School shootings nationwide in recent years have shown just how vulnerable children and staff members are during the school day, and have prompted a variety of responses. Some public representatives suggested arming teachers or stationing armed security guards in every school. Others have embraced heightened security procedures, such as locking all but the front doors and screening those who enter. Still other schools have invested in physical improvements that provide a foyer area from which visitors must be allowed in. All schools have also implemented disaster response plans so staff members know how to respond if there is a threat.
The sad thing is, despite these efforts, there is no way to prevent such instances of wanton violence without turning every public building into a fortress with security measures akin to a prison. What we can do is prepare ourselves to react appropriately when a threat appears, and be trained in responses that will give us the best chance of survival.
For school teachers, that means keeping the children out of harm’s way, and in an active shooter situation, that’s awfully difficult when the doors don’t lock. Huddling in the corner hoping that an aggressor won’t enter your classroom is about as effective in saving lives as hiding under a desk during a nuclear explosion.
That’s why doors that lock from the inside of the classroom, by using the teacher’s key only, make great sense. Public donations to fund adding these locks to Saco classrooms is being promoted by Mayor Don Pilon, who learned that the school board plans to set aside $30,000 toward the locks for all first-floor classrooms. The idea is that those on the floors above would have enough time to lock their students inside the rooms from the outside and find a place to hide. Since visitors must enter on the first floor of the school, and older students are generally on the upper floors, this approach seems logical and does not propose undue expense.
If word goes out that there is a threat in the building, the teacher has only to close and lock the door, and keep his or her students away from it until the threat is cleared. The way things stand now, teachers are left trying to barricade their doors with furniture, which is less reliable in keeping someone out and also takes too much time. Could an aggressor still break down the door if it’s locked? Yes, but it’s far less likely that he or she will be successful in entering the classroom, and it also buys time for the police to arrive.
Also, with a key system, no student can lock the class in, as they could with a deadbolt; and if a teacher becomes the aggressor and seeks to barricade him or herself in with the students, administrators will still be able to enter with their own keys.
Already, the school department has received $7,500 toward this effort, and Pilon expects that the community will donate the full amount in the interest of securing its students.
We’d like to applaud the donors so far, and the school district’s foresight in implementing common-sense safety measures that could save lives but are not overly restrictive or dangerous in their own right.
“It could happen here” is a good approach to take, and those who understand that mantra know that they have an active role in making sure it never does.
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