Keys in high school

[Anonymous067]

Kids shouldn't have keys to anything in a highschool. They also shouldn't be locking things on their own.

Keyed power: stupid. Keyed sequencers, possible, but clearly you don't have a high level of understanding that a keyed switch involves re-wiring the booth.

Often, the key that works in the booth also gets you into other places. Bad Idea when you're lurking around during gym or math class.

Another flaw...usually, (and I know because I often do this), the booth has big windows, and when opened from the booth, allow access to the house. Which, in turn means, the whole theater, dressing rooms, etc etc.

Another thing to point out, sometimes, (well...I do this) the windows are locked with the sliding locks (if that makes sense). Well if you lock each one loosely, about an inch, and have the window key near one side (as we do...hanging up on a hook), you can slide each window down that inch, and you now have four inches (we have four windows) to reach in, grab the key, and unlock the windows from the inside.

On the flip side, its a good idea to lock all the windows tightly to prevent ppl from doing this altogether.

 

[WestlakeTech]

I'm a high school student and we seem to be having some debate about whether or not we (sld and ssd) should have keys to the booth door. We've since installed many locks inside on our sound rack and plan on installing cabinets for our various things as well as locks on the sliding windows that people (including me and the ssd as well as people who screw with our stuff) get in. We have keys to all of the new locks that we've installed so we are able to actually secure things and still get inside.

Two questions:
I want to be able to put some sort of keyed lock for the electricity in the booth. Something that I could turn a key on and would complete the circuit, preferably on the cheap. Ideas?

Do you think that we should be able to have the keys to the door? It would make our lives so much easier, but they say that its unethical. Other high school studentsn do you have keys?
Posted via Mobile Device

No, I don't. I'm a Senior, as well as an Assistant Facilities Director (a position I get paid for) and the only keys I've got unlock my apartment door and my mailbox. Often, I wish I had keys to the booth, shop, theatre, classroom, etc. But I can see why I don't. While your Tech (/Theatre) teacher may trust you with his/her life, a student holding keys is just considered too much of a liability by the school and the district. For one thing, if you have a key, you can make a duplicate. Even if it says "do not replicate" or something similar, it's still possible, just not likely, to make a copy. For another, any administration would see it as a potential for pranks and/or other security threats. And I don't blame them. I'm nothing like my peers, but as a whole, we're pretty stupid, unruly, defiant, and careless.

Should you have a key? Not knowing you, your school, or your position (from a personal standpoint, because different places have different standards for certain positions) it's really difficult to say. I think we'd all like one and many of us, myself included, sometimes feel entitled to one. But it's easy to see why you don't have one.

 

[LDash]

or you can always get a full set cut and have your admin keep them until you need them and then take them back to your admin or whoever. that means you won't have to worry about loosing you keys.this is what i have in my school.

and question 2,NO!!! what if the electric was on there is no key in the switch and you need to turn off the power immeditly and you can't because there's no key there?

 

[gafftapegreenia]

All through highschool I had no keys of my own, and in college the only students with keys are the students concentrating on stage management, and even then, only a few of them. The keys are tightly controlled.

Sometimes it would have been a real boon to have keys in highschool, but looking back, either the director/TD wasn't far, so keys were nearby anyway, or I could call security to come unlock a door because the administration of the school knew who I was and knew I could be trusted. It's a privilege that can be easily abused but it's my firm belief that some high school students are worthy of being trusted with such matters, and others will never be. It's really one of those gray areas and a call an instructor can only come to make after knowing the student and their behavior for a while, both in and out of class.


Keys keys keys. Over the summer (different job, different place) we experienced a few break in's in our prop storage/shop area. Turns out the key that opened our shop was actually a common and widely used key on campus, thus, hundreds of people could have gotten in and campus security was powerless. Mind you this happened on one of the campus of one of the most prestigious and expensive private educational institutions in Southeastern Michigan. In the end, we were allowed to go out and buy our own private locks and chains to keep our areas safe. Only me and the TD had keys, and you can bet we didn't have a single other disturbance.

 

[gafftaper]

Wow I'm late to this topic...

First off most public schools have clear rules against giving keys to students. You may be able to talk your way into some keys but you might get yourself and your supervising teacher in trouble if you get caught.

Second a no to a lot of those extra locks. You shouldn't have to get a key to do everything... especially turning on the power.

