FAIRMONT, Minn. -
Rekeying doors can be a hassle, but for one area school, it will make things a whole lot easier.
Custodians and school officials will soon be able to carry fewer keys at Fairmont Junior and Senior High School.
Security, safety, compliance, and operation are the driving forces for creating a master key and area keys for the staff. "We've got a number of locks that don't, in the classrooms, that don't lock in either side and we want to for security reasons have the teachers be able to, they could lock if we had an intruder, they could lock the door from the inside," says Director of Building and Grounds David Ternberg at Fairmont Junior and Senior High School.
Keys will be given to school officials, custodians, and law enforcement, which will be helpful in emergency situations. Locks will be compliant with the American Disabilities Act requirements and any old locks will be replaced. Locks that aren't suitable for classrooms anymore that can be saved will be moved to areas like storage rooms where they are used less.
The contractors for the job are Ryan Luedtke and his father Russ. "Him and I will do that, but we'll probably get a couple people to do the installation like the actual physical stuff," says Ryan Luedtke of Lud Key Locksmith.
The school will be divided into 6 areas that sub keys will have access to, useful for teachers in certain departments. Ternberg says, "In this particular building we got 460 door locks that we'll be either replacing or rekeying or moving around."
Rekeying is not a cheap process. Replacing the 460 locks and door handles will come at a price of around $80,000 due to parts, key formation and casting, and labor.
Some locks will be changed later this month, while the rest will be changed in June.
