Officials of the Seneca Valley School District are correct in their ongoing comprehensive study of security involving district facilities.

They also are correct in their decision to study possible construction of a security gate and gatehouse at the main entrance to the secondary school campus.

Unfortunately, the gate and gatehouse alone, without a total fencing-in of the entire school property, would seem to be an ineffective mechanism for achieving the kind of security that school officials desire.

While anyone hellbent on doing harm on the district property might be discouraged from using the front entrance, once a gate and gatehouse were in place, the presence of those obstacles wouldn't keep a person or persons from walking onto the property in areas not in close proximity to those security measures.

Although he said he wholeheartedly endorses the idea of a gate and gatehouse, Len Keller, Jackson Township police chief, admits that "it's almost an impossible task to provide a foolproof secure environment just because of the nature of the beast."

That raises the question then of the cost-benefit ratio tied to the gate-gatehouse proposal.

A mere security facade obviously is not the ultimate product that Seneca Valley officials are striving to achieve.

To the district's credit, and like most other districts nationwide, officials have made significant strides in recent years in dealing with security concerns. For example, the district has improved locked entries at district buildings and added two part-time armed school officers.

Security, then, is being given the attention that it deserves.

Part of the overall security concern at the secondary campus is understandably associated with the closeness of Route 19 and Interstate 79, both of which carry heavy volumes of traffic. Keller regards those highways as the biggest threat to school property.

It should be a source of comfort to district residents that police are so actively involved in the school security issue. It's probably difficult to find a police officer who hasn't spent considerable time pondering and analyzing the things that went wrong, opening the window for some of the major incidents of violence at schools in this country in recent years.

Seneca Valley officials should continue their quest for the kind of security they are seeking. However, they should steer clear of costly measures incapable of providing their money's worth.