All classroom doors should be retrofitted with locks.

[Barack_America]

Locked from the outside, able to be opened from the inside. Deadbolts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Making these assholes spend time finding keys and unlocking the doors could be the difference between life and death for those inside.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. The fire marshal may have some thoughts on that.

I agree, something needs to be done, but that seems kinda dangerous.

[Barack_America]

2. How so?

If the doors can be opened normally from the inside?

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. For starters

A locked door with a window is a non-starter as someone can just blow out the window and open it (or fire through a broken window).

A locked door without a window is a non-starter because of security.

Locked doors are a fire hazard. What if the classroom was a chemistry lab and something went horribly wrong? Then you have other people scrambling around for keys.

Many schools (at least around here) don't have air conditioning, and don't even close their doors as the open door and the open windows provides the airflow to keep the room from getting stifling - which can impede concentration in the warmer months.

I applaud you (loudly) for thinking out of the box on this, but if a shooter entered the school grounds at lunch and headed for the cafeteria, or decided to unload on a gym class, its all moot.

[FarCenter]

14. Make them work like fire doors

Last edited Sat Dec 15, 2012, 11:32 PM - Edit history (1)

The doors are held normally open with a magnetic catch.

On a signal, all the catches release and the doors swing shut and latch, locked to the hallway.

The classroom side of the door has a crashbar the unlocks and unlatches the door when presssed.

The electronic locks have a security code that fire and police can use to unlock them from the outside.

(Note also that window in doors must have embedded wire mesh.)

[Floyd_Gondolli]

30. Common practice in schools in my city and state

A very large district in my area made a point of making it SOP in all their classrooms after an incident when a parent attempted to barge into a classroom and remove a student during a contentious divorce. This is a district with 20k students and the local fire marshals signed off on it.

And even at schools without this policy their shelter in place contingency plans almost always call for doors to be locked and lights turned off.

[Zoeisright]

70. That's against the fire code.

[CreekDog]

98. considering he came in a window

your idea is kinda dumb.

and most classroom doors do lock.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Sigh.

I'm an architect and a school admin.

I can't even begin to respond to the well meaning posts about how to change the physical plant to meet the needs for a safer school population.

Truth is, the change that needs to be made is in the culture and in our souls.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. The fact that there is even a debate about guns in this country

tells me that we never had a collective soul to begin with.

Guns = 'right' but healthcare = 'privilege'

[RKP5637]

18. Yep, that really does sum it up well. And is so sad and pathetic. n/t

[Barack_America]

6. Please tell me why my suggestion wouldn't work.

I'm very honestly interested in knowing.

It seems to me that a simple locking mechanism that prevents unwanted persons from getting inside, while allowing those inside to get out freely, is the most cost-effective means we have of reducing the scope of these tragedies.

[adigal]

12. Every school I have worked at has that arrangement, locked on outside

And can just be opened from the inside. I was surprised there were no locks on the classroom doors? How the hell do they do a,lockdown? In my classroom, you need to go to the door with the key to lock it. I always keep my keys hanging in the same place so if I ever have to lock the door quickly, I am not fumbling around in my purse for my keys. I always prepare for the day this happens. Sad, but true.

[Tom Ripley]

25. That has also been my experience (n/t)

[Igel]

54. Ditto.

We can unlock our doors with our keys so that they stay unlocked. Have to relock them before we go home for the day.

Some teachers keep their doors unlocked during the day.

I don't. High school. If a kid's late, I don't want him sneaking in without a tardy pass while I'm facing away from the door.

Then again, I often keep my door open.

[freshwest]

99. IIRC, Lanza broke a window to get in.

[Barack_America]

100. The first classroom door he encountered was locked, so he moved on to the next.

The lock on the school entrance likely gave the teacher of the first classroom time to lock the door. The lock on the school entrance likely gave teachers the time to hide their students. This is about buying time. Imagine if all the school doors were locked. Might have bought enough time for the police to arrive.

That's my point.

[freshwest]

107. It might have... But a stronger prevention would have been to disallow the possession of the gun.

The Bushmaster is not for self-defense at home. It's time to stop waging wars abroad and tone down the war that the wingnuts want to have here at home.

I see your argument, but there used to also be a respect for others that made this unthinkable. Lanza and his mohter had lost that respectby adopting the lifestyle of those who see others as mindless hordes that needs to be mowed down.

We are not in disagreement here, though. Thanks for the reply.

[rwheeler31]

3. Sad that so many want to cut funds

and now the precious education dollars will be used for security. They will vote for that because the funds will not go to teachers.

