H.G. Olsen Elementary fence still awaiting locks
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

Fence is up STAFF PHOTO BY DAN PARKER Behind their new fence, H.G. Olsen Elementary School students walk in a line to their next class on Wednesday, Oct. 24. School officials hope to have locking mechanisms installed soon on the gates.

While H.G. Olsen Elementary School has installed security fencing around the campus, the front gates aren't in use yet because locking mechanisms haven't yet been delivered and installed.

Principal Sylvia Buttler said she is hoping the locks will be installed by around Friday, Oct. 26.

In spring, members of the Port Aransas Independent School District Board of Trustees were unanimous in their support of building a chainlink fence behind the elementary school and a more decorative fence in front.

The fences were built largely for security's sake, district officials said. Security was number one on Buttler's list when PAISD Superintendent Billy Wiggins asked his principals to consult with teachers and community members and put together a list of priorities for purchases the district should make.

Olsen, like many schools, has been doing more drills in recent years in response to school violence incidents around the country, Buttler said. All those drills got Buttler thinking more and more about the need for a fence, since Olsen has so many entrances to its buildings, she said. A fence would tend to funnel visitors past a central point where they can be seen by employees manning the school office, Buttler said.

A five-foot high chain-link fence was installed around the playground area behind the school during the summer.

Original plans called for the more decorative blue fence in front of the school to feature a design giving the top of the fence a wavy look, mimicking a series of ocean swells. However, Buttler said, those plans have been cancelled because the design would require cutting some of the fence posts so low that they would be too easy to scale.

The front fence cost $23,985, and the back one was $9,517, said Billy Wiggins, superintendent of PAISD.

Olsen officials have distributed fliers with schedules for when gates on the front fences will be opened and closed (once the locking mechanisms are installed).

Gates facing the drive-through pickup area will be open at 7 a.m., then closed and locked at 8:05 a.m., when the tardy bell rings.

Parents of morning pre-k students will pick up their children at the front entrance to the school, near the office. Afternoon pre-k students will be dropped off also at that entrance.

Gate entrances in the drive-through area will be open when school lets out at 3 p.m. They'll be locked again at 6 p.m.

When the gates are locked, the only entrance available for visitors will be the main entrance at the front of the school, next to the office.

As in the past, visitors must check in at the office and get visitor tags.