Hildreth Elementary School will be installing a video monitoring system with a buzzer for the front door to give the school staff better control over who enters the building.

The School Committee Monday approved spending $8,191 on the system, which is made up of $3,720 for the video monitoring equipment and $4,471 for new front doors.

Once the new system is in place, the front doors will be the only point of access to the school for parents and visitors during the school day. Staff members in the office will be able to see who is at the front door with the video monitor and buzz them in, or not, as they see fit.

"It's not to prevent parents from coming in—we welcome them into the building—but it's to keep potential problems out," said Hildreth Elementary School Principal Linda Dwight. "Just being on the main road there, we felt there was an increased need to secure the building."

Interim Superintendent Joseph Connelly told the School Committee that every elementary school that he has visited has had a more secure entry system than Hildreth. He said he feels the project is a priority and something he wanted to bring to the School Committee as soon as possible.

"We regard it as a secure environment," Connelly said of the current status of the elementary school, "but there is nothing that actually controls that security other than two secretaries on the office side of the glass partition."

While the project has "all the merit in the world," Connelly said, the challenge is finding a funding source. He proposed taking the $3,720 from the school rental revolving fund. Rental fees charged to groups that use school property for their functions are collected in this fund, which can only be used for upkeep of school property, Connelly said.

"Certainly, installing a security system would be a very appropriate use for that money," he said.

The rest of the money, for the new doors, could come from the Shaw Trust fund, Connelly said. Money from the Shaw Trust is meant to be spent on building projects or physical improvements to the schools.

Connelly has already received estimates for the system from Advanced Glass & Mirror of Westminster.

"The work can be installed very quickly, and I would venture to say within two weeks we could have that system operational," he said.

Once the system is in place, it will be activated between 9 a.m., once the students are inside the building, and 3 p.m., Connelly said.

This system is being considered only for the elementary school, Connelly said; such a system would be impractical at the Bromfield School, where students and others have to go in and out much more frequently.

The School Committee unanimously approved the funding request.

"We're unusual not to have [a buzzer system] at this point," School Committee Chair Keith Cheveralls said.

School Committee member Piali De characterized her vote as "bittersweet."

"It's a little scary to think we need things like this, but I'd be naïve to think we don't," De said.