RHINELANDER - Every parent wants their child safe in school. The Rhinelander School District is working to keep up with those concerns by upgrading security at Pelican Elementary School.

The school will invest in a nearly $10,000 front entry renovation to be completed before Christmas.

Currently the main entry doors remain unlocked throughout the day. Many children have several caregivers in charge of picking them up and dropping them off.

"It's not realistic that they're going to know these people, that they're going to memorize all these faces. So it's important for us to have a barrier so that anyone entering the school cannot get past without being recognized by someone in the office," says Roger Erdahl, Superintendent of Rhinelander Schools.

Administrators are also concerned about traffic at the beginning and end of school days. Many parents walk their kids directly to their classrooms. The fear is that someone who doesn't belong there could slip in unnoticed.

"Some parents do do that, it's part of their routine and that's going to change. It will be stopped right here at the doors so that they're not going down the hall. It's not necessary. If they had a concern and needed to speak to the teacher we would have the teacher come to the office and greet them," says Martha Knudtson, Pelican Elementary School Principal.

The project will be funded half by a Community Oriented Policing Services grant, and half from the district's building maintenance fund.

Story By: Lyndsey Stemm