Government is considering fencing in public schools to keep out undesirable elements.

Education Minister Jerome Dill revealed this yesterday after the Development Applications Board recommended that the Works and Engineering Ministry should erect a permanent security fence along Warwick Secondary School's south boundary.

The recommendation came as the DAB granted in principle approval to the Ministry's plan to convert the high school into a middle school.

Government plans to turn five existing schools -- Warwick, Sandys Secondary, Whitney, the current Dellwood Primary facility, and St. George's Secondary -- into middle schools by next September.

Security fences considered for schools Changes to Warwick Secondary will include a new administration building, resource centre, specialty classrooms, and a hardsurfaced play area.

While granting in principle approval the board, in an advisory note, urged the Ministry to give "serious consideration to erecting permanent security fencing along the school's south boundary with Stadium Lane''.

Details on the fencing should be included in the Ministry's final submissions, it added.

Chairman of the board Colin Adderley later told The Royal Gazette : "It's the majority opinion of members of the board that all school grounds should be fenced in for obvious reasons.

"The opportunity presented itself, so we put it there. We can't condition it, but we can add an advisory note and hope it reaches the people concerned.

And Mr. Dill said: "We will certainly give our serious consideration to the suggestions made by the DAB.'' In the last school year several schools experienced problems with trespassers.

Whitney Institute hired a security guard after having a hard time keeping trouble-makers off the Middle Road, Smith's property. And other high schools became gathering grounds for idle school drop-outs and unemployed youths.

Mr. Dill noted that before the House of Assembly adjourned earlier this summer, Government promised to review physical security in schools.

"It is something that I myself am concerned about,'' he said, adding that a committee had been appointed to look into the whole issue of security at schools and was expected to present a report during this school year.

Meanwhile, facilities coordinator for the Implementation Team at the Education Department Bob Winters said the next step for all the middle school projects was to hire outside architects to take preliminary drawings and develop final drawings, obtain building permits, and put them out to tender.

The actual schedules were up to Works and Engineering, he pointed out.

"For all the middle schools we have to have a certain level of internal work done for when middle schools begin in September, 1997,'' Mr. Winters said.

"However, the bulk of the work will occur after 1997.'' He also explained that work on the five middle schools will be divided into three phases.

Sub-phase A will be mainly internal work which will be completed by September, next year, he explained. Sub-phase B will generally involve new construction work.

"So students can be moved into new portions of the school to free up space for construction, most of A will have to be done this coming summer and during the Christmas break,'' Mr. Winters said. "Whereas sub-phase C, which will involve more internal work, will be more flexible because we will have more space available for students in the school.'' While the phases will vary slightly from school to school, he added that it was important that all phases moved along "fairly uniformly''.