The School District of Janesville has just about completed their referendum-funded security upgrades to school buildings.

Public Information Officer Patrick Gasper says all district buildings now have a three step process for visitors to gain access that starts with secretaries monitoring a camera before allowing entrance. Visitors are then moved to a holding area where they sign in and state their business before they can ultimately be let into the building at large.

Gasper says the district’s most recently constructed school building, Kennedy Elementary, opened a few months before the Columbine shooting in 1999, so the upgrades come as they’ve had to retrofit their schools to new realities.

The secure entrances are a part of a three-phase project funded by a $22.5 million capital referendum approved in November 2020.