Security sad but necessary
HOW sad it is that schools, once open and welcoming, are increasingly like Fort Knoxes, with “keep out” signage.
On appointment as principal to Karama School from 1987, I was quickly jolted into the realisation that schools in Darwin were attractive to people who had more than education on their minds.
Schools were vulnerable institutions and fair game to those with nefarious intent.
I had been principal at the community schools at Numbulwar and Angurugu, followed by four years at Nhulunbuy Primary before coming to Darwin.
While there was occasional interference with schools in these places, incidents were minor and quickly responded to by community members or police.
At Karama, I realised schools could be targeted by those intent on stealing, damaging and destroying property belonging to the Education Department, community, staff and students.
In March 1987, a Fagin-like gang (adult/s managing young people) visited Darwin from interstate and invaded businesses to wreck property and steal.
Karama School was on the hit list. When thieves could not shift the safe, they heaped documents and flammable material on to computers, typewriters and printers, poured coffee all over them, then set fire to the office before departing.
Fortunately, we had a live onsite caretaker who woke at 2am, had a premonition all was not well, checked and then called the fire brigade and police.
When things were restored, Karama School Council opted to buy and install a sensor security system into the administration block, library and more sensitive areas of the school.
It was the first security system in any government school in Darwin. Since 1987, every school in our urban, town and rural areas has been a impacted by wanton damage and vandalism.
Barrier fences, wrought iron gates, internal (sectional) fencing, sensors and CCTV cameras, along with contracting 24/7 monitoring are now included as a matter of course in school construction and maintenance programs.
These attacks on our schools, lead to feelings of student and staff desolation and insecurity. They become the victims of senseless acts, violated by damage to their possessions and school work.
A sad thing for schools is the need for this fortress-like mentality. Students and staff members should not be confronted with teaching and learning environments surrounded by 2mhigh fences.
They should not have to go through gates that open in the morning, are locked at night and require pass keys at other times.
They should not have to walk around under the surveillance of CCTV cameras or sit in classrooms where security systems must be turned on after hours.
They should not have to enter and exit classrooms through doors with double locking and deadbolt systems in place to secure against unlawful entry. Neither should they be made to feel like prisoners, looking out from classrooms through windows reinforced with security mesh. It is a sad thing that open environments, once a feature of child care and school precincts, have been consigned to history. Fenceless, physically borderless boundaries have all but gone.
Teachers and students leaving schools at the end of each day, wonder whether unlawful entry will happen overnight, at weekends or during holidays.
Will walls be graffitied, windows smashed, doors forced, rooms trashed and property stolen?
All too often that worry becomes a sad reality. The most recent school to be targeted, Malak Primary, was closed for a day two weeks ago so it could be restored for teachers and students.
It may be a miracle that Nightcliff Primary has lasted so long without the need for major security.
It is totally understandable that the school council, principal and staff are sufficiently concerned with what is going on, to now follow the example on protective fencing that many other schools have employed.
There is no end in sight to the never-ending need for upgrading school security.