Safety & Security Project Update

In May 2018, voters in the Baldwinsville Central School District approved the district’s Safety and Security Capital Project, which involves multiple improvements in all of our schools. The district is waiting for the state’s approval of Phase 1 of this project. We anticipate that we will receive the approval this spring, and we expect to begin the work in June 2019 when the school year wraps up.
 
In Phase 1, we will install new hardware on every classroom door in our schools (approximately 900 doors district wide). The new hardware will enable staff members to lock their classroom doors quickly with the click of a button.
 
We will also install doors in the corridors of our schools that will air lock when an activation button is pressed. All of these corridor doors in a school will close and lock simultaneously to secure the hallways in the event of an intruder, blocking that person’s further access from that part of the building.
 
Palmer Elementary School and McNamara Elementary School will be getting modified front entrance vestibules. The vestibule at each school will be staffed to regulate who can enter the building, serving to restrict all visitors to the front door of the school until a staff member can verify their identification and purpose for entering the building.
 
Phase 2 of the project includes constructing front entrance vestibules at Reynolds Elementary School, Van Buren Elementary School and Elden Elementary School, new signage in all district schools, as well as the installation of emergency egress equipment (such as rope ladders). The district will be submitting its plans for this phase of the project to the state in the summer/fall of 2019, and we expect to receive approval in winter 2019 and begin work in spring/summer 2020. Our anticipated completion date for this phase of the project is the summer of 2021.
 
We are seeking state approval to spend our New York State Smart Schools grant money on items such as window hardening (ballistic film) and new video surveillance equipment in all of our schools, as well as a mass notification system. We expect to receive state approval by winter 2019 and be able to begin work in the summer/fall of 2020 in order to complete these upgrades by December 2020.