In the past few months, has been making technological updates throughout the school to help improve safety and communication. Work is still in progress as the school replaces the PA system and bells, as well as installs additional cameras. Chelsea High School Principal Dr. Nick Angel and assistant principal Dr. Luman Strong are both in support of making these latest additions.

“This building was built twenty-five years ago and we actually had an issue where a part of our PA system basically died,” Angel said. “Because of how old our system is, there aren’t any replacement parts that we can order.”

These improvements are being made simply because the current system is incredibly outdated. When the PA system died, the school had to replace the entire system since no replacement parts could be ordered due to the age of the system, however, replacing the cameras is a different story.

“[The school is] usually on some type of cycle,” Angel said. “We are in a cycle of replacements for cameras.”

Keeping up with the cycles of updating their technology, cameras are something the school can’t install all at once. With the expensive pricing, the school tries to purchase as many cameras as possible to ensure quality without exceeding the school’s budget. Despite the cost, both the cameras and the PA system are incredibly important in making the school a safer environment. 

“We need to be able to have the PA system because it was awfully hard to communicate, so that’s just something we need for lots of reasons,” Strong said. “The camera piece helps when something happens. Lots of times people report something that’s not accurate because their mind paints a different picture. So it really helps us to have an accurate assessment after an incident.”

When it comes to being able to communicate throughout the school, the PA system is mandatory. Making communication easier, it’s something that the administration needs to have access to in the event of an emergency. Cameras are similar. When someone reports an incident, it’s highly important that administration has a visual of exactly what happened, so no detail is omitted. 

Another new safety feature the school is looking to implement is a school resource officer. 

“We’ve wanted [one] for a while,” Strong said. “There’s lots of things that have not allowed it up to this point. Obviously, that’s an additional cost and we have to figure out how to use this person.”

Chelsea’s administration has been looking into hiring a school resource officer for some time, and if the name of the game is the next step in school safety then this might be a good move for CHS. 

“It’s basically a police officer whose territory is the high school,” Strong said. “However, it’s not just the school day. They would be at prom, big games, football and basketball games, etc. But they also develop a lot of relationships. So it’s not just like if something happens and the person comes running with handcuffs.”

Angel added that the resource officer “would be somebody who would be a mentor to kids, a positive adult, not somebody walking around, writing tickets.”

On top of the school resource officer, the administration is hoping to make more security additions in the future.

“We are currently looking at software that has gun detection capabilities on it with some of our cameras,” Angel said. “So when folks enter and leave our premises, they can scan for if they’re in possession of a weapon or not.”

Safety in Chelsea High School is a top priority, so technology that can detect weapons is a must. Students can look forward to having these new devices soon.

While all of this new technology and updates throughout the school are important in improving communication and safety throughout the building, there’s something else that’s of equal, if not of more importance than cameras and software. 

“Because we can’t be everywhere all the time, and cameras can’t be everywhere all the time, [having] students who report things, and who tell us what’s going on, [is] the best measure that we have,” Strong said. “It really is about teamwork.”