HOULTON – Nowadays, school security is on the minds of students, parents and education officials across the nation. And, in an emergency, communication is crucial.

With that in mind, the SAD 29 school board heeded the advice of Superintendent Steve Fitzpatrick earlier this week and approved a motion to upgrade the intercom system at Houlton High School.

The decision to spend $16,519 on the project was made during the school board’s monthly meeting.

Fitzpatrick told the board that there are 61 areas in the high school were new speakers need to be placed.

“They need to be placed in every area of the high school to be heard,” he said.

“For safety purposes, I feel we need to upgrade our system,” Fitzpatrick continued. “It needs to be done, and it’s long overdue.”

As part of the project, crews will install all of the needed speakers and upgrade the system to handle the additional load.

In other business, the board set several dates for meetings related to the coming school budget.

The district will hold a budget workshop at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at the Houlton Southside School.

The district budget meeting, which will be combined with the school board’s regular monthly meeting, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, June 11, at the Southside School.