Bill Good, chief operations officer for Des Moines Public Schools, aims to use buildings to support learning.Des Moines Public Schools installed backup electrical generation and uninterrupted power supply systems in August 2019, to protect the district’s hub-and-spoke network infrastructure. It provides power to the main and intermediate data closets and also protects the district’s security infrastructure, such as interior/exterior security cameras and door access systems. The total cost of the project was $915,585.
The district has spent what Good says is tens of millions of dollars on security-related items, including security cameras, visitor management systems, access card systems, secure school entrances, and much more.
“When our schools were built, we wanted the community to come in,” Good says. “But since then, our world has changed. We now have to protect our students from society and that’s a dramatic change.” It’s a difficult challenge. “One of the things that keeps me up at night is you can spend tens of millions of dollars, but it’s people who cause these issues,” Good says.
Parents have contacted Good asking why schools don’t have metal detectors given that guns occasionally surface in schools. His response: Schools can have detectors but if someone wants to get around them, they aren’t likely to enter the school through the door with the detector.
“You can’t solve everything with one strategy,” says Good, who carried a gun while serving in the Vietnam War. “I see what’s happening and I am passionate about protecting kids. But ultimately, I can’t save the world.”
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