The Bigfork School District is beefing up school security.

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in Connecticut, the district brought in three firms to do security audits and make recommendations to improve safety, Superintendent Cynthia Clary said.

The district now plans to install exterior door contact wires, motion detectors and an infrared sensor system. The system will cost $9,600 for the elementary school, $5,600 for the high school and $2,700 for the shop building.

“It’s important for people to remember that public schools in Bigfork and public schools in the state of Montana are safe. It’s just that every school has unique characteristics that we need to identify,” Clary said.

The district has many exterior doors to keep track of — 32 in the elementary/middle school building, 16 in the high school building and six in the auto mechanics shop.

Exterior doors will be equipped with contact wires that allow staffers to be notified by text messages when doors are open.

“We want to make sure doors that are not supposed to be open during the day are in fact, not open,” Clary said.

“Because Bigfork is a small place, a close-knit community, people know each other and they hold the door open for others. We don’t want to stop that — I mean we’re an educational system, we’re not a prison system — and we don’t want to get to that point, but we also want our community to feel comfortable knowing their children are safe.”

She said sometimes students playing outside after school or staffers working late may prop open doors. This poses a potential security risk if doors are accidentally left open.

“If that happens during a certain time, there’s no one else on staff that comes back to check,” Clary said.

Panic buttons also will be part of the security system.

Since schools increasingly are places where expensive technology is stored, they may be at risk of break-ins, so the security system will include infrared sensors. The sensors would be turned on after school and other times when school is not in session, Clary said.

Because school hours may vary, such as kitchen staffers who may be in the school at 6 a.m. or a basketball game going on at 6 p.m., the sensors may be controlled by divided zones.

About three years ago when Clary became superintendent, the district’s video camera surveillance system was upgraded for better quality of footage and greater access.

“We have a software system where I could look on my iPad, punch in my password and see who’s in the school right now,” Clary said. “It also allows law enforcement remote access.”

Clary is chairwoman of the northwest region of Montana Association of School Superintendents. After a meeting with law enforcement following Sandy Hook, she noticed that districts’ security varied.

“All schools are in very different places when it comes to what security we have and what security we need,” Clary said. “Our schools are very safe, but because of different things that have happened in our society, we want to make sure we’re keeping everybody as safe as possible.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].