Aibu No security at Daughters dance class

Me too.

Our kids dance school upped the security as a response, if there is only one teacher in the studio entry is via a buzzer system, when. More are present it is as it always was with a closed but unlocked door

@YesHonestly you would think so and it sounds v jobsworth, but I expect it covers all eventualities and considers the fire being outside the building too. In which case it is there to stop smoke and flames coming into the building.

Also propping it could create a trip hazard if people need to exit the fire door in an actual fire, where they are likely to be panicking and more likely to trip or fall.

If you want to moderate how people respond to your post and what people discuss on it then no, this isn’t the website for you.

Its just common sense isn't it to lock doors. The chances of anyone murdering us in our beds is slim but I'm sure we all lock our doors on a night.

If the op was asking for a police guard I'd understand the reactions, all she is suggesting is there are risks and to lock a door once everyone is in would seem a good idea.

I was just about to say the set up you describe for the dance sounds the same as at the village scout hut and then saw this. In our village the brownies, etc the door is not locked so anyone could walk in. The dance classes aren't locked.

I mean women can work in security wouldn't have to be a man!

Op I agree with you on some points the place is easily accessible to anyone and I do think they have to take open doors and people walking about into consideration. The teacher/assistant ratio is probably correct.

You posted on AIBU asking if it was unreasonable to want security at a kid's dance class. It is unreasonable and people have explained why.

I don't know why you would assume we don't have children. I have a 5 yo girl and I think your concerns are not reasonable at all. She goes to several extra-curricular classes and none of them have locked doors. What about swimming lessons, do you expect the whole leisure centre to be off limits to the public whilst they are taking place? You asked, and have been told by other parents that your level of concern isn't normal.

If you've already decided you're not being unreasonable and find people telling you you are upsetting, why did you ask if you were being unreasonable?

Isn’t that for internal fire doors, ie the ones that hold back fire when closed, and not fire exit doors leading outside?

No one is minimising. There are bollards in such locations because motor vehicles are everywhere, and accidents are likely. In fact, many thousands are injured and killed by vehicles every year. The same does not apply to serial killers.

Propping open a fire door is illegal and could invalidate her Public Liability insurance, or that of the building owners.

There are, on any given day, up and down the country, probably hundreds of thousands of kids dance, football, karate, rainbows, scouts, beavers and so many other clubs happening. In every village and church hall, all over the Uk, they all operate in this way.

And you never hear anything about them because nothing remarkable ever happens. Your anxiety makes you fixate on that one absolutely horrific event, you should fixate int he hundreds of thousands of daily classes that absolutely nothing happens in.

I’m really on the fence with this one because while I do think anxiety is at play here, you do have a point.

Southport was a very rare occurrence, a one off, but so was Dunblane and 9/11. Both of those events highlighted a flaw in security that was then rectified. School fences and gates, locked doors, cockpits being secured and not just a curtain etc. I do think places holding children’s events should be more secure.

Our gymnastics club implemented a locked door policy after the atrocity in Southport. It had two sets of doors, both locked and parents waited in the lobby between both to collect children after the first set of doors were unlocked. As long as there are fire escapes with doors that can’t be opened from the outside then fire safety is covered.

I can’t think of a single place that my kids do activities in that is secure. Everywhere has an open door. Even at swimming they have members of the public swimming in a different pool, in the same area.

our schools gate is left open as well. Although they have a code on the door.

I think we just have to accept some risk. 3 children got stabbed in Dublin who were being walked by a childcare worker from their school to their afterschool facility next door. There was that playground stabbing in France. I don’t know what security would help with these random but rare attacks.

If someone is sectioned in a psych ward they won't be 'out and about in the community' unless supervised heavily by trained staff.
I wouldn't really say that having one nearby was an elevated risk. Also I'd say it's no more a risk than any children's hobby or activity group. The fact it's a dance class doesn't make it more dangerous.

If all the parents agreed to chip in for the cost of a security guard then I guess that could work. It might be the venue design means you can't have any extra doors etc.

But ultimately what could a minimum wage guard meaningfully do if an axe murderer bursts in?

There are Scouts, Brownies, Rainbows, and all sorts of other groups up and down the country that anyone could walk into. Southport was a horrific tragedy, it had never happened before and hopefully will never happen again.
I understand why you have concerns but I think you need to try and move past them.

To be fair it’s not difficult to lock a door.
I used to attend a Spiritualist church and the doors are always locked once everyone is in. Just because some people think it’s funny to run in and disturb the meeting.

"I will consider every opinion"

Except an extremely valid one about a runaway vehicle...

I take it you're just as nervous when your child is walking on a pavement, considering there's about one child fatality and forty KSIs a week in the UK.

I Chair a Village Hall. Whilst Southport was a one off, if there are simple changes to be made then I think it might be reasonable to ask. For example the access door could be secured during a class and unlocked at the end of the session- providing the door opens from the inside (push outwards access), then this would not pose a fire risk.

I can't believe the minimising on this thread.

People in cars mowing down groups of people is a rare thing but it does happen, hence bollards etc in high streets.

Sadly we have many people out there wanting to do us harm, the very least we should expect is a locked door especially where there are children present.

I do think your anxiety is getting the better of you, but that is something you know you need to tackle.

Our dance school does have a keypad entry, but so many people know it, it could be useless. But it only has that because it is a dedicated dance school, if it was in a Village Hall I doubt there would be anything.

On your point about school gates, that is also down to the increase in risk of parental abduction during relationship breakdowns and general safeguarding (flashers used to be rife back in my day) rather than Dunblane. The fact that that was about 30 years ago and nothing since should help you realise how rare these things are.