Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Only Children's Art Work is Flammable?":
Actually I spoke to the Nassau County fire marshal's office today - the supervisor of the institutional/educational division.
He was a very nice guy - let's not blame him for test scores!!
He told me that, despite his title, the fire inspections of public schools are not governed by their office - they are governed by NYS State Education Dept.
He is responsible for private schools in Nassau County.
He said that any items in the hallways, even PTA posters, are considered combustible since hallways are used for exits and they generally don't have sprinklers. When a hallway has a sprinkler there are different rules.
He said that paper can be fire retardant and that there is some sort of spray that can be applied to papers to make it fire retardant but it sometimes spoils the work.
I asked about display cabinets with glass doors embedded in the walls - he said the glass needed to be fire safe - and otherwise the glass should be removed and the cabinets empty.
He said that classrooms can have paper on the walls but they should be a certain amount of feet away from the door (3 feet maybe?) and exit window.
He said that the procedure for inspection goes like this - district gets notifcation from state ed and labels for each property, the district downloads an inspection booklet that has a checklist and the district engages someone who has certification as a NY state code enforcement official to do the inspection for all the buildings the school district owns.
He said that principals are aware when the inspections are, they change every year, one month different before the prior year, and that staff has ample time to make adjustments to be in compliance before the inspection. He said there is also time to review the inspection results (nonconformities) and make adjustments and fix problems before the final version goes to state ed.
He mentioned that most of the carpets in the classrooms are not fire safe. He says that it is commonplace for items to be stowed prior to inspection and then taken back out after the inspection.
He also mentioned that Nassau County fire regulations can be more stringent than those of the State ed dept.
He gave me information for the NY state ed fire inspector.
So - it looks like the teachers can hide behind "regulations" for not putting up work in the hallways but that doesn't hold up for the classrooms.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you. Thank you so much for getting the information. Just a post regarding the carpeting in the classrooms. I know at Stratford road a few years ago all of the carpets were removed from the classroom because they didn't meet code. All of the carpets were then replaced...some at district expense and some at teacher expense with carpets that were 'class 1 fire retardant' and met the code. As far as 'stowing items' prior to inspection...while that might be possible, god forbid there was a fire, principal would be responsible if there were code violations and i don't think he/she would want that risk.
ReplyDeletegood to hear something positive about Stratford for once - even if it's about carpeting
ReplyDeletehave the carpets in ALL the elementary schools been replaced with appropriate coverings?
after all, there are 4 elementary schools here - and ALL students deserve to not be subjected to combustible materials
the hallways at Stratford are filled with overflow from lockers that are half-open -
ReplyDeletejackets, lunch boxes, papers
this has got be against fire code
and common sense
it's pretty likely that some kid would trip on this stuff or walk into an open metal locker