School Board Approves $178K Door System for Golden Brook

The Windham School Board approved a $178,000 door purchase for Golden Brook School on Tuesday that will include a camera, buzzer and lock vestibule.

According to Windham School District Business Administrator Adam Steel, the numbers are estimates, and that he expects savings to be realized along the way.

Any savings will be realized by the district, not the contractors.

School Board member Dennis Senibaldi questioned why the expense wasn’t in the budget.

Steel explained that the district didn’t consider the purchase at the time the budget was developed, and that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in December brought the issue to their attention.

Senibaldi recently voted against a pair of expenditures. The first was the use of $40,000 in health care savings for the purchase of two F-250 trucks, and the second was over $90,000 in radio upgrades to the district.

He was the lone dissenter on the door purchase Tuesday, explaining that the board needs to budget for items rather than use what he called a “slush fund” to make the purchases.

Stephanie Wimmer, vice chair of the school board, asked if there were any reason why the board should feel that the staff and students of GBS require less security, given that the other three schools in the district all have upgraded front door entry systems.

Senibaldi replied that nobody was making that suggestion, and that ethically and morally, he believes the $178,000 should be put in the budget for the residents to approve.

Chairman Mike Joanis thanked administration for finding over $700,000 worth of savings in last year’s budget to make facility improvements.

The issue of the door at GBS was brought up less than a week after the Newtown, CT shooting in December.

While Steel didn’t have a price at the time, he told the board to prepare for the project to be done over the summer, although he wasn’t sure whether the district could afford the expense in the next fiscal year.

Until the automated system is available, GBS operated on a manual system, where a staff member meets a visitor at the door and is supposed to check identification before they are cleared to enter.

Students in the portable buildings are currently escorted by a staff member when they return to the main building.