OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The Blue Valley School District in southern Johnson County is speeding up safety upgrades at nine of its schools.
Front entries at the schools will be reconstructed to include so-called ‘pinch point’ entrances.
Pinch points channel all visitors through the front office and restrict direct access to the rest of the school.
The nine schools include: Indian Valley Elementary, Leawood Elementary, Morse Elementary, Blue Valley Middle, Harmony Middle, Oxford Middle, Overland Trail Middle, Prairie Star Middle and Pleasant Ridge Middle.
All schools in the Blue Valley School District will have pinch point entrances by the fall of next year.
Mike Slagle, Asst. Superintendent of Blue Valley Schools, said voters approved a $271 million bond issue last year. He says $20 million of that will go for safety improvements.
“So these safety improvements were planned, but we just accelerated that timeline because of issues we’ve looked at with our school entrances and in response to Sandy Hook,” Slagle said.
The district continues to study other safety upgrades, including any enhancements to glass windows around entrances.
