Highland ordered to update district’s fire alarm system

The Highland School District has to upgrade its fire alarm system.

At Monday’s special school board meeting, Superintendent Ken Crawford said that the state fire marshal notified the district that its fire alarm system does not meet state requirements.

Crawford explained that the system is required to include a bell alarm, flashing lights and a voice alarm. The district’s system currently does not have the voice alarm.

Dean of Students Bill Zywiec proposed that the district tie in a new alarm system with an updated intercom program.

“There would be an intercom in every classroom,” Zywiec said. “The middle school is wired for it, but they were never installed.”

Zywiec said he looked into a web-based intercom program that links into the fire alarm system.

“We could have prerecorded voice announcements,” he said. “It could also give weather alerts if there is a severe weather warning.”

He added that there is a possibility to include a lockdown feature that automatically contacts law enforcement if there is an emergency lockdown at the school.

“If we have a lockdown, the cameras can immediately start recording at the highest definition,” Zywiec said.

The cost of the system, including the fire alarm upgrades, would be approximately $49,500.

“Just doing the fire upgrade is $40,000,” Zywiec said.

Crawford said that the district could apply for a $25,000 Washington County Riverboat Foundation Grant to help cover the cost.

“We would basically match $25,000,” Crawford said.

However, those grants will not be awarded until the fall.

“We can’t start a project before they award the grant,” Crawford said. “We would have to see how much disruption there would be to the students if they did the work during the school year.”