SCHOOL HQ TO BOOST SECURITY; PALMDALE BOARD VOTES TO INSTALL ELECTRONIC LOCKS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

The Palmdale School District will spend nearly $9,000 to upgrade security at the district office, aimed at protecting the headquarters staff against irate parents and employees and to secure confidential files.

The district will install keypad-controlled locks on interior doors leading to individual departments and other offices.

``We've seen some confrontation in the last few years, and in our society in general we've seen acts of violence, and sometimes they are directed at centers of influence, sadly,'' trustee Larry Logsdon said. ``And those people who work at centers of influence, they need to feel secure at the job site. We don't feel something will happen; we'd like safety devices in place as a preventive measure.''

The district board approved the expenditure in a split vote Tuesday, two months after a similar proposal was rejected.

Newly elected trustee Tom Lackey, in his first meeting, provided the swing vote in the board's 3-1-1 vote. Trustee Fred Thompson voted against the proposal, and trustee Sheldon Epstein abstained. Voting in favor were Lackey, Logsdon and Velma Trosin.

The board voted 3-2 in September against spending $10,500 on a security improvement plan. The majority in that prior vote was Epstein, Thompson and former board member Helen Acosta, who was ousted in the November election.

Superintendent Nancy Smith said she was asked to bring the security matter back for a vote by Lackey, Logsdon and Trosin.

The district office already has surveillance cameras, a security alarm and a ``panic button'' by which sheriff's deputies can be summoned. Just recently, the district changed all the exterior door locks, using a type for which blank keys are not available in California.

Under the new upgrade, people authorized to access the keypad-controlled doors will be given individual personal identification numbers, and each lock would record the time, date and person opening the door, according to a district staff report.

If an employee quits or is fired, the district can delete his or her code number.

``Given the workplace issues of our times, greater safety and security precautions need to be taken. Also, access to confidential files needs to be more restricted,'' a district staff report said.

Epstein said he felt the purpose of the security upgrade was more for monitoring employees than providing security.

``If I truly felt it was for security purposes, I would have voted yes, but it is more in terms of monitoring than security,'' he said. ``If you want to go into an office, you have to hit a (personal identification number). For security purposes, if you wanted that, lock the door and have a key to gain access without spending $8,000. The PIN number is to monitor who goes in there.''

Logsdon said the new system will provide a means of knowing who is going in and out of areas.

``We also have a lot of expensive equipment and data that is very important that we don't want in any way to be tampered with. This allows us to secure our files a little more also,'' Logsdon said.