SLO County school districts are building fences around ‘vulnerable’ campuses
In the wake of repeated school shootings around the country, San Luis Obispo County districts are adding perimeter fences around campuses to address safety concerns and better protect students and staff.
The issue has been top of mind for many after recent tragedies such as the Uvalde, Texas, shooting where 19 students and two teachers were killed and 17 others wounded by an 18-year-old gunman in May.
San Luis Coastal Unified and Lucia Mar Unified school districts are working to build fencing around several campuses.
“This will address some of our most vulnerable sites,” said San Luis Coastal Superintendent Eric Prater.
Del Mar, Pacheco, Monarch Grove and Los Ranchos elementary schools in the San Luis Coastal school district will see new temporary fences added beginning this week. The work is expected to wrap up by mid-September, save any unforeseen supply chain issues, Prater said.
At the Lucia Mar school district in southern San Luis Obispo County, campuses including Ocean View Elementary, Branch Elementary, Paulding Middle, Mesa Middle and Arroyo Grande High schools will see fences go up over the next few months.
The chain link fences coming to the Lucia Mar schools will create a single point of entry onto the campuses during school hours so “we can better monitor our campus visitors,” district spokesperson Amy Jacobs told The Tribune in an emailed statement.
Those fences, which will be permanent, are expected to cost the district around $450,000, according to Jacobs.
San Luis Coastal’s fencing work is meant as an “interim” safety measure, Prater said. It’s expected to cost more than $200,000 total for the four schools, according to district Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ryan Pinkerton.
Prater said the district would replace the interim fencing with a more permanent and aesthetically pleasing solution should the proposed $349 million Measure C bond measure pass in the Nov. 8 general election.
“We’re going to need Measure C to pass so we can competently do this across all our schools, so our elementary schools don’t look like prisons,” he said.
