By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Students and parents approaching Goffstown’s Mountain View Middle School may be surprised to find the doors locked during school hours in the coming year.

Under a new facilities change, visitors to the school must now press a call button to gain admittance to the building.

“Our parents are appreciative of our layers of safety, and this is just one more way for us to know who is coming into the building,” said Superintendent of Schools Darrell Lockwood.

Previously, visitors to Mountain View Middle School entered the building and signed in with the receptionist to receive a visitor’s badge for their stay at the school.

That procedure changes in the upcoming school year, which begins on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

Guidelines for the facilities’ change at the school are explained in the The Hilltopper, the middle school newsletter parents received in August.

According to the newsletter, the doors to the main entrance of the school will be locked between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Visitors must now press a call button and a staff member in the front office will let them in. The visitor then checks in through a receptionist window directly to their left between the building entrance and the lobby.

The new system also includes a security camera system for office staff to monitor who is entering the building.

“This system is in place to enhance the level of security that we provide all Mountain View community members as we monitor who enters our school building throughout the day,” the newsletter explains.

The change does not result from any specific incident, Lockwood said. Rather, he said the new locks are a maintenance item suggested by outgoing Principal Rose Colby during budget discussions last fall.

Colby gave no reason why she thought the new system should be put in place, Lockwood said.

The cost for a security camera system and installation of magnetic locks for access control totaled $4,349, said SAU 19 Business Administrator Ray Labore. This amounts to slightly less than the planned cost of $4,500.

Jim Hunt, who is preparing for his first year as principal of the middle school, said he has not received any feedback about the system. He said he expects to hear more about it during a first day scheduled to include meetings with parents throughout the morning hours.

During ordinary school days, Mountain View personnel will monitor students entering and leaving the school on their way to and from their buses, Hunt said.

Visitors will still be required to wear badges while in the building, Hunt said.

Thus far, there has been little feedback from parents, teachers or staff prior to the school year, Hunt said.

“I’ve certainly had teachers and parents come by to introduce themselves to me, but no one has really remarked about the doors being locked,” Hunt said. “We’ll probably get more comments once the school year starts and more people come into contact with it.”

One parent did write to The Goffstown News with concerns about the change.

“This change is not what one would expect in a town that prides itself on small town charm and that is why I am so startled by this security change,” wrote Jennifer Buckless, whose son attends Mountain View Middle School.

Lockwood said the new system at the middle school should be considered the same way as a similar system put into place at Goffstown High School several years ago.

“We’ve had the same thing at the high school now for a long while, and no one’s complained about it,” he said.