[Agnosticsherbet]

7. He had guns. He could blow the door off the hinges.

What we need to do is regulate guns like we want them to regulate banks or corporations. Reduce the number of guns.

[Barack_America]

10. Gun control policy will take years. All classrooms can be locked within a month.

Even having to blow each door off the hinges would buy time. And time is lives in these situations.

[Agnosticsherbet]

19. This suggestion is just an attempt to let the gun owners keep their toys...

The problem is the love affair with guns, the number of guns, the ease with which they are acquired.

We need the will to deal with the problem, not lock children in pens to be slaughtered.

Put something like this through, then every gun nut will say "problem solved" and they can keep their murder porn in their pockets, in their bed stands, on their mantles.

[Barack_America]

24. The solution, if there is one, will be multi-dimensional.

And will require a combination of gun control and security measures.

Unless you support a house-to-house sweep to confiscate all guns. I hate guns, have never touched one, but I recognize that confiscation of guns is completely impractical and highly dangerous to the persons given the task.

[Agnosticsherbet]

38. I demand regulation of gun ownership.

Strict gun control laws in other countries are very successful at drastically reducting the violence. We need to pass strict laws or the people will say problem fixed.

The gun culture in this country is like a crack addiction. If you don't treat the addiction they won't stop. They will demand to keep their toys and call it freedom as they have done after every other mass gun murder. Their inalienable right keeps the rest of the country hostage and is paid for with regular mass murders.

[Zoeisright]

71. Nope. Completely fucking wrong.

Yes, I support a house to house sweep to confiscate all guns. Fuck "impracticality".

[Barack_America]

73. Then sign up to do it. Easier to say when it's not your ass facing these nutters, eh?

Can you even imagine how many law enforcement officials would die in these "sweeps" you are proposing?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

33. Doable with a shotgun and special ammunition or special breaching explosive charge

but not with a rifle or pistol

[Agnosticsherbet]

41. Bullets pass through doors like paper.

That equipment can be bought a guns shows and in most cases over the internet.

They can be breached.

Locking doors doesn't fix the problem. Just keep the victims in one spot.

Strict gun controls are necessary for public safety.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

53. But do they open at that point?

Try breaching a commercial door with a rifle or pistol sometime. It will make good youtube video.

[Travis_0004]

88. "He could blow the doors off the hinges"

I think you have watched a few too many hollywood movies.

[Union Scribe]

104. +1

It's embarrassing reading things like that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I've always taught with my door open.

In a non-air conditioned boiler heated school, air circulation is important.

[femmocrat]

20. Same here. I can't stand to have the door closed.

And because the classrooms are stifling even in the winter, I also have the windows opened!

And... because I teach in 4 buildings and share those rooms with other itinerants, we don't even have keys for those rooms.

I think Barack_America's idea is a good one, actually. Except for not being able to get back in the room after a fire drill or whatever.

Another thing... we are not allowed to cover the glass in our doors for "security reasons".

Now that every potential mass murderer knows all the details of every school's security plans, we are probably doomed no matter what we do next.

[FarCenter]

23. "stifling even in the winter,"-- We could save alot of money and carbon emissions by improving HVAC

Instead of opening the windows.

[femmocrat]

29. Agree. A lot of schools have out-dated "boilers" for heating.

At least they still call the janitor's little hideaway the "boiler room".

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. It's also a cover my ass thing

I feel less likely to be accused of bad teacher behavior if my door is open.

[FarCenter]

31. The coming video cameras will cover that

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. Sshhh. My students think they're already installed.

[whistler162]

87. Only if the Teachers Unions, at least in my area,

agree.

But, I am sure there will be an even bigger push for more camera coverage in the halls and externals.

There isn't one good solution for what happened in Conn.. Some of the schools I work(ed) in, itnerante PC Support, are locked down quite abit, open outdoor and secured inner door which needs you to be buzzed inm and some don't lend themselves to a heavy lock down due to the age of the building. Those you would have to renovate the building to move the main office/entrance to a location which doesn't allow the person entering full access to the school before they are checked in.

[femmocrat]

34. Oh heck... I forget it's open most of the time.

But I know what you mean. I feel like if my door is open, anyone is welcome to walk in and that makes me keep a lid on my "comments" at times.

My prayer: "Oh Lord, please keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth."

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. My first year teaching my principal told me to tape myself

Then I started to imagine a tape player was over there in the corner, recording everything I said.

It was a valuable lesson.

