Wood Lane School has completed its security updates, making it difficult for unauthorized persons to
enter the building.
The updates meet the security needs of today, said Superintendent Brent Baer.
The changes were suggested after the Bowling Green Police Division did ALICE training and found a number
of areas where security needed to be enhanced.
“We just had too many available entrances,” Baer said.
The ALICE — Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate — training focuses on active shooter preparedness
training.
Now the school has a dedicated student entrance, on the south side, and one specifically for guests and
employees, at the east wing.
“Every other entrance you have to have a security pod to get through,” Baer said.
Scott McKeown, health and safety coordinator for the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities,
showed the public entrance, which now has a “holding vestibule” with a site range directly to the
reception staff.
Visitors will be buzzed in only after they have identified themselves to the receptionist.
Once in the foyer, there is a low desk for those who use a wheelchair plus a standard-height desk for
check-in use.
After entering the foyer, a guest can only be buzzed into the school after being identified by the person
they are visiting.
“We didn’t really have a secure lobby before. It really was once you were in, you really had free access
to the school,” McKeown said.
The receptionist sits behind bullet-resistant glass with a direct line of site into the parking lot.
“One of the things we learned at a security seminar we went to was that it’s very important for your
gatekeeper staff to be able to see the parking lot and not just by camera,” McKeown said.
All the exterior glass has had shatter-proof film added.
Employees with a security pod can enter straight through the double doors and circumvent the lobby.
A new lockdown procedure also is in place.
Previously, Principal Lorraine Flick would announce a lockdown over the PA system. Someone – whoever was
available – had to get to a computer, log into a website, enter a password and then hit the lockdown
button with the computer mouse.
“That sometimes would take a minute for that to happen,” McKeown said. “A lot can happen with an armed
person in one minute.”
Now, there is a red security button at the visitor entrance that starts an announcement throughout the
building to begin lockdown procedures. All the perimeter doors with fob access will be locked while
interior doors use the Boot security system.
The announcement also is broadcast through exterior speakers to the playground and parking lots.
“The speed of being able to identify a lockdown situation … what we had before, we were at risk of not
being able to actually make the initial announcement,” Baer said.
The school did great with the lockdown drill during the ALICE training because everyone has practiced
more. But the other buildings had a delayed response, he said.
“So we would have recorded casualties if that was a real situation,” Baer said. “This should dramatically
improve response of the entire campus, which we desperately needed.”
The office building, where a similar foyer entrance is planned, should be done in the next three weeks
while the construction on the new storage building should be done by the Mel Lanzer Company in April.
There are strobes outside the school to give visual cues as well.
“Our protocol now is if you pull up to the facility and we are in lockdown, just leave,” McKeown said.
The exterior features were suggested by Garmann Miller and Associates, the architect on the projects.
The student-only entrance now has an awning to protect from the elements. A staff member is assigned to
each student to make sure they safely exit the bus and get into the school.
Each staff member must use a security fob to access the school at that entrance.
“If anyone comes to this door, they’re not going to be able to get access,” Flick said.
There are 32 students enrolled at the school, and each is assigned a greeter.
What used to be the glass window at the east entrance is now a wall and all parking on the south side has
been eliminated to discourage people from coming to that entrance.
The official start of the new security measures was Jan. 19.
“We’ve just made it a more secure location,” Baer said. “We’re all very proud of what we’ve been able to
do.”
