Multi-year safety campaign on OTC campus hits milestone with Lincoln Hall
Following shootings and safety concerns on other campuses, Ozarks Technical Community College came up with a plan to better safeguard students and employees.
A security fee of $3 per credit hour was approved in 2016 and the funds raised — roughly $600,000 a year — have been used to add safety equipment, strengthen safety measures and hire more security officers.
"We realized it was not a luxury, it was a necessity," said OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon.
"We've seen what happened in other places and while we can't always prevent something terrible from happening we can make it harder for something terrible to happen and minimize the effect when it does."
At a meeting Monday, the OTC Board of Trustees approved $688,563 for security system, surveillance and emergency alert upgrades to Lincoln Hall.
The historically significant structure — opened in 1930 as a school for African American students during segregation — is the final major classroom building on the Springfield campus to gain the heightened safety measures.
"We are getting very near completion of the major classroom buildings across the system," said Rob Rector, the vice chancellor of administrative services. "We are going to have a few internal buildings that we need to do."
More:Learn to fly in high school? SPS, OTC team up to offer new aviation 'choice' program
The work includes "life safety and security systems" including intrusion alarms, video monitoring, and access control.
Where the work has been completed, the college is able to automatically lock interior and exterior doors from a central location. There are internal and external cameras and two-way communication is possible throughout each upgraded building.
"One of the things that we really promoted as we designed this and started integrating it in 2016 is that every room, including restrooms, will now have audible and visual alarms so if there is a a need or there is an announcement, you'll be able to hear it in basically every square inch of the building," Rector said.
Rector said changes were made to parking lots and buildings as money was available and based on the age and need of the buildings.
Lincoln Hall, on the west side of the Springfield campus, was one of the more complicated projects.
It is now home to many of OTC's health sciences programs but it started its life as one of the Rosenwald Schools.
Between 1917 and 1932, nearly 5,000 of these mostly rural schools were built to serve Black children and teenagers for decades during segregation. They were the result of a partnership between prominent educator Booker T. Washington and retail giant Julius Rosenwald.
More:SPS reviews lessons learned after false report of active shooter at Hillcrest High School
"They're built like bunkers. They are heavy concrete and thick load-bearing walls," Rector said. "They are different than the span buildings we have elsewhere so it's a little bit more of a challenging project because you're integrating modern life safety systems into a building that was built 90 years ago but obviously we're up to the challenge and we'll make it work."
Higdon said safety upgrades paid for by the student fee have put the campus "light years ahead of where we were."
"It allowed us to up the level of security on all of our campuses and centers," he said.
Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: OTC's multi-year safety campaign hits milestone with Lincoln Hall