ISLE OF WHITE CO., V.a. — The Westside Elementary School eagles are looking to keep an eagle-eye over all their visitors.
The Isle of White County school is one of many across Hampton Roads to be awarded state funding to improve security.
“Everyone knows the state of schools these days and the potential threats that we may see,” says principal Todd Christiansen.
Around 800 students walk the halls of Westside and the school wants to make sure their cameras can keep a close watch on all of them.
The plan is to upgrade older cameras and place them in more strategic areas that will help eliminate any blind spots.
“When we’re looking to do the upgrades and add the additional ones these corners will be some of the spots were looking out for,” says Christiansen.
Westside Elementary currently has 56 cameras. They say the new grant money will allow them to upgrade 23 of their cameras so to ones that have crisper, clearer images, and a wider field of vision.
In Isle of White, it’s not just Westside making changes. About 10 minutes away, Hardy Elementary School is adding 14 more cameras that will cover the building inside and out.
Forty-one thousand dollars will be divided between both schools and the upgrades will be finished by June.
“We are just really looking forward to making this a safe and secure place that all of our community is able to come into and really just enjoy their experience here.”
You can view the full list of schools throughout Virginia that were awarded School Security Equipment Grants here.
