Do you have this rule at your schools?

[BabyTigger99]

There was a story on the local news here today. Apparently there has been some fire code law for the past few years that says that teachers can only have tings covering 20% of the walls. They are finally enforcing it this year. The fire chief says they are doing it because of a school fire in Chicago 50 years ago where some children were killed. The fire accelerated because of paper/posters on the walls. I think it is a stange law. They will be doing random checks in the schools. If teachers are found to have more than 20% of their walls covered, they will be subject to a $600 citation.

Any opinions? Do you have this in your school?

 

[pjlla]

Yes we do! Apparently it came to light some time in the last year or so... not sure why it wasn't enforced before that. But they are very careful about how much stuff is on the walls in the hall and in the classrooms now. I never heard about the citation before. It must be hard for the teachers though. There is so much "stuff" out there for them to hang up.... alphabet posters, school rules, lunch menus, reward posters, etc. ..............P

 

[Tjaleks]

We do not have this rule in the school I work in, I am not sure about my children's school. I do know we have a fire marshall inspect our school at least three times during the school year.

 

[wheeler1]

We do at our school here in central MA. The walls used to be covered with artwork, projects etc. Now they are bare as can be.

The hallways look so empty now! Its very sad looking really.

 

[ilovedale3]

Yes, the fire marshal comes and inspects for stuff like that. One thing they have really cracked down on is stuff hanging from the ceiling (like mobiles, art projects, etc.) b/c of the fire hazard.

 

[Beauty]

No we don't although I certainly don't think its a bad idea.

 

[Lynn CC]

Yes DS's high school made the teachers take a lot down off the walls last year. They write on the windows with those erasable marker type things to decorate. It's actually pretty artistic, especally the Spanish Class. They drew spanish culture along with writing out he spanish words to tell a story. I was impressed!

 

[Crankyshank]

Yes. My area is now very strict with fire codes after the Station Nightclub fire

 

[Mskanga]

Not that I know of , but the school does put a limit on how much you can hang on the walls and they rotate things.

 

[disykat]

In the hallways, but not in the classrooms.

 

[debster812]

Yep--no paper on the walls in the hallways. AT ALL. Now all the bulletin boards outside the classrooms have been covered over with Whiteboards, and the teachers decorate those.

Inside the classrooms there is stuff on the walls.

The way my retired firefighter dad explained it to me is that the hallways can act like wind tunnels in a fire, and the fire could spread REALLY fast.

 

[disneyxo]

As far as I know we don't have that rule in my kid's school but I don't know for sure.

 

[poohandwendy]

I think it sounds like a good law, to be honest. If a fire could be accelerated by it, that is more important than the decorative appeal of artwork throughout the halls and in the classroom.

 

[MamaLema]

Yes, my kid's school has this rule. I think many schools do but most parents probably don't know.

BTW, the only reason I know is because I was helping in DS' class one day and all the teachers received a memo about it. I helped the teacher take a lot of stuff down. Otherwise, I wouldn't know about it