The new Magnolia Middle School is located in a former high school in Magnolia, Delaware. PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOL
upgrade. “The building’s main office was near the front door. But the space was completely open and anyone coming in had free access to all of the hallways, classrooms and common areas throughout the school.” “Our district has placed a great deal of emphasis on safety and security protocols over the years. That includes how and where we enter buildings and ensuring that building occupants have access badges that operate properly,” Keith Wisher, Principal of Magnolia Middle School, says. “When we acquired this building, the district wanted to ensure that it was safe and secure for all of our stakeholders, including more than 400 students in grades 6-8 and 50 faculty members.” AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION Pennewell addressed Magnolia Middle School’s need for a totally integrated safety and security solution by reaching out to the experts at Cook & Boardman sister companies HC Quality Doors and Advantech, a security integration company. “We have a lot of school security experience, and we saw the immediate need to reduce the access visitors had to the entire school from the entryway,” Levi Lantz, Branch Manager of HC Quality Doors, says. Lantz explains the company was brought into the project by Advantech and assessed the space with them in August 2022. “We created a design involving the construction of a 10-foot- high, 40- to 50-foot-long, bullet- resistant glass wall incorporating two sets of doors that are always locked,” he says. “With that interior structure, people can come into the lobby but can’t continue into the school without being vetted and having the doors unlocked by office personnel.” Lantz adds they matched the school’s exterior doors for optimal aesthetics. Ryne Johnson, Account Manager at Advantech, explains his team walked
Magnolia Middle School is a 25-year- old, single story building and was formerly a parochial high school that closed in 2020. “We wanted to create a secure vestibule so that the front office team could screen people coming into the building,” Pennewell says of the
school,” Jimmy Pennewell, Supervisor of Facilities Management for the Caesar Rodney School District, says. “All of our schools conform to that layout except Magnolia Middle School, a building that was recently added to our district, which we had to bring into compliance.”
WHAT’S NEW IN WEAPONS DETECTION AT SCHOOLS “The tragic events that have occurred at schools and other public places nationwide in recent years confirm that bad actors don’t discriminate and that violence can happen anywhere,” Keith Wisher, Principal of Magnolia Middle School in Magnolia, Delaware, says. “A school’s best defense is to investigate any security deficits and do your best to strengthen those areas.” “We’ve demonstrated Ceia USA’s OPENGATE weapons detection systems for many schools,” Ryne Johnson, Account Manager at Advantech, a Cook & Boardman company, adds. “They make the metal detectors seen in many airports and we support the commissioning and configuration of these mobile, battery-powered pillar systems in school settings.” According to Johnson, the benefit of these systems is their sensitivity. “In an effort to prevent mass casualty events, you can set them to detect only larger metal objects that could be a weapon so that they don’t back up the entry process for students,” he explains. “These systems are safe, mobile, aesthetically pleasing and are becoming increasingly common, especially in potentially volatile settings where schools mix outside visitors with their own student population, such as sporting events between rival teams.” Johnson notes that the OPENGATE weapons detection system is most effective when operated in combination with support staff. “Once it detects a large piece of metal going through, an onsite support staffer with a hand-held metal detector in a secondary screening area would identify its location and determine if it’s a threat,” he says. “These systems are popular in schools because of their throughput; they get students through faster than a standard metal detector without the need to empty pockets or scan backpacks, especially with so many kids coming into the school building to start class all at the same time,” Johnson says. “While standard metal detectors are prone to more nuisance alarms that reduce throughput of the entryway, the combination of OPENGATE systems with Advantech commissioning is far more effective and is a robust tool for identifying the presence of dangerous weapons on school property.”
MAY 2023 DOOR SECURITY + SAFETY 40
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator