New surveillance cameras and washroom vape detectors have been installed at New Westminster Secondary School in response to concerns about safety.
Video surveillance cameras were installed on the second and third floors of NWSS over March break.
“New Westminster Secondary School, we know, has had its share of safety concerns,” Matt Brito, School District 40’s director of facilities and operations, told school trustees at their operations committee meeting Tuesday night (April 11). “And we feel that we have installed some key tools to create a safer environment.”
Along with the new surveillance cameras on upper levels, the district also installed another camera on the main floor to cover an area where there had been a blind spot.
It also installed vape detectors in the gender-neutral washrooms on the school’s main floor. The detectors set off a blue light and automatically send an email to administration when vaping is detected or when the detector is tampered with, Brito noted.
He told trustees the sensitivity level of the detectors has been adjusted to ensure it’s “not going off every minute,” adding the detectors can still be fine-tuned as the school deals with them.
Brito told trustees he feels the detectors have already curbed some vaping in the washrooms but noted the district will continue to communicate with NWSS staff about them.
A third major project was the installation of classroom phones, enabling teachers to call out to administration whenever needed. Previously, the system only allowed the school office to initiate calls to classrooms and not the other way around.
The new measures are part of SD40’s response to months of concerns over safety at the high school, which came to a head after a series of dangerous incidents at the school in the fall — including pepper-spraying, firecrackers and a washroom fire.
Another washroom fire raised discussion again in February.
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