[femmocrat]

45. Good advice, indeed. nt

[Pale Blue Dot]

77. Same here. But also, in my school the locks work exactly as the OP suggested. nt

[the devil]

9. It won't work...

I am a teacher. I have a lock on the outside of the door to my classroom. I can open it from the inside, and I can lock it when I don't want my students to be disturbed. But here is the problem...there is a window in the door. If you have a gun, that window isn't going to stop someone. The window has to be there...it's for my safety as well as the safety of the children I teach. The other problem is that if the door is locked and someone comes into the school with a gun, will I have time to get any students that are in the hall into my classroom since they won't be able to get in on their own?

The door isn't much of a barrier anyway. Even though it is a steel framed door, it would be easy enough to kick it in if someone was motivated enough.

I train students for lockdowns several times a year, even though the likelihood of this kind of incident happening is very low. Every time, I have to talk to at least one about how they were making noise or doing something that could get us all killed. Now I have to have a discussion on Monday morning about why we do lockdowns.

There are so many solutions, but the one that would do wonders is the one everyone in Washington is afraid to discuss.

[Barack_America]

17. Windows and door frames can be reinforced more easily than getting comprehensive gun control passed.

This isn't about coming up with a foolproof method, this is about slowing them down. This is about making sure that if they get into one room, they won't have time to get into a second.

This suggestion is not in lieu of any measures to get guns out of the hands of psychopaths. I heartily support any and all gun control policies that can get passed. I am no fan of guns.

[GReedDiamond]

22. "I train students for lockdowns several times a year"...

...I remember when, in the 60s, our schoolroom disaster training was fire and tornado drills, plus the occasional "duck & cover" under your desk in the event of "Nuke-You-ler" Annihilation or sumthin.

The NRA is a pox upon Humanity.

[Igel]

56. Most districts probably have required lockdown drills.

Somehow I suspect one's coming up in my school this coming week. (Can't imagine why.)

Near a train track, we also have toxic chemical spill drills.

One time I was out in the hall with my kids doing a lab. 30 kids, not a lab classroom. Staffer walked by and asked if I had checked my email. I said no, he said I should in the next 15 seconds or so. I checked. Had to put all my kids doing their lab in my classroom. Bomb scare.

It comes with the turf. People and society are what they are.

One local district has RFID student ID cards for their kids. They track the kids when they get on the bus in the morning, when they get off the bus, when they enter the school, when they leave the school, etc. Why? Not because of runaways or child molesters, but because of custody disputes. Community considers the authorities as either malevolent or irrelevant, and court orders have pretty much no importance. This way the school district can at least say that the kid was kidnapped at the bus stop and not from school grounds.

[Chorophyll]

13. How about, instead of turning our schools into locked-down concentration camps,

we make sure that mentally ill young men get the care they need, and not so much access to guns?

Why is it always the innocent victim who has to make all the changes?

[Posteritatis]

28. Because students can't vote, so it's politically easier to do things to them instead. (nt)

[Barack_America]

32. You tell me which is more likely to be accomplished.

Comprehensive mental health and gun control reform -or- locks.

I pray to God our government gives us your solution, but I won't be holding my breath...and I'd rather not stake my child's life on it.

[Chorophyll]

36. I'm the mother of an only child. He's 11. My ONLY child.

I don't want him locked into his classroom. Come to think of it, he changes classrooms all day long. That's nine periods of getting locked in and let out. And what about the times between classes when the doors HAVE to be opened?

I'll stick with pushing for gun control, thank you.

[Barack_America]

37. I'm the mother of a 2 year-old child. My ONLY child.

I'm planning on contacting our school board to ENSURE there will be locks on the doors.

Not to lock him in, for if you recall from the OP I advocated the type of locks that allow people out freely, just not in.

And I'll push for gun control, too.

[badhair77]

15. I'm in PA.

My classroom's door locked from the outside. This meant I had to reach outside in a hurry to lock the door for a lockdown drill. It was never locked from the inside. Fire dept restrictions prohibit deadbolts and door stops.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. We did that at our college recently.

Added phones in each room, too.

[MADem]

21. The guy shot the lock off the front door. nt

[FarCenter]

26. No, he shot out a pane of glass, either in the door or next to the door.

Shooting locks off doors only works in movies.

[MADem]

42. Well, whatever--he didn't ring the doorbell, that was my point.

Those classrooms have those big long windows right by the doorknob. What's to stop a nut from shooting that window out?

[FarCenter]

44. Either turn them into wall or replace them with something like laminated Lexan

They are definitely a weak point. Smaller windows in the door should be either Lexan or heavy glass with wire mesh.

