Students and staff returning to some Orcutt Unified School District campuses this week will notice new procedures and infrastructure targeting safety and security.
For instance, at the Los Alamos campus that is home to Olga Reed Elementary School and Orcutt Academy Charter School, black ornamental fencing has been installed.
This means those entering the campus after classes start and before they end will find one point of entry — through the office on Centennial Street.
“I just think it’s a step forward,” said Joe Dana, Olga Reed principal and Orcutt’s director of charter programs. “Our campus has been very very open, to the point where people could walk on campus during the school day if they really wanted to. But now we’ll be able to have more control.”
Orcutt Academy students arriving by bus will be dropped off on Helena Street, where a staff member will be present for arrivals and departures at a gate that otherwise will be locked.
Gates will be open before and after school hours, and on weekends, meaning the community can still take advantage of recreation facilities such as tennis courts, basketball courts and the track.
“We know that we’re really important for our community and it will still be there,” Dana said. “But during the school day we’re going to be safer and I’m glad about that. It’s going to be really good.
“We’ll have a better control of who’s on our campus and I just think in this day and age, with all of the things that possibly can happen, we have to do this. It’s a step forward for us,” he said.
Approximately 200 students attend Olga Reed while Orcutt Academy has 136 students, both spanning from transitional kindergarten through eighth grades.
Classes at the Los Alamos campus and other sites in the Orcutt district resume Wednesday.
“We’re going to be ready, no matter what,” Superintendent Deb Blow said. “I am looking forward to a great year and continuing to do a lot of great things for kids.”
A voter-approved Measure G, a $60-million bond measure from 2016, is funding safety and security projects at the Orcutt school sites, which boast 5,100 students in total.
In addition to Los Alamos sites, similar safety and security projects were undertaken at Ralph Dunlap and Patterson Road schools this summer, with plans in the works for improvements at Pine Grove and Joe Nightingale schools, and the junior high campuses.
“At Ralph Dunlap and Patterson Road, like we did at Alice Shaw, we’ve also put in a bus pullout area so it gets the buses out of the parking lot,” Blow said.
Alice Shaw Elementary School received the first safety and security work.
Orcutt Academy High School, a former elementary campus, also will see modernized restrooms built for older students.
Additionally, construction of the Innovation Center will start soon across from the district office, where a storage shed has been torn down.
“The primary reason this has to be done is our network infrastructure is in one of the buildings that sits over a swamp,” Blow said. “We do literally have a sump pump there.
“The whole inner workings of our district, both our business infrastructure and our instructional infrastructure, were at risk,” she added.
Along with housing the computer network, the Innovation Center will offer room for staff needing to repair computers, and a large conference/professional development room with dividers.
Other changes at the Los Alamos campus mean Orcutt Academy and Olga Reed campuses will be consolidated under one roof and get a new staff lounge.
Some time this school year, Los Alamos students should see the start of the renovation for the multi-use room, including the kitchen area.
“That’ll be a pretty major project,” Brow said.
Since it’s expected to take six months, some of the work will have to occur during the school year.
“It’s like getting your bathroom redone or your kitchen redone. We’re just going to have to get past the inconveniences and keep our eye on the prize,” Dana added.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.