Sweet Home staff propose $551,415 Smart Schools amendment to harden interior classroom doors

District staff presented an amendment to Sweet Home Central School District’s Smart Schools Investment Plan that would reallocate $551,415 previously earmarked for student devices to an interior "door hardening" security project at Sweet Home High School and, to the extent funds allow, portions of Sweet Home Middle School.

The amendment was presented by Mike Feldman, who described the work as "an interior door hardening project at Sweet Home High School and or Sweet Home Middle School" and said the price the vendor provided for the high school was below the $551,415 figure, allowing the district to include middle-school doors in the plan pending a vendor walk-through after the February break.

Board-level context: the Smart Schools Bond Act (a statewide voter-approved program) established categories of eligible uses, and Feldman said the district previously requested the $551,415 for student iPads. He told the board the district received State Education Department approval to deallocate that amount from the student-device category and move it into the security category. Feldman said the district plans to purchase future student iPads through a BOCES project to capture roughly 59% BOCES aid, reducing local expense.

Feldman described the proposed door hardware as a card-access-only lock tied to wireless hallway hubs, each hub supporting up to about 12 doors, and said the system is battery-operated and monitored through the district’s data cabinets. "This project would address all interior, doors, classroom doors, and would be hardened with a card access only lock," he said. He and other staff said the chosen vendor is on state contract and already manages the district's outdoor swipe system; the vendor’s product ties to the district’s mass-notification system and would allow a buildingwide lock on command.

Feldman outlined a projected timeline: if the board approves the preliminary amended plan at next week’s board meeting, the district will post the plan for a 30-day public comment period, hold a public hearing on March 18 and submit a final plan to the State Education Department by April 1. If SED approves the plan, the district would bid and begin work in July and seek reimbursement after incurring eligible expenses.

District staff and board members discussed technical and operational details. Board member Mary Anne Battaglia asked whether the locks require new electric lines; Feldman said the interior hardware is wireless and battery-operated, noting the system will send notification when a battery needs replacement. On whether keys would be removed entirely, Feldman said custodians and building administrators would retain a mechanical core key but keys would not be widely distributed.

Neither the board nor the district took a final vote on the amended plan at this meeting; staff repeatedly asked the board to place the plan on next week’s agenda for a vote. At the end of the presentation Feldman said, "We would hope that you guys would support us, with the plan by voting yes, next week." The board did not vote tonight; staff said no formal work would begin until the board had voted and SED had approved the final plan.

Ending: The board will be asked to approve the preliminary Smart Schools Investment Plan amendment at its next meeting; if approved, the plan will enter a 30-day public comment period, with a public hearing scheduled for March 18 and final submission to the State Education Department targeted for April 1.