New safety measures, technology coming to Lee County schools

Moving to Florida from New Jersey was not an easy decision for Jill Poletis, who just enrolled her two sons into Lee County schools.

Since the tragedy in Parkland happened so close to their new home, she’s been doing careful research on school safety and security.

“It’s definitely more comfortable knowing that everything that just went down in the last year or so, that they are making efforts with that,” Poletis said, “I looked at the proximity, I looked at what schools were doing to make sure that’s not going to be a repeated offense.”

The School District of Lee County is taking steps to tackle parents concerns, “I’ve seen the fences that they have around all the schools down here that they don’t have up north,” Poletis added.

But even if you aren’t from New Jersey, you’ll notice some new changes this school year.

A new buzzer will appear outside all county schools at some point this year, forcing all school hour visitors to show their ID before entering the school through a single designated entrance.

In addition to that, teachers will now be able to lock their doors from inside the classroom, something Poletis likes to hear, “The fact that they are looking behind the curtain a little more and trying to get a good mental picture of everything is something that needed to get done.”

But Rick Parfitt says safety and security extends beyond technological changes, “Safety and security director threat assessment teams added to our schools … that human element and that human aspect is what’s going to be important in protecting our kids.”

Starting this year all teachers, staff and even bus drivers will be trained to identify behavioral issues and warning signs.

New measures that are helping parents like Poletis feel safe about sending their students to school, “I’m excited for them to start at their schools … both their principals I’ve spoken to seem really ahead of the curve on everything.”

South Fort Myers High School was among the first set of schools to receive new technology features, but soon it will be standard protocol for all Lee County schools.