On Friday, November 1, construction started on the new security fence between Fine Arts and the main building. It has been almost a month since and there has been no new construction on the fence.

Principal Mary Grupe explained the situation.

“So there was an informal conversation where one person said, well, we could use a gate, and that was the whole depth of the conversation. And then the school board agenda came open, and there was approval for a gate on there. That’s when I became aware that we’re moving forward with it,” Grupe said.

Grupe said the district then realized that no one at Hickman had had any say in the planning of the gate and decided to consult them before construction was too far underway.

“[In] the original plan, we had the preschoolers walking through the gate to then go play,” Grupe said.

She told the school board that she wanted to make sure that all her students were being included in their plans for the school, not just the high schoolers. The board agreed to extend the fence around the playground.

“Now we’re waiting on the materials for the extended fence to come in. So that’s where it is right now,” Grupe said.

She expressed some other concerns with the progress of the gate and the security system as a whole.

“I am very worried about how soon we’re going to get it staffed. I don’t want the first snow to come and not have the East entrance open,’’ Grupe said.

Some students had similar desires to get security in the East working soon.

“That’s the only way I can see things working with the fence because…we cannot walk that far every single morning, especially when it starts getting cold and snowy and icy,” Piper Stevens (10) said.

On Saturday, Dec. 30, there was a little over 4” of snow in central Columbia, and the arctic blast dipped temperatures down into the teens. As winter encroaches, students are growing increasingly concerned about having to walk around to the West Entrance to enter the building in the morning.

Students have additional concerns regarding the safety implications of the fence.

“Now if there’s a fire drill or even a real fire, or if there’s an intruder drill or a real intruder. Which I get it’s there to keep intruders out, but … it could still keep people in,” Kathleen Carnahan (11) said.

She acknowledged that it does serve a purpose, but it also gets in the way of certain student communities like band and theatre.

“Every single theater kid is told to park in East for our safety, because we get out of rehearsal so late and it’s dark, yeah? And the East Entrance is closest to the auditorium, and so we obviously park in East at the beginning of the day,” Kathleen said.

Freshman clarinet player Carsyn Cromley (9) talked about the impacts of the gate on the band community.

“It’s gonna get in the way of moving percussion equipment, for concerts and for marching band too,” Carsyn said.

Fine Arts secretary Denise Fernandez and both of the band directors have provided measurements for the width of the gate to make sure the instruments will fit, according to Grupe.

“We’re in a bureaucratic system. There’s a lot of people to do a lot of things, and inches, centimeters, will make a big difference here. So we’re trying to keep a close eye,” Grupe said.

There was also some concern that the fence posts were not stable because they wobbled when touched when they were first put in, but the district Facilities and Construction Director Ron Monson cleared up the misunderstanding explaining that the posts were unstable in the beginning, but the concrete has now formed and they aren’t loose.

“Posts were core drilled through pre-existing concrete & dirt on the first day and formed up with [new] concrete the next day giving five days of cure time on the concrete supporting the posts,” Monson said. “I would suspect that you [saw] the posts [were] unstable on the first day before the posts were formed up. They are not loose now.”

Despite the district’s optimism, students aren’t so sure.

“[I] think it causes more problems than what it’s worth,” Kathleen said.