The safety of students and staff at Independent School District No. 361’s three schools will be enhanced when they return for the first day of school next fall.

During a special meeting of the board Thursday members agreed to spend about $79,000 for improvements that will make for more secure entrances at Falls High School, Falls Elementary and West End Elementary. Construction is expected to begin next week.

“With our society today, media emphasis and the public opinion, it’s necessary to restrict open access to our school facilities when the students are here during their education day,” said Falls Superintendent Nordy Nelson.

Although the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary shootings might be in the backs of people’s minds, the board has remained in the forefront of making schools safer for students and staff. Last week, board members directed Nelson and other school administrators to begin the process of developing a plan to better secure the district schools’ entry and lobby areas as soon as possible. According to the superintendent, district Safety Director Jeff Veeder, last spring secured quotes for the project in anticipation that future action would be taken.

“I think it’s important we get it moving as quick as possible,” board member Willi Kostiuk said last week. “I’d like to see that by the first day of school, the elementary and the high school have some kind of restriction on how to get in.”

Upgrades to the schools’ security will include electronic accesses, panic buttons and cameras. Nelson said no walls will be torn down or added as part of the renovation process, however, those options could be explored in the future.

“The high school’s entrance needs to be done first before remodeling of the office wing is done,” he said, adding that changes to the layout of the school’s offices are expected to be considered next summer “depending on how the (new) access works,” he said.

“We need to get the first steps started and take more time for long-term planning,” he explained. “We need a lot of input and a lot of discussion.”

For now, an electronically-controlled door access to the main office will be installed in the vestibule at Falls High School, along with electronically-controlled access on the six doors inside the lobby.

At Falls Elementary School, the vestibule will be controlled with a security camera and doorbell.

Insulated safety glass will be installed at the south entrance of West End Elementary. The north entrance, Nelson said, will be locked. Each school will also have panic devices in place.

“These changes will require some adjustment from the public,” Nelson said. “We want them to be as user friendly as possible.”

Nelson said that restricted access will only take effect while school is in session. Entrances will not be locked before school, after school or during extra curricular activities.

The district will pay for the project from its capital expenditure fund and cash flow it with the general fund balance dollars, Nelson said.

“(The project) was not part of the original budget,” he said. “We will use the general fund balance dollars to get this taken care of. Eventually, those dollars will be replaced by capital expenditures.”

Also Thursday, the board placed Tom Vollom, FHS Ojibwe and language teacher on unrequested leave.

The board proposed the leave during a special session June 11 after the district failed to received a grant that pays for costs associated with the Ojibwe program. Nelson said Vollom had 14 days to request a hearing, “which he did not,” so the board was required to take the official action Thursday.

However, during the board’s regular meeting June 18, members of the public expressed their desire to keep the program available to students.

Three members of the board formed a committee to meet with community members in an effort to seek alternative ways to fund Vollom’s program.

Also Thursday, the board agreed to hire Brittany Bolstad as a full-time elementary teacher.