High school installs cameras

Usually buzzing with students animated conversations and shuffling feet, the empty halls of Hopkinton Middle/High School fell silent yesterday afternoon. The real activity was taking place in the ceiling above, where workers from Pelmac Industries began weaving the electrical groundwork for a new system of security cameras.

Hopkinton is one of the latest school districts to install the technology, which is often encouraged by state organizations as a way to improve student and teacher safety. In recent years, video cameras have become increasingly common in public schools.

I think every school we have toured in the last three to four years has entrance cameras or is working to get them, said Mark Joyce, executive director of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association.

For Hopkinton, the cameras are seen as a way to protect students from possible intruders and to cut back on bullying or vandalism.

We hope that it is a deterrent to bad behavior and provides teachable moments, said Superintendent Steve Chamberlain. Its more for deterrent than gotcha.

At a price of $21,590, the cost of Hopkintons cameras is split between the district and a grant from the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The agency developed the Emergency Management Performance Grant for Schools Program under the direction of Gov. Maggie Hassan following the shooting at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn., said the divisions assistant director, Steven Temperino. In addition to offering money, the division has released a set of core standards to increase school safety that include surveillance, access control and emergency alerts.

Many schools in New Hampshire are very old and were never built with security in mind, Temperino said. We put these suggestions in the budgetary process . . . to develop safer schools.

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Chamberlain said the cameras being installed at the middle/high school are in line with the divisions guidelines.

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High school installs cameras