HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — Over the past several years, the Frontier Central School District has been working to boost security. The SHIELD project passed on January 20, starting the next phase of that work.
"Education is our mission, but safety is our priority," said Christopher Swiatek, Superintendent of Schools. "We realize that no system is infallible, but the more layers we put between us and the bad actors, that is our goal."
He explains that this is all about layers of security. SHIELD stands for Safeguarding Health, Integrity, Education through Layered Deterrents.
"From the minute you turn into any of our buildings in our parking lots, you're picked up by a minimum of 2 AI weapons detection systems," said Swiatek.
This $9.03 million project will upgrade communications systems and add more AI tools.
The project passed with 188 yes votes and 96 no votes. For those worried about the price tag, Swiatek says this has zero impact on taxpayers.
"In this particular case, the district was creative with our finance teams," said Swiatek. "So there's a window of opportunity that, with the current project, we paid down debt from previous projects, so that we had money available to us."
He says this can also help bordering districts and school communities, making the Southtowns safer as a whole.
Work on these upgrades is set to begin after the next school board meeting on February 10.
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