Making schools safe

Through the windows of her office, Newport High principal Patty Siegwarth can watch a delivery man walk through the school's front entrance and observe students eat lunch in the main commons.

If need be, she can hit a mushroom-shaped button and all of the exterior doors to the Bellevue school will automatically lock.

"We have three entrances onto campus; the old design had 22," Siegwarth said of the school, which is in the final weeks of a complete rebuild. "It will be so much easier to monitor students. The new campus is much safer."

Like Bellevue, many Seattle-area districts are modernizing or rebuilding older schools and are keeping safety in mind. In the wake of Wednesday's shooting at Foss High School in Tacoma, which left one student dead and another in jail, school officials say newer designs and technology can help them more effectively monitor their campuses.

Many older schools, built during the 1950s through the 1970s, used a ranch-style design, with one-story buildings spread out over their campuses.

Hallways and exterior corridors were narrow, with smaller courtyards and alcoves scattered throughout the campus. Often, the main office was buried in the middle of the school, away from the main entrance.

But all of this is changing.

"We try and keep it simple, with a common-sense approach," said Evan Ujiiye, director of capital projects for the Northshore School District, which is in the final phase of rebuilding Bothell High School. "Clear lines of sight, keeping areas open, and limiting hidden areas."

While not all districts choose or can afford security cameras or high-tech locking systems, most new schools have fewer entrances, with school offices positioned by the primary entryway so it's easier to monitor who's coming and going.

Many have a large, open common area where students congregate and school officials can more easily watch for rowdy behavior as students move toward their next classes.

Administrators' offices may be scattered throughout a school and have windows overlooking high-traffic areas. Some high schools and junior highs have security cameras that peer down into hallways, behind buildings or in parking lots.

But many of the design concepts are simple.

Seattle's Roosevelt High School was recently rebuilt with a single, large common area and connecting academic wings in a starburst design.

An administrator can stand in the middle of the commons and see into several hallways, said Eleanor Trainor, Seattle Public School's capital-projects community liaison. And tucked-away alcoves and small courtyards have been eliminated, so there are fewer places inviting trouble, she said.

Roosevelt students are grouped by grade into "learning pods," spending most of the day in one area of the school. Teachers get to know them better and may be more aware if a conflict is brewing, Trainor said.

"The hope is, by creating community and having an open layout, there are more opportunities for supervision," Trainor said.

But even the best-designed campus may not prevent a shooting like the one in Tacoma, school officials acknowledged.

Part of the problem is that a school must be designed to face multiple types of threats, said Clint Marsh, construction-program manager for the Snoqualmie Valley School District, which is building its third middle school and recently remodeled Mount Si High School to include safety features such as security cameras.

A school may go into lockdown — all of its doors locked and students kept in their classrooms — if police are chasing a criminal suspect nearby. The goal is to keep a potential threat out, Marsh said.

But if a threat is inside the school, then the goal is to keep students safe and get them out.

And, ultimately, you want a school that is inviting and friendly for students and the public, Marsh said.

"It's hard to design something that prevents gun usage in the hallways, unless it's set up like a prison," he said. "What you try and do is have a school with flexibility. But everything you do to make it flexible and friendly makes it more unsafe."

Sometimes simple details can help.

Besides sweeping views of commons and hallways, the new Lynnwood High School, which will open by fall 2009, will include classroom doors that can be locked from the inside. Teachers now must use a key to lock doors from the outside, said Ed Peters, capital-project director for the Edmonds School District.

But district officials opted not to install cameras in hallways — at least not yet, he said.

"We don't want the school to look or feel like a prison," Peters said. "We want to provide a good learning environment, and we believe safety flows from that."

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com