Page 27 - School Planning & Management, September 2017

If a fence is no longer needed, take it down.
It will be one less obstacle to contend with in the event of an emergency.
under no circumstances should concertina, or coiled razor wire ever be installed on a school campus! It may be appropriate for incarceration facilities or border defense but too dangerous to be in the proximity
of children and a sure-fire way to make a school look like a penitentiary.
One of the clearest reasons for fencing
on school grounds is to separate children from dangerous areas such as those with vehicular traffic, mechanical equipment, or accessible heights that present a potential fall hazard. A properly designed fence sepa- rating a playground from a busy highway immediately relieves teacher’s concerns of
a child chasing a ball into oncoming traffic. In as much as safety barriers can be over- looked on school grounds, sometimes they may be overdone or become obsolete. It is not uncommon to see a fenced in area near a classroom that used to contain kindergarten playground equipment which, has long since been removed as use of the facility changed. If a fence is no longer needed, take it down. It will be one less obstacle to contend with in the event of an emergency.
Some fences and barriers exist purely
to define property boundaries, especially
if there is a specific need to delineate the school campus from adjoining residential or commercial properties. Unless there is an access issue as well, this is an area where schools could possibly eliminate unneces- sary and unsightly fencing. A start would be to contact the neighbor to gain their per- spective. If property ownership has changed or the circumstances that occurred in the first place or no longer present, perhaps they would have no objection to the fence being removed. If the boundary needs to be
identified, consider landscaping options.
In many cases, if a fence is in place solely
to mark a property line it may be unneces- sary. Removing it could reduce workload for grounds maintenance and provide a less cluttered view of the school campus.
limit vehicular access during non-occupied hours. These gates are typically constructed with steel pipe, hinged to vertical posts on each side of the road and secured with chain and padlocks when closed. They present a serious safety threat when left unsecured in the open position as they may be subject to
Many schools utilize swing gates to
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SEPTEMBER 2017 / SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT 27