[CAUT] locked practice rooms

[G Cousins]

Don,
Like Dave we have swipe key access everywhere. They were installed when the building was built 4 yrs ago and as I lovingly say  BC... Before Cousins. 
Access is monitored and programmed by the main office and access is given to and for rooms. For example  Piano Majors have access to the grand practice rooms.  Professors have access to classrooms etc.  Audition days opens all rooms to all access.  Another nice advantage to our system is that timed openings can be programmed in. One swipe by a teacher leaves the door open for a set amount of time. (10 mins) so when a classroom swipe is done the door remains unlocked for the tardy students.
Yes students have sometimes found hacks to the system but this is minimal and is easily remedied once discovered.

I would recommend that building maintenance push for a pass card system for your building. You may already have some sort of swipe system on your campus. Dorms often use this system. I believe we can also search who accessed what room though I'm not certain that program is ever been used.   
We also have camera systems throughout the building and campus wide.

Yes I know it was expensive but the sanity of security is tremendous.

Best of luck.
Gerry C
WCUPA

From: dporritt at mail.smu.edu
To: caut at ptg.org
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:24:18 -0600
Subject: Re: [CAUT] locked practice rooms
















Don:

 

Our practice room area is locked
and access is by swiping the school ID card.  Inside that area, the grand
piano practice rooms are locked requiring a key.  Students get keys for
the grand piano rooms (they’re all keyed the same) if they are registered
for applied piano.  When we have auditions, or reasons for outsiders to
have access, the practice room area is simply unlocked.  If people need
the grand piano rooms someone is assigned to give them access, or the doors are
temporarily blocked open.

 

We did have one problem come up
because fire codes required that area to be open.  That was fixed by
having the locks on the practice room area tied to the fire alarm system. 
If we have a fire drill the doors are automatically unlocked as the alarm
sounds (a system not unlike a prison system).  

 

Since we’ve made these
changes we’ve had far less of a theft problem, and so far vandalism has
been eliminated.  

 

The fire code problem took some
creative thinking on the part of the architect but it works very well.

 

If you have questions about our
system just let me know.  I’m retired now and have the time!

 

dave

 



 

David M. Porritt, RPT

dporritt at smu.edu



 





From:
caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Donald
McKechnie

Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 8:52 AM

To: caut at ptg.org

Subject: [CAUT] locked practice rooms





 

List,



 





After the vandalism in the practice rooms in December I
stepped up my push to have the practice rooms locked. I thought this would be
the best chance but I'm still running into opposition. The concerns expressed
are valid so I'm trying to find solutions.





 





Besides the cost, the primary opposition against locking the
rooms is access. We have many people coming in the building that need to use
the practice rooms. The school hosts conferences, competitions and workshops
such as MTNA, etc. Also, on our audition days the rooms need to be open and
outside accompanists occasionally need to use these rooms. All this is seen as
a logistical nightmare to allow access when needed.





 





Due to the layout of the building and fire codes we do not
have the means to lock the doors into the practice room area. Hiring personnel
to police the area is not in the realm of possibilities. We have been
discussing security cameras and that may happen.





 





I do not have any good answers to the concerns so I'm
throwing this out to the wisdom on this list. Are there any experiences like I
have outlined? For those who have locked practice rooms, how do you handle
giving access to outside folks?





 





Regards,





Don





 





















Donald McKechnie





Piano Technician





Ithaca College





dmckech at ithaca.edu





607.274.3908











 





 











 



 		 	   		  
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