Williams News Logo
Grand Canyon News Logo

Trusted local news leader for Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon

School fence plans<br>take another turn

Possible changes to Grand Canyon School’s campus fencing took yet another turn early last week as National Park Service ranger Ronnie Gibson threw a new issue into the mix.

School board members were considering approval of a $29,125 project designed primarily to improve protection of school children and wildlife while keeping elk and deer off the new soccer field. But Gibson, whose law-enforcement beat includes the school, asked the board to consider security issues associated with the fence.

"My concern is we keep skirting the issue of student safety," Gibson said. "Student safety has improved with the fence the way it is."

School officials have been aware of problems involving pedestrian traffic across campus, mainly concessioner employees walking from employee housing to the recreation center. Although concerns still exist, the installation of the fence has cut down on that traffic.

"The fence has certainly aided us in reducing that issue," Gibson said. "Right now, some people don’t realize the grade-school building, which houses the most vulnerable students, is part of the campus because it’s outside the fence."

"It’s typically employees in the park, not tourists, but employees working for whatever entity that are going from over near the rim, Victor Hall, to the rec center," school superintendent Ray Vernon said. "This is their direct route and sometimes they get very nasty about us saying you can’t go here."

Approval of the proposed fencing project would include the removal and relocation of three existing fences. Gibson’s afraid the changes will lead to increased trespassing.

Gibson said he can’t point to any statistics on a reduction in crime since the installation of the fence, but added that he believes it has long-term advantages.

"We’ve had an attempted abduction and all kinds of little issues, but those were stopped by an excellent staff and teachers," Gibson said. "But I think the presence of that fence aids safety on campus. If anything, I’d like to see the school expand the fence to include the grade-school building to make it obvious that this is a part of campus."

Andrew Aldaz, the school’s maintenance and transportation supervisor, said he would like to see buses remain within fencing to reduce the chance for vandalism.

Gibson said people use the campus as a shortcut between housing and the rec center partially because Grand Canyon Village does not have sidewalks like other communities.

"We’ve got other issues that the school obviously cannot address," Gibson said. "Our biggest problem during the day, people heading to and from the rec center and using the campus as their thoroughfare."

The latest proposal involved the reconfiguration of fencing to exclude the staff parking lot. Gates would be replaced with "anti-wildlife" passages and the vehicular gate would be relocated to the northeast corner of the track so maintenance can service athletic fields.

The cost of the fence-gate reconfiguration was estimated at $19,600, with another $9,525 for the replacement of the gates with anti-wildlife passages.

As part of the proposal, the school requested the park’s assistance in paying for the changes. That’s because the latest proposal is similar to the school’s initial fence design, which was not acceptable to the NPS.

"Since the district made adjustments based on NPS recommendations, which ultimately proved to be ineffective, we respectfully request the park’s assistance in paying for the alterations," the proposal reads.

Board member Bess Foster suggested taking the request for assistance by the NPS further by including any materials or labor that could be part of the project.

The scope of the project and why things have evolved in such a manner over the past few years was an ongoing topic for several minutes. Chuck Wahler, board president, said the NPS has major concerns over animals getting inside the fence and dying, something that has happened twice.

"The fact that elk are being trapped in the fence, from the park’s perspective, that is our problem, not their problem," Wahler said.

Aldaz said the NPS did not like original plans mainly because of its appearance.

"They didn’t like the view of the fence because they thought the fence was too big, bulky and ugly," Aldaz said. "That’s why they had us take the fence and put it around the buildings to try to hide it from visually being seen from the parking lot."

Regardless of the fence’s evolution and reasons for it, the issue of protecting children while on campus seemed to be the major issue. In fact, Gibson said there may even be other funding avenues available if a fence is constructed around the entire campus.

"Ranger Gibson has thrown a new and interesting wrinkle at us and I think we need to think about it seriously before moving forward with this proposal," Wahler said. "We’ve focused highly on the field instead of security. I think it’s best to turn back to administration on that issue and how we might deal with this."

The school board tabled the issue for administration to reconsider a proposal.


Donate Report a Typo Contact