Third here's what I did when I was teaching. I was not able to give out keys to my students... nor did I want to . However I had things like a locking tool cabinet, the mic cabinet, control booth window locks, the expendables cabinet, the hatch to the catwalks... all of these had padlocks on them. No student could get to any of these locks without me first letting them into the room. I had a group of students where were my crew leaders and after proving to me they could be trusted they earned their keys. Now the truth was they still couldn't do anything without being first let in the room so the administration was satisfied. But the feeling of pride and loyalty that was built by giving them keys was amazingly powerful.

 

[soundlight]

I had keys that unlocked the auditorium and the booth, but only once I was in the school. This was rather mandatory as I sometimes ran events in the facility without the drama teacher there - and we didn't like to rely in the janitors because there was something of a tension with that relationship from past events (before I got there). I didn't officially have keys, but I "had keys" and knew that the booth key also opened up several other rooms in the school (classrooms, storage rooms, etc), but never used it for that purpose.

The only extra locks that I bought were a set of 4 padlocks for the sound board, storage cabinets, and the booth flip-down plywood window cover (we didn't have glass...). I had 6 keys made for those padlocks (which were, of course, all keyed alike) and handed them out to the proper authorities including the drama, band, and chorus people, as well as one for the main school key cabinet, 1 hidden in the booth which was always returned when you were done using it, and 1 for my key ring.

I was even given a key to the back auditorium door to get in to the school from time to time by the assistant principal if I was going to be working over the weekend.

Extra locks, other than a few storage/board padlocks that are all keyed the same, are rather pointless. Don't key power, don't key power sequencers, don't key anything other than a door or storage cabinet or cover for a lighting or sound console.

 

[derekleffew]

... Don't key power, don't key power sequencers, don't key anything other than a door or storage cabinet or cover for a lighting or sound console.

Have to disagree with you there, SL. Company switches, certain panels, and the like, should always be locked, except when in use and supervised by a Qualified Person, per the NEC.

 

[Sayen]

Have to disagree with you there, SL. Company switches, certain panels, and the like, should always be locked, except when in use and supervised by a Qualified Person, per the NEC.

Do you happen to have a quote of that? Or, so I don't sound too lazy, can you help to point the way towards finding the information and I'll look myself? I'd love to show that to the Powers That Be where I work who refuse to supply locks for items like this, and won't let me put my own lock on it.

 

[derekleffew]

Not exactly on point, but likely close enough: "NFPA 70E emphasizes that equipment should be de-energized before performing work whenever possible. Proper lockout/tag-out procedures ensure that equipment is de-energized and safe." from NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety Requirements for Employee Workplaces. Thanks for reminding me my copy of 70E has gone missing. A similar sentiment: Safety and Health Topics: Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout).

 

[Sayen]

Lockout/Tagout, that's what I should have looked for. Thank you!

 

[Wallab]

I'm a high school student and we seem to be having some debate about whether or not we (sld and ssd) should have keys to the booth door. We've since installed many locks inside on our sound rack and plan on installing cabinets for our various things as well as locks on the sliding windows that people (including me and the ssd as well as people who screw with our stuff) get in. We have keys to all of the new locks that we've installed so we are able to actually secure things and still get inside.

Two questions:
I want to be able to put some sort of keyed lock for the electricity in the booth. Something that I could turn a key on and would complete the circuit, preferably on the cheap. Ideas?

Do you think that we should be able to have the keys to the door? It would make our lives so much easier, but they say that its unethical. Other high school studentsn do you have keys?
Posted via Mobile Device

Well I dont know why you would want a key for power.
but to answer your second question..
Our school does not have a booth. We do have a room where we keep all of our sound and lights. I have a key to that all the time. But it is in the locked auditorium. During shows I have a key that unlocks every door in the auditorium for the week before and the week after the show then i am forced to give it back.

 

[anonymous381]

I have keys for
1) Motorized screen
2) Audio Racks
3) Breaker/Dimmer Room
4) Drawers/Filing cabinets (not locked anyway)
5) Control room

1-4 stay in the control room for all the techs to use but I'm the only student with a key to the control room...just because I'm buddy buddy with the maintenance guys and they know I'm always working on somthing in there.

