Secured Vestibules, Big Walnut Local Schools

The Call: A Key Safety Priority from the Bond Issue

When Big Walnut’s community approved a bond issue, school security was one of the key priorities. The district’s existing buildings did not have secured vestibules that met current best practices for controlled entry. Visitors could enter without being screened through a secure checkpoint. The district’s leadership committed to changing that at every school, not over multiple years, but in a single summer. Students would return in the fall to buildings that were secured. That was the commitment.

Choosing a Partner for a District-Wide Security Upgrade on a Summer Deadline

Installing secured vestibules at every school in a single summer is a coordination challenge as much as a design challenge. Every building has different existing conditions. Unforeseen conditions can surface at any location. And a delay at one school cannot be allowed to cascade into delays at others. The district needed a partner who could design custom solutions for each building, manage construction across multiple sites simultaneously, and deliver every installation before the first day of school. They chose Triad.

The Decisions That Secured Every Front Door on Time

The district and Triad’s team evaluated every school individually. Each building had different existing entry conditions: different layouts, different structures, different challenges. A one-size-fits-all approach would not work. Each secured vestibule was custom-designed for its specific building, ensuring that every school met the same security standard regardless of its starting point.

Renovating the entry of an existing building means cutting into walls, floors, and structures that may hold surprises. The district planned for unforeseen conditions at every location, with protections built into each budget so that a surprise at one school did not drain resources from another. That discipline was critical when managing a district-wide installation on a single summer timeline.

The design, bidding, and construction were coordinated across every school to fit within the summer window. The district made prioritization decisions and held contractors accountable for the schedule. Every dollar from the bond issue was directed toward delivering the same security standard at every front door.

Every School Secured, Every Commitment Kept

Students returned in the fall to buildings that met current security best practices at every front door. Every school in the district received a secured vestibule custom-designed for its building. The installations were completed within a single summer. The bond issue investment was maximized without exceeding the funding the community had approved. And one of the key safety commitments from the bond issue was delivered on time, at every school, reinforcing the trust between the district and the community that had voted to fund it.