Photo by Deb Gau Marshall High School Assistant Principal Travis Frazee gives school board members an overview of security updates at MHS over the past couple of years. The changes include new security cameras, as well as sensors that can detect e-cigarette vapor.

MARSHALL — Marshall High School has gone through security improvements over the past couple of years, and administrators say features like new security cameras have been helpful.

“It’s been a wonderful addition, in some cases, to our school, but also in replacing some of the technology that we had there,” said MHS Assistant Principal Travis Frazee during Monday’s school board meeting.

Frazee and MHS Principal Brian Jones delivered an update on the security updates.

Jones said the updated security equipment was helpful for investigating incidents at the school, like a threat found in one of the bathrooms a month ago. Jones said the new camera system helped in narrowing down students to talk to in that investigation.

Over the past two years, the high school has remodeled its main entrance and added new security cameras, and sensors that can detect vapor from e-cigarettes.

“It was really a joint effort in making this happen,” Frazee said. The MPS district’s technology and custodial staff had a role in helping to get the new security systems up and running.

Funding for the security updates came partly from one-time state money, and partly through the 2019 building referendum that also created Southview Elementary. The referendum included funds to build a more secure entry at MHS.

In 2020 and 2021, the Minnesota Legislature also provided one-time money for school districts to use on safety and security, said Dion Caron, director of business services at MPS.

“We were able to carry those funds over to this fiscal year,” Caron said.

With the state funding, MPS was able to update and buy additional security cameras at MHS and Marshall Middle School, as well as additional vape detectors.

The remodeled main entrance at MHS was finished in the fall of 2020. The main doors are locked during the school day, and visitors can only enter by being buzzed into the main office.

“If you’re a visitor, you’ll need to scan your driver’s license and get checked in,” Frazee said.

Bullet resistant glass on the office doors also helps provide security, he said.

MHS has also replaced the security cameras on the outside of the building, and added additional cameras.

“The (cameras) that we had there before were the ones that came originally with the building,” Frazee said. “They weren’t real functional and they were wearing out.”

Frazee said the new camera system includes around 40 cameras at locations inside and outside the high school.

“There are other features to this too that are really nice,” Frazee said.

For example, it’s possible for school administrators to pull up footage of whenever there is activity in a certain area of the school.

“It’s very helpful,” Jones said.

He and Frazee said the camera systems were helpful for investigating incidents at the school, but also for tasks like locating missing laptops or finding a student who has not reported to class.

MHS has also added new sensors, similar to smoke detectors, around the inside of the school building. Frazee said the sensors can detect vapor from e-cigarettes and alert school administrators. The vape detectors can also detect sounds, like noise from a fight, a call for help or a gunshot, he said.

The new sensors allow administrators “to be able to become more aware of any vaping that’s going on in the school,” Frazee said. “Obviously it doesn’t fix the whole issue, but it does provide us more awareness. And with that awareness, it gives us the opportunity to work with those individuals and their parents, and let them know what’s going on.”

“I think we’ve had an increase in vaping at a national level,” Frazee said. “I do sense that when we went into a lot of our distance learning, not all students developed great habits during that time.”