 

[Chris15]

Now I don't know how clever the people in question are, but to my mind one of the easiest ways of stopping people from playing with DMX would be to unplug the console output... Simpler can in many cases be better...

 

[Mirrai]

Just gonna throw my 2 cents.

When I was in high school two of us had keys for the majority of the school including all of the theatre, for a couple of reasons. First we ran every event there that need sound or wanted to use the stage. Second we basically ran stage crew, our td was always there but she was also scenic and lighting designer so usually was designing things as we built them. We also worked on a lot of the rentals that they school but on se we need acess to anything from the theatre or classrooms depending on the groups that came in. We got the keys from our TD and while the school offically said that we couldn't have them all of the admins knew we did and would ask us to get things for them from locked rooms so it didn't really matter. I am sure they have many hours of camera feed of me unlocking doors.
I know that if I didn't have keys things would not have gotten done there so I think that if a student is responsible and the admins know about it and can moniter them well enough then a couple of more senior people should get the keys.
When it comes to college, I am at the same one as soundman and I think our policy is good, give keys to sm's, ld's, and me's, and then to anyone else upper level that is working on other big projects. Also reminds me that I have still have a booth key out that I need to return.

 

[evbox]

I had a unique experience in high school. My senior year, our TD for years abandoned us. The administration was so wrapped up in the construction of a new building, they couldn't bring themselves to care about high school students operating power tools without supervision. So, the stage manager and I (LD) became the technical directors. An interesting situation. The responsibility of taking care of the young techs fell into our hands (not legally of course). So one of the teachers argued that we needed keys. We got em. And used them responsibly. We also made one backup copy, because eventually the administration revoked our key privileges. Upon doing this they also did us the disservice of not providing us with a TD. We wound up doing everything ourselves. Now, I would argue that high school students do not need keys whatsoever, unless they are placed in charge of a facility. Even then, students with keys is a dangerous game to play.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Personally, I have been issued three building keys from the university. One key opens a single outside door and the main office. I have other keys for our other campus where I occasionally have to work events. Once in the student union, our boss has a set of keys that we take and carry around for opening meeting rooms, mechanical rooms, and the tech room. We also have breaker panel and sound rack keys. I have my own set of keys for sound racks, breaker panels, and that sort of stuff...comes with working for a sound company in the past.
That being said, if I ever need to get somewhere to do my job, I can get a key or someone to open it. In high school we did not have keys. The tech advisor or custodians had to open everything for us.

 

[Footer]

College is another ball game all together. In a college situation, you are responsible for you. Your profs don't have to be involved in everything you do. In my building, I am legally responsible for the kids that are in my classes and on my stage. In order to keep them safe, I have to control their access to the space and equiptment.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[atb3185]

From my sophomore year to my senior year of high school I had a master key to the school as well as a key fob to get in all outside doors at any time. At the time, I was working for the school's IT/IS department and for whatever reason they deemed it necessary. I also worked on every production that our school put on for those four years. I did not ask for them at all, they came with the job. I was the only student worker at the entire school.

I cannot tell you how handy these were, but along with the convenience came A LOT of responsibility. My senior year, I had classmembers encouraging me to participate in senior prankery. Looking back on it, I do not think it is ever a good idea for a student to have keys to any part of their school. It is just way too much responsibility to put on any high school student.

 

[theatretechguy]

Yikes. Can't believe they gave a student a Master key to the entire school. Even if you were doing IT work for the campus, if anything came up missing you'd be a suspect and that's a totally unfair position to put a student in. I know some staffers that have been written up because they lost their keys and I know I have anxiety when I lend out my Master key for only a few minutes....

 

[Synchronize]

I'm also in high school and was in the same situation as the original poster. Myself, the LD, and my buddy the SD, were contstantly working in the booth installing cabinates, modifying sound racks, cleaning the dimmers, and what-not that you would do in a light booth. We were both sick of asking a teacher for a key so we went to the administration and worked out a deal that I think is the best possible option in this situation. We agreed to hand a key that opens all theatre related items in the Director's office that either of us have access to at any given time. We can go in there where ever we want and grab the key to do what we need to do. And in theory the Director always knows who has the key. This is absolutly great becuase we now have independence from the teachers but we dont have the responsibility of having a personal key hanging over our heads.

If you can work something like that out with your teachers and administration, thats really the best option.