Taking Action to Enhance School Safety | Case Study

How one school superintendent acted to improve safety and security in his district through training and shooter attack resistant glass and film.

In 2012, Matthew McDonald was the deputy superintendent for Baldwinsville Central Schools in Baldwinsville, New York. He remembers vividly watching the events unfold at Sandy Hook Elementary where an attacker killed 20 small children and six staff members in just under three minutes. 

Armoured One’s Shooter Attack Certified Glass in a Masonite Aspiro? Series Attack Resistant Door System after being shot and attacked.

His first instinct was to hop on a plane to Connecticut to help. However, he quickly realized it was more important to show his community that he was committed to their safety. McDonald knew that the same type of incident that happened at Sandy Hook could happen anywhere.

“All I could think about were the children and staff and how scared they were in that community,” he says.

Just a few years later, McDonald became the superintendent of the school district and implemented the first major steps towards better safety and security in his schools. Active shooter incidents in the United States have continued to be a challenging issue for leaders across many industries. The highest number of active shooter incidents in the history of this country occurred in 2018. While declining slightly in 2019, they continue to threaten the security of the general public.

According to an ongoing study by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School, there were 110 school shooting incidents in 2019 - that’s just in the education sector. In the past decade, it has become increasingly important for leaders to consider their options in protecting their employees, patients, and students.

GETTING STARTED

McDonald knew his community was no different than many others. Drugs, people with mental health issues, violence, weapons - they all existed outside the walls of his schools. He knew he had to help protect nearly 6,000 students plus the faculty and staff.

“After Sandy Hook, people were very scared,” McDonald recalls. “And the biggest question was, ‘What are we doing in Baldwinsville?’ So I started communicating with my community. It’s very important to me that my students and staff come to school in an environment that is safe and conducive to learning. I put together a committee and as a part of that committee I reached out to Armoured One to see what they could do to help us.”

Armoured One’s mission is to provide solutions to leaders of educational institutions, medical facilities, and businesses that will help slow down or prevent an active shooter incident in their buildings. Their goal is to save lives and give law enforcement more time to respond to an incident and apprehend the attacker.

McDonald met Armoured One Co-Founder and CEO Tom Czyz in 2016. Czyz is a former homicide detective and SWAT operator, father of six, and husband to a teacher. When Sandy Hook happened, Czyz could not fathom the idea of his children not returning home from school because they had been murdered in their school. So, he started Armoured One to enact change and save lives.

INITIAL INVESTMENT

McDonald's first course of action was to hire Armoured One to complete security assessments for each of his eight school buildings. Subject matter experts in physical security and active shooter incidents look at every vulnerability of a building.

They complete a comprehensive report on how leadership can make improvements to increase the safety and security of its buildings. These assessments are based on in-depth perspectives from active shooter subject matter experts from both local and federal agencies.

Soon after the assessments, McDonald reached out to Armoured One for active shooter training for his faculty and staff. He knew getting everyone on board would be a challenge.

“It's very scary and I knew there were some faculty members that were very impacted by Sandy Hook and Columbine and it's not easy when you talk about somebody coming in and shooting children or shooting staff,” McDonald admits. “But I was able to build that trust and that relationship with my staff because they trusted me and they know that I have their safety at heart.”

With training, the chance of surviving an active shooter incident increases significantly, especially considering that the majority of incidents have been carried out by current or former students or employees.

Armoured One’s training focuses on the Run-Hide-Barricade-Fight model and explores how employees can mentally prepare and react when an incident occurs in their building.

TAKING IT FURTHER

While he was happy with the assessments and training, McDonald knew there was more he could do to protect his students. He worked with Czyz and his team to fit some of his buildings with shooter attack resistant glass and film. The decision to invest in infrastructure was an easy one for McDonald. Armoured One’s training team provides specialized breakouts for the classroom at Baldwinsville’s Palmer Elementary School.

“What I communicate to the taxpayers is that you can’t put price tag on safety because God forbid something happens in Baldwinsville like it did at Sandy Hook, you can’t take that back,” McDonald explains, “I have made a commitment to our kids, our staff and our community to start to secure our buildings and provide the training and professional development necessary to protect all of us.”

McDonald had Armoured One Shooter Attack Glass installed in a number of his buildings to ensure that if an attack happened, the attackers would be slowed down and casualties would be limited if not eliminated.

Armoured One’s training team provides specialized breakouts for the classroom at Baldwinsville’s Palmer Elementary School

PARTNERING TO DELIVER SOLUTIONS

Armoured One partnered with Avery Dennison to develop shooter attack resistant glass and film products. Third-party tested, both the glass and film are bomb blast tested and shooter attack certified. The UL Observed Shooter Attack testing simulates real-life attacks to ensure that the product is both bullet and attack resistant.

Armoured One also partnered with Masonite Architectural to develop a Shooter Attack Resistant life opening - the door itself, the jamb, frame, lock, window, and sidelight. This security door product can be customized and used in any building type.

The Armoured One UL Observed Shooter Attack Glass is ideal for larger, capital construction projects or renovations. Armoured One’s UL Observed Shooter Attack Film can be retrofitted to preexisting glass in windows and doors to provide a layer of protection while taking into consideration the costs. The 23MIL film is applied to pre-existing glass using patented adhesive technology.

McDonald knew that making changes in his community would empower his faculty and staff and save the lives of his students. While it required an investment, McDonald understood that taking the time to understand the community's concerns about safety and security in its schools would enable him to make impactful decisions.

“Our staff were very nervous at first but they have embraced it, they are confident, and they want more,” McDonald explains. “Not only within our schools - they feel confident walking through the mall or anywhere where there are people. They are getting an education in school safety as well as safety in their lives.”

McDonald will continue to work with the Armoured One team on additional training and upgrades to his buildings, both by implementing changes based on the assessments and by adding additional glass and film.

For more information on Armoured One, please visit armouredone.com

I look forward to your thoughts below and @armouredone.com

This article was written for DHI Door Security and Safety Professionals Magazine