Schools

Wayland Schools to Receive Security Upgrades

School Committee members authorized several projects intended to make the schools safer.

The Wayland School Committee Monday night authorized the installation or upgrade of various security features at Wayland’s elementary schools.

Public Buildings Director John Moynihan told School Committee members that he wanted to complete a project originally approved during the 2009 Town Meeting. The funds allocated for the project remain available.

According to Moynihan, the 2009 allocation allowed for the replacement of locks at and the elementary schools as well as the installation of card swipe security and security cameras at the elementary schools.

“When we started implementing it … the superintendent decided that he didn’t want cameras put in the buildings,” Moynihan said. The superintendent at the time was Gary Burton. “He authorized only the replacement of the exterior door locks on and ” and the installation of swipe cards at both schools.

There are issues now, however, with the interior locks at the schools, Moynihan said. He told School Committee members that Wayland Youth Officer Shane Bowles told him a lockdown drill at Claypit Hill revealed that the interior doors at the school could not be secured.

Moynihan said that many of the classroom doors don’t have working keys or the keys have been lost over the years. Additionally, the locks have simply deteriorated with age.

"I ask the committee’s authorization to resurrect the project,” Moynihan said. "I’m not talking about cameras, but to redo the interior hardware, to finish up the exterior hardware, to include the Loker School and, if funding is available, start doing the Middle School.”

Though Moynihan did not seek authorization for security cameras, he did tell school committee members that security cameras trained on points of access are the standard for new construction and renovation projects at schools of all levels. The new features such cameras.

“Part of the issue for me has to do with the sentiment of the community,” said Superintendent Paul Stein. “There are some people who look at this almost from a civil liberties perspective. I would want to get a sense somehow from the community on where people are at with all that.”

Moynihan said the money for the security upgrades would come from a fund currently set aside for various projects, including an accessibility project leading to the gymnasium entrance at Wayland Middle School and a renovation of the bathrooms at Claypit Hill. The balance in that fund also includes the money originally allocated to the security fixes.

“I’d like to at least see the exterior doors completed in all three schools,” Moynihan said, explaining that he’d like to expand the upgrades to include the Loker School, even on a limited scope there.

The School Committee voted unanimously to approve the projects with a ceiling cost of $65,000.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here