Foundational School Physical Security
A ZeroNow Position Paper.
There are generally accepted, highly effective foundational physical security tools that should be available to school staff and students and should be required as a part of every school’s basic security profile. First, securable space at two levels, the building envelope and at the classroom door. And second, effective communication, the ability to hear and be heard from all occupied spaces in a school. These basic capabilities need to be incorporated into and available in every K-12 school.
Overwhelming, acts of school violence perpetrated by threat actors from outside the school community are made through building envelop openings that are not secure. At a minimum, all openings in a school envelope should have appropriate commercial grade door hardware and lock set. Additionally, each envelope opening should have a local door alarm with sufficient volume to be easily audible to staff in adjacent areas. This will create a secure portal and a self-correcting mechanism with staff addressing the unsecure condition by securing the door and silencing the alarm, much like the seat belt alarm in your car.
A locked classroom door has consistently proven to be a highly effective protective measure in school shootings. All classroom doors in a k-12 school should be solid-core types installed in welded metal frames with appropriate hardware and lockset that can be secured from the interior of the classroom without a key. Door hardware should be ASTM and UL listed and meet IFC, NFPA, and ADA requirements. Classroom doors and sidelights should meet the ASIS school security standards and the P.A.S.S. K-12 guidelines. Secondary locking, barricade, and blockade type devices should not be used.
Communication is a commonly noted failure point in most after action reports following incidents with acts of violence in schools. Minimum communication capability in all K-12 schools should include a robust public address system clearly audible and easily accessible in all occupied spaces in a school. This deployment must include hallways, restrooms, cafeteria, and any other public or mass congregation space. Additionally, an intercom system capable of station- to- station and general announcement should be deployed in all student-occupied instructional spaces. Both systems require power back-up and should be designed with non-interdependent redundancies that ensure continued functionality in a power loss or other failure.
These recommendations are not intended to endorse any manufacturer, vendor, or any specific equipment but rather to set base expectations for physical security capabilities in any K-12 school environment. They should be considered “foundational systems” and are the basic physical security capabilities that should be the minimum requirement for a safe and secure school environment that all students deserve, and all parents and educators should expect.
