new locks

On Monday I attempted to get into my room only to find that the door had been re-keyed. The powers that be are slowly re-keying the entire school. The main doors got new locks a few years ago. Then the athletic departments gotten taken care of. Now it was our turn.

On Tuesday I was able to get my new key, which is great because I always had to jiggle the hell out of the old lock in order to get it to work. However, I got to thinking that one reason to re-key the doors was for post 911/Columbine safety issues. We were unable to lock our old locks from the inside. So we had to either keep the doors locked the entire time (we are able to keep them open with a magnet during class times) and quickly pull them shut when the code word for a lock down is given (and this never works because routinely the door will get closed by students or the magnet will fail and then whichever students are in the bathroom at their locker or coming in late are locked out) or we had to quick lock the doors (again jiggling the hell out of it to get it locked properly) and pull the door shut as the lock down is being issued. Wouldn't it just be easier if the doors had an inside lock?

But - sure enough - I checked today and there is no inside lock. So what was the purpose for re-keying the locks?

This speaks volumes about the way things are done around here. But I'm not going to be negative. That doesn't mean I'm going to bitch any less - when it's warranted (like now) - or muzzle myself. So while it's a really waste of our school dollars, at least I don't have to jiggle the hell out of the lock anymore to get in!

See, I'm looking on the bright side!