SEATTLE — As thousands of Seattle Public Schools students head back to class, some of them will be returning to schools with new safety upgrades.
Those upgrades include secure entry points with required sign-in, improved cameras, and a comprehensive security and communications systems are especially important in case of a lockdown.
One of the schools with the changes is Rainier Beach High School, which will be open for its first full year of classes this fall.
“Do you feel safe going back to school?” reporter Linzi Sheldon asked student Astou Sarr, who will be a senior this year.
“I feel relatively safe, especially because our building has more extensive measures to improve safety,” Sarr said.
Parent Toni Babbs has two boys going to the new high school this year.
“I think we all know a lot of school shootings have happened over the years,” she said. “That’s really one of my greatest fears with my kids being in school.”
When KIRO 7 visited in August, some construction was still underway outside.
But inside, a new security system is ready.
SPS Safety and Security Project Manager Michael Wells showed the KIRO 7 crew the large ‘Lockdown’ and ‘Shelter in Place’ buttons in the office.
“Staff is able to jump up push that button and put this entire school into a lockdown or shelter in place,” he said.
He pointed out the new, upgraded intercoms. Essential messages scroll across the bottom and on screens in the halls.
If the school goes into a lockdown, the main office can see all classrooms on a map and pinpoint which ones haven’t acknowledged the alert.
“We can chime into that room via the intercom system and ask, ‘Are you guys OK?’ We can listen in, see if there are any concerns,” Wells said.
“You can actually listen in to the classroom?” Sheldon asked.
“Only if you’re in the lockdown situation,” Wells said.
Babbs said that makes sense.
“What if someone is being kept from having to call for help or say that something’s wrong?” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being able to listen in.”
The new security system also helps the central office react quickly when a school goes into a lockdown. Staff can put neighboring schools into a shelter in place with the click of a button.
Wells says 15 schools will have the new security system in place by the end of the year.
Rainier Beach is one of nine schools with the system up and running as the school year begins.
So how do you decide which schools get the upgrades first?
“Are you targeting schools that have the most need?” KIRO 7 reporter Linzi Sheldon asked.
“Correct, or the most outdated equipment as far as in the classrooms,” Wells said. “Also, some of the security reports that we receive, the criminal activity around our schools that we can focus on trying to get those.”
The upgrades are funded with $57.2 million from the BEX VI levy that voters passed this February. Wells said the hope to get all these security upgrades across all the district’s schools by the end of 2028.
“So, you’re looking at four phases,” he said. “I think we’re saying we have phase one now. The second phase will start in 2026 and we’re looking at hopefully 30 schools.”
Another change is an alert button in each classroom and other areas of the school. SPS did not show it to KIRO 7, citing safety reasons, but said it’s a big upgrade from teachers having to call the main office.
Wells said the notification goes to the main office, security team, and administrative team, who can then decide to put the school in a shelter in place or lockdown if needed.
Sarr called it a good idea.
“Fights would go on longer than they actually needed to be,” she said. “Now that you have that emergency button and stuff, it’s quick.”
There are sensors on all exterior doors that will alert the office if the doors have been propped open or left ajar and about 160 upgraded cameras across the new campus.
“People need to take notes, make sure they’re not doing anything they’re not supposed to be doing because the camera’s going to get them real quick!” Sarr said.
Not part of the levy, but it’s rolling out at several schools, including Rainier Beach is a secure entry point.
Staff must first let a person in the doors, then buzz them out of a vestibule so they can enter the office.
There, staff can ask for an ID and the person signs in using a cell phone number or an email address. The kiosk then prints a pass.
Also new this year, SPS is introducing an app district-wide called SaferWatch.
It has an anonymous tipline that kids can use by reporting suspicious activity via the app, text, a phone call, or a web form. The tipline is funded by a grant from Stand with Parkland, an organization started after the mass school shooting at the Parkland school in Florida in 2018.
“I think that could be beneficial to a certain extent,” Sarr said, adding that she still worries people’s personal information could fall into the wrong hands.
“A con... like I feel it would just need to be more transparent, so people know how they’re handling like the tips and stuff,” she said.
Babbs has similar concerns but sees nothing wrong with another tool.
“Even if we get five students that are going to use the app to report something, that’s better than zero,” she said.
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