Keeping Us Safe

Northwest Academy hired Brendon Burby, a uniformed security guard to patrol campus and help keep the students safe.

“We wanted this as a preventative measure,” David Wagstaff, Dean of Students, said. “Being downtown we are always aware that safety comes first and having someone on campus enforcing that makes people feel safer in general.”

Burby comes to Northwest Academy from Pacific Patrol services. Each day he stands on the corner outside of the First Unitarian Church, also making rounds up near the art and science building and down to the studio, making sure that students are safe.

Burby’s main job is to be a visual deterrence.

“I’m mostly here to keep people in line,” Burby said. “It’s my job to get in between students and people who may be causing trouble. If something big were to go down like drugs or violence my first job is to call the police. In the time it takes them to get here I would have made sure that the students were in a safe place.”

“Scary things have happened,” Tess Beekley, a seventh grader, said. “So it’s good to have people who know what they’re doing.”

Before Burby was hired it was the teachers’ job to be constantly on the lookout for students’ safety. While teachers still are mindful of safety it is helpful to have one person dedicated to security.

“As a teacher, it’s nice to have an extra pair of eyes looking out for the kids’ safety so I’m not the only one looking out for a group of students,” Emily Davis, a teacher, said.

Having a guard on campus isn’t a new concept to the school.

“We had a guard about three years ago,” Wagstaff said. “We felt that outside activity had elevated and for the good of the school we felt it was necessary to have that presence on campus. We didn’t feel the need for someone to be here the past few years, but with recent activity this year, we feel that having someone in uniform is going to help deter other activity.”