The growing incidents of active shooters attacking K-12 schools has prompted maintenance and engineering managers in many districts to revisit both new construction projects and building upgrades to introduce security products and technology designed to protect students, teachers and staff.
Three Clark County, Nev., school districts — Northeastern Local Schools, Greenon Local Schools and Clark-Shawnee Local Schools — are all scheduled to complete construction on new schools within the next five years, and all three schools have looked at districts across the state for input on ways to keep children safe, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
Districts without construction projects are also examining their building security.
“You can’t be too careful these days,” says John Kronour, superintendent of Northeastern Local Schools. The two new Northeastern schools will feature added security measures, such as buzz-in front entrances and film on windows to prevent people from seeing inside. Brad Silvus, superintendent of Greenon Local Schools, says Greenon’s new school will also offer secured buzz-in doors.
“We will have secured entrance, doors on timers so that they are open in the morning and once schools start they lock down,” Silvus says. “Secured buzz-in on the front doors as well as auto and visual video of the entrances.”
Silvus said school officials have visited other districts in order to get input on security features. West-Liberty made several security changes after the high school suffered a school shooting in 2017, when a 17-year-old boy shot a student in the chest at West Liberty-Salem High School.
Dan Hounsell is editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions.
