Increased security for Souhegan High

The Community Council at Souhegan High School has dealt with several controversial topics over the last few years. One of the most relevant was the discussion about security measures, known as “one of the longest and most recurring topics in the history of the school,” according to a recent Milford Cabinet article. The topic was first brought up when the School Board, upon realizing how often the subject of cameras came up in Community Council, asked the group for a recommendation on the subject. At that point, the council members began a huge research campaign to help them make the best recommendations possible to the School Board. The Community Council divided into three committees, each with the objective of coming up with its own recommendations to share. The first committee’s job was to travel to other schools with similar demographics and philosophical ideas to see what kind of security measures they had implemented. The second committee studied historical data on crime in the school and past security reports, including one a Homeland Security officer compiled in 2006. The third committee conducted a survey of the students and faculty to determine the consensus about safety and security. After the topic had been thoroughly researched, the council discussed each committee’s recommendations and compiled them into one big recommendation to be sent to the School Board. The final recommendation included 15 ideas, including cameras in the parking lot, a new lock system, a caller ID system and a new sign-in/sign-out system. The Community Council held a public forum to further gauge the community’s opinion on security at the school that stirred up quite a lot of controversy because of conflicting opinions about how much security was necessary and whether it violated the fundamental basis of the school. Why has the topic of security at Souhegan stirred up so much controversy? “One of the big things that makes Souhegan different is that we don’t have cameras,” junior Community Council member Nathan Castle said. “Installing cameras is contrary to the basis of trust Souhegan is built upon.” The School Board recently voted on the issue. Its members had discussed it in the past, but decided not to implement any plans in 2010 because of the negative economic impact they believed it would have on the community.