Question
I would like to know what other schools are doing about the issue below:
Seven residence halls are used in the summer, most of them filled with our summer conference guests; athletic camps, cheerleaders, and the like.
Certain groups, seem to prop open the exterior residence hall doors in case little Johnny misplaces his card (we give each guest an access card which opens the exterior door to their hall).
The door propping is worrisome, as it could be a liability issue, so we want to avoid it at all costs. But short of standing guard at the entrance to each hall, we have to trust that the conference guests will respect our "rules" about door propping.
How do you control door propping at your school? And, do you actually lock your exterior doors during the day?
Responses
- We have 13 residence halls that we use. We have the same problem, however we do not issue outside door keys to any of our youth participants. We do not want them to have access to the buildings without their chaperones. Desk hours are set by our hall staff, during this time we prop the doors open but monitor the comings and goings of the youth camps. By not allowing access to the building without a chaperone it cuts down on lost keys and hopefully less damage to the building.
- We do NOT allow door propping. When anyone notices a door propped open they are to close the door and remove the propping device. Our doors are alarmed to propping so security is alerted and will come to secure the facility. I advise camp directors they are not allowed to prop doors - relating the security issue - and for us the issue of wild animals like squirrels, chipmunks, entering the building - and they will typically comply. I further post signage on the interior of each entrance door that indicates propping of doors is prohibited. The exception is that we unlock the doors for move-in/move out times - otherwise our buildings stay secured for safety of the residents.
- We had that experience in our athletic facility, so we automatically lock all of the doors in the facility and all of our residential facilities that have access control installed. We also look at the printouts from the Lenel system to see who entered the building or parking garage at what time. If a door is propped open now, it automatically rings into our Campus Public Safety office as "door ajar." We send an officer to pull the stop out.
|
- We are a small college with nine on-campus housing units. We leave the outside doors of the dorms in use unlocked day and night. At the request of the camp director, we will lock the doors and provide them a master. In most cases, this is when the director does not want the kids to have their own keys to their rooms and are at all times escorted by their chaperones. Additionally, in their contracts, we list our fee for lost keys, (both individual rooms as well as masters) and if they loose their keys, they are charged.
- We are located in the middle of the city, so we have to keep our residence hall's exterior doors locked all the time. We do not give access cards to youth normally. That way they can not come into the hall without supervision. Since we require youth to have direct supervision at all times, counselors should be with them to let them in. We have a fine for propping doors. And once a group knows they will have to pay a fine for their participants propping a door, they make sure it doesn't happen. It becomes a little trickier if more than one group is in a hall, but I just tell them both they will be fine if a door is propped. I hope that helps.
- We have the same difficulties with summer groups using our residence halls.When doors are propped open we alert security to lock them again and once the "guest" has been locked out they come to my office where I point blank tell them they're violating fire codes. When they continue to keep propping the doors, I personally go and lock them and then start adding a "locking door" fee to the groups' invoice. I inform the group leader of the charges and that seems to help a bit.
- We currently do not have any issues with door propping in any of the residence halls. This is partly due to the fact that our front desks are staffed 24 hours a day when we have residence/campers in the building. Our emergency doors have alarms that sound at the front desk if they happen to get opened but this has never been an issue in any of our facilities. All of our doors are card reader entry and if a resident happens to be without their card the front desk has the ability to buzz them in.
- All of our doors are on a card access system and have really obnoxious alarms if they are propped open. We have the alarms shunted during check-in and check-out, but they are active at all other times.
- We have alarms on all of our doors, much the same as Tom mentioned at Maryland. If the door is open 30-40 seconds, a very loud, high-pitch alarm sounds until the door is closed. These alarms are very effective and student and guests rarely tamper with them. When necessary, these alarms can be turned off.
|
