Broken intercoms vex Lynn schools

LYNN – Funding has been hard to come by for school districts across the state, and one unfortunate victim of the trying times in Lynn is the school intercom system at many of the city’s elementary schools.In the midst of Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.’s request that the School Department cut $900,000 from its budget, and the recent announcement by the Massachusetts School Building Authority holding off on the city’s middle school improvement needs, some parents are becoming concerned for the safety of students in schools with faulty intercoms.Speaking to The Item this week, Hood School lunch aide Laurie DeMore expressed concern for the safety of students at that school, which has been without a working intercom for more than a year.While it is not the only school in the city to experience problems, some Hood students are particularly at risk because there are two temporary classroom trailers on the property. Without any sort of intercom or paging system, DeMore fears the students may be vulnerable if something were to happen at the school.”I am just concerned that if something happens (such as a school lockdown), there is no way to let the classes in the (portable classrooms) know,” she said. “The same thing if something happens to a student inside those classrooms. The teachers can’t leave those students and they can’t call the office because they have no intercom.”School officials have been in contact with the custodians and the administrative offices during the past 18 months, but say they have not heard any sort of update on when the system should be fixed.Looking at the 17 kindergarten to fifth-grade schools in the city, only 11 schools reported working intercom or phone paging systems, five schools either do not have an intercom or have a system that does not work, and the Shoemaker School reported a system that partially works but, “needs some tuning.”Ingalls School Assistant Principal Stephen Dickerson offered some insight into the failing systems, noting that the “Franklin” intercom system installed in most of the elementary schools in the 1980s is a “great system,” but parts are expensive and it is difficult to repair, which could explain why failing intercoms have been pushed aside for so long.The phone-based system, which allows for classroom-to-classroom paging, and also allows teachers to dial 911 if necessary, is also expensive and has not been added to the older elementary schools.A call to Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan, who is in charge of custodians and school repair, was not returned as of press time Wednesday, but a woman answering the phone at the office indicated that the department was aware of the problem.Superintendent Nicholas Kostan said the issue is not one of ignorance or apathy on anyone’s part; the district simply cannot afford to update the systems, which he estimated at $30,000-$40,000 each to repair.”It is one of those things that we would like to get to, but we just can’t do it with the amount of money that is available to the department,” he said. “It all goes along with trying to rehab our schools, and if funds became available for that it would certainly be something that we would want to replace. It is important, but unfortunately we just don’t have the money to repair all of those systems.”Middle and high schools in the city are all outfitted with intercom or phone paging systems, and Kostan said that while intercoms at every school are ideal, he still believes the elementary school buildings are safe and parents do not have to worry about their children’s safety.”They are not isolated totally, there are other teachers with classes (in the portable trailers), and if it became a real problem there are some other things we could do to try and compensate for that,” he said, referencing walkie-talkies and cell phones as possible alternatives.DeMore says she agrees with Kostan in his frustration over funding, but wishes the custodians or School Department would have informed the