Teachers, faculty and students can look forward to a safer school year following significant upgrades discussed at last week’s Medford Township Board of Education meeting.
According to Joseph Biluck, maintenance and operations supervisor, the clock, bell and alarm systems have been upgraded at the Taunton Forge School.
The issue wasn’t simply maintenance-related, but safety-related as well, according to Biluck.
“This was a project that needed to be addressed,” said Joseph Del Rossi, superintendent of schools. “This has been a long time coming.”
Safety has been a concern for the district following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Conn.
The Cranberry Pines School has had numerous issues with people on the property after hours, and entering the school during the school day by people holding doors for one another when entering the building. It was discussed numerous times by the board and residents.
Surveillance systems have been installed in numerous schools, which can be remotely monitored by the district. The systems will record the entire school day and any movements around the buildings after hours, Biluck said.
According to Del Rossi, the system is imperative to curbing vandalism.
“The signs will be very visible to the public that we are videotaping,” Del Rossi said. “We’ve had everything from people holding full picnics on the roof, to setting fires. I mean it’s ridiculous what people think they can do on our properties after hours.”
Each time a person trespasses on the roof, an alarm will alert the security company, Del Rossi said.
Other improvements around the district include resurfacing of the Memorial Middle School track, which has 10 years of wear-and-tear to it.
Additionally, multiple gym floors have been resurfaced, including Kirby’s Mill, which also got new graphics on the floor, as did the other resurfaced gyms.
Technology-related updates were implemented district-wide with a new telephone system. The former system is more than 10 years old, and maintenance for the system is no longer supported. Servers, the operating system and wireless networks were all upgraded over the summer as well.
Biluck has begun the process for an Energy Savings Improvement program, spearheaded by the state Board of Public Utilities. The 11-step process began by submitting an audit on the district’s annual energy use. Energy consumption and costs for a year were sent for review.
“Now that we’ve gotten past that one, we’ll submit the energy audit firms’ recommendations to the BPU and they’ll authorize one of the firms,” Biluck said.
According to Biluck, the entire process may take a year to get to the 10th step.
“The attractive component of this program is that it’s budget neutral,” Biluck said. “There are no additional costs to the community to do the projects.”
The next board of education meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Middle School.
