3 Questions for your School’s Safety Plans

As fences and camera systems go up in schools across the nation, the scary reality is that much less is being done to secure our schools from the potential threat within. The FBI reports that 95% of all active shooter incidents in educational institutions involve current students at the school where the incident happens.

Lockdown Plans Should be Quick

One of the largest takeaways from the Department of Homeland Security Primer report released following Sandy Hook, is the need to have a classroom lockdown plan that can be executed quickly. The plan must also be simple to overcome the loss of fine motor functions that happens when people are in extremely stressful situations.

Ask yourself the following questions when it comes to your school or your children’s school safety plans:

1. Is it simple and can it be quickly executed? According to the FBI the average active shooter situation lasts just 12 minutes
2. Does your plan account for things like a substitute teacher or the teacher not being in the classroom? If the plan is not simple enough that a substitute cannot execute it, a dangerous gap in planning exists.
3. Does it account for students with disabilities? Students with disabilities have special needs, especially under stress, and will require additional considerations.

Quick Action Lockdown Technology

It was in light of these factors and many others that our QAL – Quick Action Lockdown lock was developed.  The Quick Action Lockdown will secure any classroom, from the inside of the classroom. This important feature eliminates the dangerous action of a teacher needing to leave the classroom and walk into the hall. By pushing a single red button the locking mechanism is deployed in less than a second.

The big red button design also eliminates the need for teachers to find a key, put the key into the locking mechanism, and remember to turn the key the right way to lock the door.  All of these steps are proven to take much longer and can waste precious time when under extreme stress.  Our single button design also eliminates concerns around a substitute teacher in the classroom for the day or a teacher being out of the room.  You simply need to push the button and get away from the door window.

Moreover, the QAL is so easy to use that anyone can lock the door in the event the teacher panics, is not in the room or misplaces the key. Keys, FOBs, key cards and other keyless type devices do not address the human error element that is prevalent during life threatening situations.

Planning Ahead Saves Lives

A threat that comes mostly from within a school requires a solution and planning that can deal with a shooter that is already in the building.  Classroom locks that can lock simply from the interior of the classroom, like the Quick Action Lockdown lock, are an absolute necessity.  Being able to execute the plan as easily with a substitute teacher in the classroom as the normal teacher is a must in order to keep our children safe.