions were made by the Danville District 118 Board during Wednesday (March 20th) evening’s meeting that had to do with school safety. With the decision already having been made to have concealed weapon detection systems at Danville High School, North Ridge Middle School, and South View Upper Elementary School next year; now the decision has been made to go to a new system, Evolv Express. District Director of Operations Seth Oldfield, who made the presentation before the board, spoke with Neuhoff Media afterwards.
AUDIO: We went to visit Champaign, and saw what they were using there, and decided to check it out on our own. The advantage of the Evolv Express system is that it has cameras, both front and rear cameras. So as a person passes through the detector, it can identify where on that person it has detected something. So that when they go to secondary screening, they have a tablet. And they can say; “Here, it’s in your bag. Can I check your bag?”
The cost to District 118 will be $306,846; for the three systems, over a four year period.
Danville District 118 Director of Operations Seth Oldfield addresses the District 118 Board during Wednesday evening’s meeting.
In addition, the 118 Board has approved the purchase of FirstNet Rapid Response Radio Service; allowing all schools to be able to communicate with each other immediately, without worries about cellular inconsistencies, should a major disturbance or safety issue be happening in one or more buildings.
AUDIO: The units are 99 cents each to us. The monthly service on the radios is $24.99. So a total of approximately $7,000 per month to the district. We want to start out with 280 devices; get them in the hands of administrators, get them in the hands of assistance administrators, hall monitors. And, in some buildings, teachers do carry them when they go outside with students.
Also during Wednesday’s 118 Board meeting, the decision was made to have the district once again wave all registration fees for District 118 families. However, fees for Driver’s Ed and certain extracurriculars will still apply.
