TAHS using grant to update interior doors, locking system
A door might very well be one of the most overlooked things in any building, and something of which few usually give a second thought. But when it comes to safety in a school, it’s a pretty big deal.
“Most people probably don’t get too excited about a door project, but I’m pretty pumped about it,” Tracy Area Public Schools Supt. Chad Anderson said, referring to the ongoing door project at the high school that has more to do with safety than aesthetics.
The district — in yet another step in its quest to improve Tracy’s schools — is using a $500,000 School Violence Prevention Program grant to replace and update interior doors, locks and radios. The district has to match a certain percentage of the grant ($172,000), bringing the total cost of the project to $672,000; the district is using Long Term Facilities Maintenance dollars to pay for its match.
“Why would it cost so much — there’s a lot of things that go into this,” Anderson said. “The doors in the high school were all filled with asbestos, so anytime there’s a chip in a door or a crack that exposes the asbestos, it needs to be abated.”
The doors that have been removed are the original doors, which date back to when the school was built in 1968. Needless to say, it was time for them to go.
When they put things together 60 years ago, those doors made sense, but in this day and age, it just wasn’t the safest way to do things.
— TAHS SUPT. CHAD ANDERSON “When you go through a building with kids and the community for 60 years, they get beat up; they were showing their age,” said Anderson.
And while it might sound strange to consider a door antiquated, when it comes to keeping the staff and students safe, the new door system takes care of that.
“When they put things together 60 years ago, those doors made sense, but in this day and age, it just wasn’t the safest way to do things,” said Anderson.
With the old doors, teachers would have to leave the classroom and lock their doors from the outside. With the new ADA-compliant hardware, the doors can be locked from the inside.
“The teachers that have two doors, they have two different systems — one is they push the button and close it, and the other door will have a key fob system,” Anderson said. “To go in their rooms, they can just swipe the fob, and those are always locked. All of their doors can be locked in a matter of a second.”
A window next to the door handle indicates when a door is locked or unlocked — red for locked, white for unlocked.
The gym doors, which take even more of a beating than regular classroom doors, are also being replaced.
“Every door that you see when you’re walking through the high school will be brand new,” said Anderson.
Besides the doors, all the door and window frames inside the school are being sanded down and repainted as well.
The completion date for the project is Aug. 21.
The door project is focused on the high school this summer, and next summer, things will shift to the elementary school, which are newer, but will receive the same locking system as the doors at the high school.
