POST FALLS - Local schools continue to tap a silent partner to keep an eye on hallways and parking lots.

With high schools having been equipped with cameras for the past decade, the recent focus has been installing them in middle schools.

Post Falls Middle School recently had four cameras installed inside.

"They are a tool that helps us make sure students are safe; that's the biggest motivation," said Jerry Keane, Post Falls superintendent. "They can also serve as a deterrent related to student behavior."

Keane said the cameras don't replace staff members supervising students, but they help "shrink" the buildings, especially those with long hallways such as PFMS.

"The facility is not easy to get around regarding line-of-sight supervision," he said. "It has a number of long hallways that can't be seen from one central location."

Keane and officials with the Coeur d'Alene and Lakeland school districts said school cameras are not in response to specific incidents but are a proactive step to catch wrongful activity and keep an eye on students and staff in case of emergencies.

"They have helped us determine what happens related to student conflicts, vandalism and other inappropriate activity," Keane said.

Local districts are adding cameras as budgets allow. The cameras show areas on a screen live. They can also be played back.

Keane said school staff recently viewed a young person trying - and failing - to break into the middle school on a weekend.

In Coeur d'Alene, surveillance tapes were helpful in assisting police find the 16-year-old male suspect in the false bomb report case at Lake City High.

The four cameras at PFMS cost nearly $2,000 and were covered by the building supply budget. Keane said more cameras may be added to PFMS when funding is available and River City Middle School is a possibility as well.

"We may consider cameras when it is necessary to add the second-story classroom addition to River City," Keane said.

Keane said there are few secondary schools built today that do not have cameras. He said the new Kootenai Technical Education Campus, a professional-technical school to be built in Rathdrum, will also have cameras.

Post Falls High, which has had cameras since the school opened in 2000, is up to 27 total cameras inside and out.

No area schools have cameras in bathrooms.

Laura Rumpler, Coeur d'Alene School District spokeswoman, said there's between 20 and 30 cameras at each of its high schools - Lake City, Coeur d'Alene High and Project CDA/Bridge Academy - and Lakes Middle School.

Lakes was the most recent school to receive cameras because the building remodel allowed for electrical upgrades.

"We haven't rolled out any more cameras due to budget constraints," Rumpler said. "We'll have cameras at the other middle schools as dollars allow."

She said that, unlike some large corporations, schools don't have staffing to watch the screens live very often.

"But we can quickly scroll back if we need to," she said.

Lakeland and Timberlake high schools and junior highs have cameras inside and out.

Brad Murray, assistant superintendent for the Lakeland School District, said there's requests to add additional cameras to those schools.

"We have cameras purchased to install when time permits," he said. "I am sure we will install cameras at other schools as money and time permit. The cameras serve as much as a deterrent to misbehavior and vandalism as they do a tool to review situations that have occurred."