This is not rocket science. People have been working on physical security of office buildings, laboratories, military buildings, etc. for years.

[Barack_America]

51. +1

This is obviously not a perfect solution. A perfect solution probably doesn't exist. But these changes can be made much more quickly than comprehensive gun control, which may never happen.

[MADem]

92. It shouldn't be rocket science; I think profiteering might get in the way.

The more expensive doors cut into the contractors' profits...said cynically.

[bakpakr]

35. My take

I like the idea of the automatic door locks. The office implements a lock-down of the school. Some one in the office pushes a button and ALL doors in the school lock-down. Classroom doors shut and lock. Can easily be opened from the inside. All doors reinforced so that brute force entry is hindered. No windows or bullet proof glass.

I hear what you are saying about the widows for security and safety. But we do have this little bit of technology called cameras and monitors. Also with the camera the authorities would have a better view of the entire room than they get with just a window in the door.

[Gold Rush]

43. $$$$$$$$$

The catch is that this will cost money. The district I live in had to cut busing. They also reduced the school day for kindergartners and even did away with fridays for them. We are out of money and another levy just failed. Without state/federal grants for every school this wont work.


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Barack_America]

46. I support state and federal grants for improving school safety.

Ideally federal grants. This problem is beyond the scope of local school boards, IMO.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. I support changing Race to the Top money to grants for school security.

[femmocrat]

47. True. Maybe the federal government could cancel a few bombs or something to help out the schools?

Fat chance!

I doubt that that local taxpayers would cough up the money either.

[Squinch]

63. We can't even get the taxpayers to pay for decent textbooks. And now we're going to retrofit all

the doors with electric magnetic catches.

Yeah. That'll happen.

How about instead, we get the guns out of the hands of all the responsible gun owners. You know, the ones like Mrs. Lanza.

[Barack_America]

64. You think that confiscating guns is more practical than installing locks?

Will you be volunteering to go door-to-door confiscating these nutters guns?

[Squinch]

72. Yes I do think so. And there are plenty of countries who have enacted effective

gun control laws which didn't require anyone going door to door to remove guns. The means are out there. We just need to have the will to use them.

And I have absolutely no illusions that the taxpayer will pay for any kind of enhanced security in schools after this event. If there is any enhanced security, it will come at the expense of books, teachers, equipment.

[Jennicut]

83. It won't get passed with the current House we have.

I doubt there is money to pay for the locks on doors at schools either.

I can see Connecticut having a police presence outside most schools in the state. Some schools here in CT already do that. But not much will change until people want it to change. And the districting in the House is crap until the next census.

I don't hold out hope for anything to happen, regardless of what Obama and the Dems try to do. Repubs and conservative Dems probably won't change anything regarding gun laws.

[XRubicon]

93. Tax all guns and ammo annually and at point of sale

[Ilsa]

48. A lock didn't stop him from getting into the school.

And I've been to schools where classrooms could be locked from the inside. They exist, but apparently they aren't popular.

[knitter4democracy]

50. Everywhere I've taught has had those.

We also have windows next to our doors, though, so it would be easy to get in if one were really committed to it.

Look, we don't need to turn schools into prisons so the adults can feel better. We need to have proper staffing levels, schools that are small enough so that everyone knows everybody and can keep an eye on everyone, and proper safety procedures as best as we can. As for school shootings, let's work on gun control instead.

[Warpy]

52. It would be hard on the littlest kids

who might need bathroom breaks. Maybe a card lock would work, the teacher handing the kid the card as the kid went out to the bathroom.

But yes, locked doors might be nice.

[Barack_America]

55. Bathroom pass with a key on it.

Or a little remote doorbell. My mother just got my son one of those that plays jingle bells. I'd be more than willing to donate that, lol.

[SheilaT]

57. How about,

Take the guns away?

This is EXACTLY like teaching women to avoid being raped, rather than telling men it's not okay to rape.

Let's start with the real source of the problem, the fact that guns are far too readily available. Let's stop the gun apologists from telling us nothing can be done. Let's start NOW with real laws with teeth. You register your gun. You take safety training. You reregister every year or five. If a gun you owned is stolen from you, YOU are responsible for what happens with that gun. Make the responsibility of gun ownership actually mean something.

And those who are genuinely responsible gun owners have nothing to fear from these laws.

I'm getting to the point where I think it would be a very good idea for some authority to go door to door and actually confiscate guns.

