HATS FOR HAITI AT RUNDLETT MIDDLE SCHOOL
 Rundlett Middle School (RMS) was a sea of hats on Friday, January 29 as students, teachers and staff joined together to show their support and raise money for the United States Foundation for the Children of Haiti. Organized and sponsored by the Student Council, “Hats for Haiti” invited students and staff to wear a hat for the school day in exchange for a donation. Rallying together, RMS raised over $1500! In addition, the New Hampshire Federal Credit Union generously matched $500 and Margaritas Restaurant and a family in Concord each donated $500. Hats for Haiti was incredibly successful at Rundlett Middle School, raising a total of a little more than $3000 for the US Foundation for the Children of Haiti. This is simply one of the ways communities are coming together to support the devastation that has occurred in Haiti.
OCTOBER 2009 DISTRICT NECAP RESULTS PUBLISHED
Students Helping Haiti
Several of our schools are planning fundraisers in order to help the people of Haiti which was devastated by an earthquake last week.
- Kimball Walker students will be holding a Read-A-Thon beginning on January 31 and lasting through February 13. Students will be asking people they know to sponsor them by pledging a dollar amount per minute read; students will be keeping track of their time on a reading record form.
- Rundlett Middle School will be holding the following fundraisers:
- Hats for Haiti on Friday, January 29th.
- A bake sale at the students vs. faculty basketball game on February 11th.
- Fifth graders at Conant have started a “Help for Haiti” fund. Collection jars are located throughout the school and a student “ambassador” from each class will be responsible for gathering the containers at the end of each day.
- CHS students are doing their part by filling up a container located in the cafeteria with spare change.
- Students at Dame, led by Ms. Moore, have started a "Coins for Kids" fund and are contributing loose change until the start of February vacation. All monies collected will be donated to the Red Cross and earmarked for Haiti.
Design Development Meeting, February 3
Security/Access Session
Several topics were discussed during the security and access session, which was well attended by District staff, HMFH architects, an ArcSpec hardware consultant, an RFS Engineering security consultant and a representative from the Concord fire department.
HMFH architects briefly reviewed the schematics of all three schools with the attendees. The architects then reviewed the zoning of the buildings, which will allow certain areas to be open for evening activities and summer camps while the rest of the building is secured. (None of these partial lockdowns require people to egress into the locked down section during a fire or emergency situation.)
Specific drop off areas were reviewed in more detail. Conant has a well-designed drop off and pick up area with a double drop off lane, the closest being utilized by the buses. The bulk of the students and faculty will enter through the side entrance. A small visitor’s parking lot will be located in the front of building. A new drop off area is designed for Kimball that will wind through the site, out onto Pleasant Street. The loop will be one way and the drop off area will be safely away from Spring Street. Rolling gates will be located at the visitor and staff parking lots which will be closed during the school day to form a hard surface play area.
Concerns that were discussed after the introduction included:
- Zones should be able to be opened separately; for example, early entry kitchen staff should be able to open just the kitchen and leave the rest of the building secure.
- Snow removal at Dame/Eastman.
- A play area at the front of Dame/Eastman should be available for early morning drop off.
- The outdoor classroom planned at Conant raised a security concern; it may be too far away from the building and too close to the road.
- The distance between the Kimball teacher parking lot and the school building raised concerns for vandalism.
The main topics of discussion included:
Key system versus Card Access System
- Ease of use and following the practice that is intended is more important than whether a key or card is used.
- The access card could be combined with the staff photo ID’s.
- Making a card costs more than a key, but security is better with a card.
- A key pad access code is too easy to give out to make it truly viable. It is psychologically easier for a staff member to give out a code versus handing over his/her ID badge.
- A card can be used that is programmed to only work during certain hours of a certain day.
- There would need to be someone in charge of security/access cards.
- Card swipes have battery backup.
- There would need to be a key override in case of power outage and for access by fire/police personnel.
- Access panels need to be simple for people who are not use to using one or they won’t use them.
- It was suggested that the security alarm should be integrated with access i.e. if a door is left open, the security alarm won’t arm and the control panel will show the location of the open door.
- It would be helpful to have everything integrated so that if a staff member leaves, one entry could be made and all of that staff member’s access would be revoked.
- Broken Ground would need to be retro fit with the same system that is used in Dame/Eastman.
- Lock down options at classroom doors: New type of lock – intruder or security lock – lets you lock the outside of the door without having to open the door with either a thumb turn or key/card. Thumb turn would allow the students to possibly lock the teacher out of the classroom.
- Rated doors on rated walls cannot be locked or prevented from closing during a fire i.e. cannot be propped open needs to stay closed. If walls are not rated, doors can remain open.
Security and Lighting
- There will be camera and buzzer access at the entry point of each building and at the Receiving area. It was suggested that cameras also be located around the exterior of the buildings to deter vandalism.
- It was questioned whether someone would need to watch the cameras or if the cameras would just record to tapes and be reviewed when necessary.
- After hours web-based access to cameras by the police department was suggested so that they could check on the building remotely if an alarm goes off. Camera placement, clarity, etc are extremely valuable in these cases.
- The cameras and door access could be connected through the computer network.
- Currently, students are brought into the school in the morning by staff members so there is no real drop off that would require all doors to be open.
- Parking lots and access points are important to the police. Integrate door and window markings to help the police and fire.
- Signage around the doors can help identify which entrance is having the problem.
- Exterior lights for security purposes were brought up; however, it was agreed that these should remain at a minimum because of concerns about disturbing neighboring houses.
- Interior lights could be programmed to go on when the building is accessed. Hallway lights could be programmed in zones so that not all the lights in the building go on at the same time.
Elementary Design Development Meeting Notes, Jan. 27 (PDF format)
Elementary Design Development Meeting Notes, Jan. 20 (PDF format)
Elementary Design Development Meeting Notes, Jan. 13 (PDF format)
|
Health Alert
