Stonington High School, Connecticut: locking hardware upgrades protect against threats big & small.

THE NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE OF Stonington, CT bears a number of features that date back roughly 300 years and serve as a reminder of the town's early colonial days. Old stone walls border homes that predate the nation's existence and a stone lighthouse still stands guard over the entrance to the harbor, just as it did for whaling ships centuries ago.

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But while the town retains much of its colonial-era charm, its people live in modern times and recognize the need to guard against contemporary issues. The school system, for example, is far ahead of others in dealing with security. Although they have never had a major incident, the school district has implemented a comprehensive security system at each of its facilities to protect against possible dangers. The security infrastructure at Stonington High School, in particular, could serve as a model for other schools looking to tighten their building defenses.

"We find it best to be proactive, rather than reactive," said Ken Donovan, facility manager for the Stoning School System, explaining why the town decided to upgrade school security during a renovation project in 2004. "We realized that a few simple locking hardware upgrades would go to great lengths to protect our students and staff."

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The school was originally constructed in 1956 and renovated in the early 80s, but a population increase necessitated additional space and further renovations in 2004. The once quite southeast corner of Connecticut is now home to two of the world's largest casinos which keep getting bigger. And though the area could still be comfortably described as bucolic, the two enormous high rises just to the north, the constant stream of traffic and the town's valuable coastal location bear reminder that development pressure will likely continue in the foreseeable future.

Given the recent surge in development, a modernized security system at the schools was easy to justify and was met with little resistance from the school board. A presentation by the town's longtime lock supplier, SARGENT Manufacturing, only increased the desire to secure the high school.

Donovan noted that SARGENT products have been used on town buildings for decades and have always delivered dependable performance. Since the last building renovation was completed 20 years ago, much has changed in lockset functionality. SARGENT showed Donovan how these locking innovations, coupled with other security technologies, could be used to control access throughout the building.

Perimeter Security

Starting along the exterior perimeter, the school system decided to prohibit access to all doorways except the main entrance. Students and staff can enter freely at the start of the day, but once school starts at 7:30 a.m., the front doors are locked and visitors or students arriving late must be buzzed in by the main office, located just across the hallway. A security camera allows the office staff to identify the person at the door and a push of the button activates an electric strike to unlock the door.

Upon entering the building, there are two directions a person can travel: straight ahead to the main office or to the left toward a pair of doors leading to a classroom corridor. The SARGENT 80 Series exit devices on the corridor doors are dogged down until school starts. This allows students direct access from the main entrance to the classrooms. After 7:30 a.m., however, the exit devices are undogged, forcing all traffic to flow through the main office. There, visitors must sign in and receive a badge.

While late-arriving students and visitors must be buzzed in, teachers and staff are able to walk in unimpeded. The main entrance doors and corridor doors are also equipped with HID proximity card readers and all teachers and staff members carry ID cards with SARGENT proximity tags. This allows the faculty to access the building by simply touching the ID card against the reader which activates the electric strike on the exterior door and unlocks the exit devices on the corridor doors.

A similar electric strike/camera/Prox card reader setup is also in place at the loading dock entrance. Delivery drivers must push a button to alert the office staff of their presence. Again, the camera identifies the visitor and the office staff can activate the electric strike and allow access. An exterior gymnasium door is equipped with a prox card reader, permitting the physical education teacher to take the class outside for activities and reenter the building through the gym door.

All exterior doorways are equipped with exit devices and are set up to allow free egress at all times.

Cross corridor doorways are held in the open position to cut down on hallway congestion and accommodate smooth access between school wings. The doors are held open with SARGENT magnetic closer/holders that are attached to the walls and connected to the building's alarm system. If the fire alarm is activated, power to the magnet is cut and the doors automatically shut. The magnetic closer/ holders allow the doors to remain open and still meet fire codes.

Lockdowns

Along the interior of the building, all classroom doors are equipped with SARGENT 8200 Series mortise locks. Donovan was impressed with classroom security function offered by the lockset--a new feature developed in the last few years to help schools better implement lockdowns. If the school issues a "code red" teachers are to immediately lock the classroom door and protect students from a potential hazard that could lurk in hallways or somewhere on school grounds.

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In the past, the teacher would have to lock the door from outside the room, possibly exposing students to dangers in the hallway. Locks with a classroom security function have a cylinder on both the inside and outside of the door. This allows teachers to lock the door from the inside and eliminates the need to enter the hallway.

The one area the function does not work is in the library. Instead, a SARGENT keypad linked to a SECURITRON power pack has been placed inside the room. If a lockdown is instituted, the librarian can walk over to the doorway and enter a code that locks the exit devices and prevents access.

Preventing Theft and Vandalism

As mentioned earlier, no major security incidents have occurred on school grounds. However, minor incidents, such as vandalism and theft, do happen from time to time. The locking hardware upgrades help prevent these nuisance occurrences by creating student accountability.

Every student is required to carry a prox card ID badge similar to those used by the teachers. The student badges, however, only allow access to the lavatories and library.

Lavatory doors are secured with SARGENT Profile Series v.G1 standalone access control devices. Students entering these doors must touch their card to the lock which includes a built-in prox reader. These battery powered mortise locks also have an audit trail capability that records who entered the room and at what time.

"In the past we've had some bathroom vandalism issues," Donovan noted. "The audit trail capability of the locks creates accountability and acts as a deterrent to prevent these incidents from happening. We have also placed cameras throughout the building that record activities and help us keep track of hallway activities at all times of the school day."

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Students must also use their ID cards to gain access to the library, which features two banks of doorways: one serves as an entrance only and the other as an exit only. Students passing through both doorways walk through a security device similar to those used in retail settings. The library books are fitted with magnetic strips, so any book that has not been properly checked out will be detected by the anti-theft devices. An alarmed exit device is installed on the emergency exit to warn staff if someone tries to buck proper procedures and leave through this doorway.

All other doorways equipped with prox readers, including a theater projection room, cafeteria kitchen area and equipment storage rooms, will not function with the student ID badges.

The prox reader system used at the high school features the same HID technology used in Stonington Police ID badges. Donovan has coordinated the school prox reader system to function with the police IDs and allow officers immediate access into the school.

Key Control

Perhaps the greatest security threat faced by a school system is the risk of lost keys and an overall loss of key control. Donovan has taken great strides to keep the entire Stonington High School key system in tiptop shape. Since becoming the school district facility manager, Donovan has taken locksmith training and fully understands the importance of key control. He also knows the best way to accomplish this task is by selecting a high security key system that guarantees absolute control of key blank distribution.