Project update

You may have noticed the large, decorated iron gates on the three entryways to the Children’s Center and Music Department area. The gates are one of the last steps in the installation of a security system there. Meanwhile, preliminary infrastructure work for office security is under way.

These two areas constitute the only known parts of campus to have security. Nothing like it is planned anywhere for the foreseeable future, especially not in the sanctuary.

A photo of one of the three gates. Paddle bars will be installed and connected to a wireless security system, and a process of chemical washing will create a uniform patina.

What do the gates mean for you?
When the security for the Children’s Center and Music goes “live,” it means that those gates will be locked for school hours on school days. The church suggests that if you need to come to the property on weekdays, it will be better and easier to park by the offices, or in the solar parking area, and then walk through the office area.

Saturdays and Sundays the gates will not be locked, so there will be no interference when you come to church. Even so, the gates may be closed, in which case you will simply need to push them open. The iron-decorated gates might be heavier than gates with which you are familiar. If that’s the case, try to park in the solar area, or in front of the office.

The writer Mark Twain is known for a near-endless list of pithy sayings. Here’s one that applies: “Everything costs something [that] everyone pays.”

Starting in the near future, everyone will have to adapt to the new safety measures—and everyone is encouraged to exercise patience as they encounter the inevitable hiccups that will occur.

Gate hours
Mondays-Fridays all three gates will be locked. They will be able to be unlocked only by persons who have a fob.

Starting in the early evening hours on Mondays-Fridays all three gates will be closed but not locked. That means anyone who wishes to access the upper portion of Saint Philip’s campus will be able to push the gate door open and it will swing closed behind them.

On Saturdays and Sundays, as well, the gates will be closed but not locked.

It is important not to prop the gates open. Doing that will break the internal mechanism that closes the gate automatically.

Parking
The gates are heavy so if you have mobility issues you are encouraged to park in the east side parking lot and avoid the breezeway.

Funding
More than $30,000.00 has been generously donated by members of the parish. Additional donations are still needed and welcomed. You can make an online donation through Saint Philip’s secure website by clicking here and selecting “Give to Safety/Security Project” from the drop-down menu.

Background

In the summer of 2022 Saint Philip’s launched conversations with lay leadership, staff, interested parishioners, Catalina Hills Preschool & Kindergarten, and the Pima County Sheriff’s department to gather information in pursuit of a campuswide safety analysis.

This was not the first time the subject of safety has arisen here. In the months before COVID shut down the church property, a Vestry committee provided a security proposal for the Children’s Courtyard, in which the Beginning School operated during the week. The Beginning School never re-opened, its enrollment decimated by COVID.

Following the May 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that killed nineteen children and two adults, anxiety grew among Catalina’s parents. At the same time, the Sheriff’s Department had identified the school (Children’s Courtyard) and the office building as the sites of highest risk.

In this same timeframe, Kate Schwartz, school director, expressed strong interest in a secured campus. 

A summary of these developments and explorations was reported at the 2023 Annual Meeting. Shortly thereafter, a parishioner seeded a fund with a $20,000.00 gift. It was for use to equip the office area for greater security.

Thus, the security project was launched, for both the office and the school.