And of course there will be bleating responses to my post that I just don't understand. But I do understand. It was the easy availability of guns that in the end caused what happened yesterday. Divorce, mental illness, personality disorder, all of those are just lame excuses. And locking classroom doors? Really? Take the fucking guns away.

[Barack_America]

60. You tell me what you think can be REALISTICALLY accomplished within 6 months.

You really think that our Congress, which can't get anything done, is actually going to pass comprehensive gun control before another tragedy happens?

Listen, I believe in gun control, but in the meantime, protect the kids.

[SheilaT]

69. Then let all of us who are totally outraged

by yet another mass murder by guns make it crystal clear to our senators and representatives that we want meaningful gun control NOW.


They did it in the UK after the Dunblane, Scotland, school murders, which were a lot like what happened yesterday in Connecticut. The UK responded by criminalizing most gun ownership. We could do it here. But we have the gun apologists and the NRA (usually one and the same) who keep on saying Oh, gosh, what a sad thing happened, but the second amendment and you know we can't take guns away, mumble mumble.

I say, take the guns away. Let's put an end to this for once and all.

The way to protect the kids is to take the guns away. Anything else is simply caving into the hand-wringing, oh gosh what an unforeseeable event bullshit. Well, I've had it with this bullshit.

[Igel]

58. There are schools with open floor plans.

Many have been retrofitted. Not all. The idea in the '70s was that you wanted flexibility and a sense of community, so there were schools built where the classrooms lacked at least one wall.

Can't lock them. Can't hide. (Can't not have the students in the back of your classroom interact with the students in the back of the other classroom. Can't not have your students not hear what the other teacher is saying. Horrible idea. But it was the data-driven research-based solution to all the world's educational ills for a few years. It'll probably be resurrected in the next few years. Most horrible ideas never die.)

[sorrybushisfromtexas]

59. We did that last year

We had all of the door locks in our district changed last year. We all keep a key underneath the keyboard of our computers tha allow us to lock the doors from inside our rooms. You can't get in from outside our rooms without having keys that are made for our doors. I teach in a middle school in Texas and we have a uniformed off duty police officer for 6 out of 7 hours each day. He or she are fully armed. In my 35 years of teaching the might break up a fight once or twice a year. They are there if needed.

[Springslips]

61. It's good to have the conversation.

But always ask the question: is this to really help my children or is it to make me feel better? I remember in my youth many times my mother, a naturally anxious person, would prohibit, demand, or change something concerning me in the idea of my personal safety, health, ect. Often her ideas drastically lowered the quality and enjoyment of my life to prevent something that was either rare or overblown. I'd protest but it was for not. in the end, consideration my feelings didn't matter, she did those things for her comfort not mine--a common sin done almost all parents in this society.

[Barack_America]

62. For my young son? To comfort me. For millions of American schoolchildren?

After this massacre? Probably to comfort them; and possibly to give them the security to focus on learning again.

[Springslips]

89. Could be.

Just make sure to ask the question...that's all.

[JI7]

65. what if a student killer ends up inside a classroom and starts shooting people ?

[Barack_America]

66. Unfortunately, people would die. And that would be true if the door were locked or not.

But at least he or she would not be able to move on to another room.

And I would hope that at least a rifle would be obvious before the student gained entry.

[kwassa]

67. Our classroom doors have locks already, and the teachers have the keys.

and we go through lock down drills of two different varieties probably a half-dozen times a year. I can tell by the reaction of the teachers at the school that they had been trained as well. The killer had the advantage of surprise.

[Barack_America]

68. I'm advocating the doors be locked whenever classes are in session.

That takes away the element of surprise.

[kwassa]

91. A killer could still shoot through the doors

the current doors have windows in them.

With the element of surprise, someone could easily shoot through exterior windows from outside, as well.

[WilliamPitt]

74. Creating a bunker mentality cedes the argument to the NRA.

[Barack_America]

75. We can unlock the doors once comprehensive gun control gets passed.

My state has just passed a law allowing concealed weapons in schools and daycares. I guess it's going to be homeschooling for us until I can convince my husband to move. Of course it would *probably* be okay to send my son to a school where God knows who is armed, but I'm not willing to play that game of odds with his life. Glad we have 3 years to sort it out, but our plans for part-time daycare are definitely on hold.

Most ironically, my father passed this week, and we are now the "proud" owners of numerous guns.

