The front doors of Ottawa public schools are being left unlocked after a job action by educational support workers. They are withdrawing from certain administrative duties, such as operating the buzzer system implemented in recent years to control visitors’ access to schools and heighten security.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has joined the Halton District School Board in leaving previously locked doors unlocked. The decision was made in light of impending contract negotiations by office administrators who claim their daily routines are repeatedly interrupted by operating the buzzer system.
Erica Braunovan, the Centretown-area school board trustee and mother of two, says her children attend Centennial Public School. But the school never implemented the buzzer system, but Braunovan is confident that her children are safe.
She adds that once the office dispute is resolved, the system will be put back in place.
“Personally, I feel that our schools are safe. The safety of the students are the teachers’ highest priority,” says Braunovan. “I have the utmost faith that my children are safe without a buzzer system. Having them makes people feel safe, but it’s not a foolproof system.”
According to Braunovan, not all schools have the buzzer system and instead use other methods to keep students safe, such as directing visitors who enter the school to the main office to pick up guest passes.
Ottawa does not have a mandatory locked door policy, however, based on local needs, certain school boards decided which of their elementary schools would install buzzers and other safety devices to restrict access.
Gary Wheeler, a media relations coordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Education, says that in 2005 they announced the establishment of the “Safe Welcome” program, which would allow schools to install security access devices in schools where the main office was out of sight from the school’s main visitors entrance.
In 2012, funding of up to $10 million was given to school boards across the province to lock their school doors and put necessary security access devices in place in elementary schools. Despite the withdrawal of this protective measure, Wheeler asserts the safety of the students are the school boards’ top priority.
“The program is not mandatory. School boards, based on local needs, decided which of their elementary schools would install these devices,” says Wheeler. “School boards, in conjunction with school staff, safe school teams, and other partners determined how to best ensure student safety in each school. ”
Jim Tayler, principal at Glashan Public School for the past four years, says that when the announcement was first made on Oct. 5 about unlocked doors there were initial phone calls and emails from parents raising concerns. But those calls quieted down as the week progressed. He hopes to see contract negoiations end as soon as possible to get the school back to operating as normal.
“I worked in schools with buzzers and without. It adds a layer of security in an otherwise safe environment, (the) difference between being safe and feeling safe,” says Tayler. “We have a good set of procedures in keeping the school safe. The buzzer system was just an extra tool.”