Skyline College has been without a permanent chief of security since January, and only recently has Skyline started the final interview process.

Loretta Adrian, vice president of student services, is filling as interim chief of security. The previous chief of security, Jeff Hodges, resigned after only three months in office citing personal family issues. Hodges resignation made him the third chief of security in one year. Jim Herndon was the last chief to work for an entire semester and he retired at the end of the spring semester of 2006. Tommie Phillips Sr. replaced him and then resigned suddenly in August, just before the fall semester started, leaving the chief of security vacant position vacant until November.

“Tommie Phillips Sr. was a retiree and could only work so many days out of the year, so he worked his days then he had to leave,” said Victoria Morrow, President of Skyline College.

The final round of interviews will be held this week to find a permanent replacement for Hodges. This time around the process was done differently, by not searching for an interim chief, which expedited the process of finding a replacement, although the requirements for the position will remain the same.

“We are looking for someone who has a law enforcement background and expertise to our very specific college setting and understands the culture of a college…and somebody who is going to take the needs of students seriously,” Morrow said.

In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, President Morrow sent out an email assuring people about the precautions the college is taking to maintain student safety.

“We will undertake a full review of our current approaches under the leadership of our new Security Chief,” said Morrow in her emailed address sent out to all of the Skyline employees. “Meanwhile as a district, we are looking into new ways to improve security of both people and property while still balancing appropriately the need for welcoming, open campuses.”

Such improvements will be to install a new carillon system, which will allow the entire campus to be notified, in the case of emergency, at once. They are also looking to have surveillance on campus at all hours of the day and night as well as a way to send mass text messages to everyone on campus.

Security officers at Skyline also maintain a very close working relationship with the San Bruno Police Department. The managers on campus are all connected to each other via Nextel phones designed for quick communication, which will be handy in an emergency.

However with addition of a new chief of security, the campus will have a functioning head of security for the entire campus, to ensure that all of these changes will be made.