[graham4anything]

76. Ban all guns in the street and have eyes in the sky to alert when any gun is in area

nice and neat and doable once you reframe the issue


to prvent car bombbs they put up concrete barriors

to prevent guns in a school, make sure no gun can get through the perimeters

and have ZERO tolerance

REFRAME THE ISSUE to make guns terror

[Shadowflash]

78. All the classrooms in my daughter's elemetary school

only have ONE door. The one and only door leads to the hall in the school.

If all these classrooms had a second door that leads outside and the classes could have just left the school through them, how many lives could have been saved? there was no way out for them but past the gunman, they were sitting ducks.

Even in the case of fire a door that goes to the outside in each room would seem to make sense.

[mainer]

79. Were the windows impossible to open?

I'm just wondering why the kids couldn't all climb out the windows.

[Barack_America]

90. They didn't have time.

However, if they gunman had to navigate a locked door before gaining entry, perhaps they would have.

[treestar]

80. They still have to come out to change classes, leave and come into school

Go to the gym or cafeteria - that wouldn't do much to prevent shootings.

[leveymg]

81. A 9mm slug makes a one-size-fits-all key to most locks. You'd have to armor the doors & windows.

I don't think this is the solution, if indeed there is one.

[Kingofalldems]

82. A security system with a direct line to the police and fire

automatic notification if breached or better still if an attempt to breach is made.

[lunatica]

84. Thank you for thinking about solutions

Where I work we have those type of doors on each floor in the stairwells. And the front doors are also the same. You get in with a card key which is actually our employee or grad student/faculty IDs which can be 'turned off' individually from the police station. The doors are kept open with magnets which can be neutralized so the doors shut if someone pulls a switch. The elevators can also be shut down so only a card key will work. Our elevators won't go anywhere before 7:00 am without that card key. In the building that I work in off campus we have a security guard behind a desk in the lobby and everyone coming into the building must pass him. And for all I know there might be more controls and cameras than are readily apparent.

All these security measures can be overcome or breached if someone is determined enough, but they're also deterrents, especially if someone needs to overcome more than one barrier and the doors can be controlled remotely as well as locally. The 911 call to the police in Newtown could have activated a few deterrents right then. Cameras connected to the fire stations and police stations could help the police locate the killers very quickly no matter what part of the building they'd be in. And they could have started these emergency measures before they arrived.

And then on top of that we need to think of other issues and deal with them.

I'm willing to bet that the Capital Building has all these and many more we don't know about.

edited to add that if I'm being protected this way at work and my freedom is uncurtailed unless I break the law, then our children and their educators can be protected like this too.

[RegieRocker]

85. I look at the replies

and it comes as no surprise.

The school door was locked. He shot several times through the glass and created a hole in which to unlock door.

[zen_bohemian]

86. bullet-proof glass windows in all public school buildings could be a start and campus police

the automatic locks, security systems that automatically rings into police/fire if breached. This may not be a popular idea for some, but I would suggest funding and implementation of a campus police system in all public schools across the country. If campus police had been at the school would this have gone down so tragically? There are TSA agents and police all over airports, scanners etc, why not the same security for our children? The protection of our children in this country should be priority one, period, and if police protection is necessary, then so be it IMHO.

It's a sad day that it has come to this point in our country.

[geomon666]

94. Would rather turn schools into prisons than have people give up their guns.

Sad indeed.

[Barack_America]

95. Hardly. Would rather protect the kids while we fight to improve gun control.

[Union Scribe]

105. I thought it was a pretty good idea, BA.

I've seen a number of people trying to propose partial solutions in the last couple days, and they're all pounced on with the same lines you're being hit with.

[MineralMan]

96. I went to school in the 1950s and 60s. All of our classroom doors

automatically locked when closed. In an emergency, a panic bar on the inside of the door unlocked the door from the inside so people could get out. I suspect that most schools have such hardware already installed. If they do not, they should:

http://www.stanleysecuritysolutions.com/products-services/mechanical-access-solutions/panic-hardware

[MADem]

97. When I went to school, the teachers would prop the doors open to get a crossbreeze.

In winter the doors would be closed, but they weren't locked.

That was back in the dark ages. Overseas, too.

[Barack_America]

106. That's exactly what I'm advocating.

Thanks.

[liberal N proud]

101. He had a key - it was an assult weapon.

[Livluvgrow]

102. I always thought

that having to go into the hallway to lock my door in a situation was always really stupid. Why not have locks on the inside that I just have to walk over and turn? Also why windows in the doors? I think the windows create an unsafe situation that simply makes access to the room easier.

[LP2K12]

103. My high school...

Had magnetic locks on the door that could be engaged by the teachers, office or remotely by the school board. They worked wonderfully during drills.