Chicago will spend $76.3 million to add, upgrade school security cameras in next three years
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Loading... - Ahmad Salah
- 24 Feb 2023
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Chicago Public Schools will spend $76.3 million to install new security cameras and replace outdated ones at its elementary and high schools — what the district described as a “bold” three-year plan that will help deter and investigate safety incidents on campus.
District leaders made the announcement at a Wednesday press conference at Eli Whitney Elementary School on the city’s Southwest Side and later discussed it during the monthly school board meeting, arguing that expanded security camera coverage is a top priority for principals.
Five high schools and 58 elementary schools will be the first to receive the camera upgrades this school year. Ultimately, about 430 schools will get the technology — all district campuses that do not have up-to-date camera systems. Officials said they are prioritizing schools based on a number of criteria, including the condition of a school’s existing security cameras, the number of safety incidents on campus, and the prevalence of crime in the neighborhood.
“The biggest beneficiaries are our elementary schools,” CEO Pedro Martinez told board members. “Frankly we minimize the concerns that exist in our elementary schools because there are so many of them.”
But board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said she was hearing about the security camera initiative for the first time and balked at its price tag of “what feels like a big bet on technologies of surveillance.” She quoted district safety and security chief Jadine Chou saying that forging relationships with students and families is what keeps schools safe.
“I don’t think it has to be either-or,” she said. “I was just caught off-guard.”
A district spokesperson said in a statement that the first projects this school year were awarded to Greatline Electric and Pace Systems, which are pre-approved vendors in a construction projects pool. The remaining security cameras will be installed by vendors from that same pool, the statement said.
“In order to protect student and staff safety, CPS does not release the specific details of our school safety and security plans,” the statement said.
A board presentation on the current district budget mentioned security cameras on a list of capital investments worth $645 million in total.
Martinez said more security camera coverage was “one of the top asks” from the district’s principals, who he said drove the push to add and update that technology.
“The response of principals has been pretty much unanimous that this is one of the best investments we can make,” he said. Read More…
