District 46 OKs new lights for Frederick School lot

Grayslake District 46 is taking steps this summer to make its schools safer for students and staff as they start the new school year.

New lighting will be installed in the Frederick School parking lot, and district officials may vote to install security cameras in Frederick and Grayslake middle schools.

Superintendent Ellen Correll said the school has a large parking lot, and some teachers felt unsafe because of the lack of lighting around the perimeter.

"We will make sure the lighting is better there, so teachers if they are at a night function will feel more safe as they go out to their cars," she said.

Kraus Electrical will install the new lights for $21,550 after the board approved the bid at Monday night's meeting. The bid was about $9,000 less than what the district expected, Correll said.

The board also planned to discuss bids to install cameras in the hallways at Frederick and Grayslake middle schools, but bids were not available at the meeting. Correll said the bids are expected to come in on Friday and will be discussed at the next meeting. Park School already has cameras in the school as they were installed when the school was built.

The decision to install cameras is the result of several bomb threats made at the two schools last year. Correll said that even though the threats were false alarms, officials still must take them seriously.

"All of the wording occurred in the restrooms. So if we had cameras there, we would be able to monitor who is going in and out," she said.

Once the bids come in, Correll will be able to say specifically how many cameras would be installed at each school. The buildings are a little different due to size and layout.

Correll said she expects that both the lights and cameras, if they are approved, will be installed before the start of the 2008-09 school year.