Change of locks in store for school?

CORNWALL — The Board of Education accepted at its March 18 meeting the resignation of Robert Kanehl, a middle-school teacher at Cornwall Consolidated School. He will leave at the end of the school year.

The board will also begin exploring the issue of gender inequity in education. The subject was raised during the meeting’s public comment portion by Dave Samson. He handed out copies of recent news stories that look at evidence that girls achieve a higher level of academic success than boys.

Samson said that based on his research, “The system is allowing half of the population to be left behind.�

“I hope you will recognize this as an issue and take some action,� Samson told the board.

He offered to help with the process of examining what the community can do.

Board members agreed to read the proffered materials and pick up the discussion at their next meeting.

A continuing look at school security raised the question of who has access to the school — specifically, keys that have been handed out to individuals and not returned once they no longer qualified.

Principal Robert Vaughan said it appears the last time the school locks were re-keyed was in 1991. The board discussed making a change to a keyless entry system. Other schools in the region, and the Region One Central Office, use key fobs that are programmed individually to allow access. That flexibility can also extend to groups, such as sports leagues, who use the school after hours. It could limit their access to particular building areas and to specified times of day.

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