School shootings driving push for door locking devices in Massachusetts schools

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 11, 2023…..There have been 317 school shootings in the United States so far this year, exceeding last year’s record-breaking amount, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Responding to a sharp rise in school shooting incidents since 2010, lawmakers are aiming to create a pathway for districts to use door-locking technology in emergency situations.

“The Department of Homeland Security has determined that properly locked doors can have a significant impact on the outcomes of an active shooter event, particularly when combined with adequate lockdown procedures,” said Sen. Michael Moore of Millbury, one of the co-sponsors of a bill to allow temporary door-locking devices in public buildings (H 4155 / S 2514).

In Massachusetts, building and fire codes dating back to the 1960s don’t allow certain locks in public buildings, said Guy Glodis, a lobbyist and former lawmaker, at a Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security hearing on Monday.

“I remember my kids going onto school buses and I never in a million years worried about them perishing from a fire. Never even crossed my mind. But myself, along with hundreds of thousands of other parents, worry about school shootings on a daily basis,” Glodis said.

The bill would direct the Executive Office of Public Safety, The Executive Office of Education and the School Building Authority to write new regulations allowing for door locks designed for emergencies to be installed in schools and other buildings.

These regulations would dictate what situations the locks can be used in, and would need to go through a local approval process in cities and towns, including consultation with the fire and police departments.

“This is not a mandate,” said Rep. Jeffrey Turco of Winthrop, the bill’s co-sponsor in the House. “It’s simply a requirement that EOPSS put in place regulations that allow this, and then obviously, ultimately, school districts can then make a determination for themselves whether or not this added safety protection is something that they are interested in.”

“A doorknob lock is not enough,” said Jack Taylor, owner of the door barricade company, Nightlock. “Most classroom doors and office building doors, they have a window in their doors. And it’s usually right next to the doorknob lock hatch. This has happened before — the bad guy can break that window, reach his arm through, and just unlock the door by turning the lock handle. A secondary locking mechanism is needed.”

Cris Ahearn, a sales director with Nightlock — a lockdown lock designed to barricade doors in the case of an active shooter — said Monday that a classroom door staying closed in these situations could be the difference between life and death.

“We saw this in Oxford, Michigan on Nov. 30, 2021 when a student opened fire in a bathroom after lunch before the next hour. The hallways were packed with students heading to their next class. And they heard the gunshots ring out from the bathroom and the hallways emptied into the classrooms where the teachers and students barricaded,” Ahearn said.

Four students lost their lives that day, she said, two who had been in the bathroom with the shooter and two girls who were killed in the hallway.

“The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department said the shooter ran out of targets, and then he turned on the classrooms, but quickly surrendered to school resource officers,” Ahearn said.

She also referenced a school shooting in Nashville in March, where six classroom doors were barricaded with this emergency lock. No one in those six classrooms were harmed, she said.

“That technology does exist today, and it not only exists, but it’s being used in states across this nation,” Glodis said. “It’s being used in school districts, and it has literally saved lives in school shooting events. The irony, though, is that this technology is not available in Massachusetts because of antiquated building and fire codes.”

Rep. Steven Xiarhos of Yarmouth, who sits on the public safety committee, said Sandwich, which he represents, has tried to get these barricade locks in their schools.

“They are trying to do this common sense procedure to help secure our schools, save children, educators,” Xiarhos said. “This is simple, it’s cost effective … In 2023, we’re supposed to tie a rope to a door, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts? That’s one of the things — tie a rope to the door or put a piece of furniture in front of it. That’s not the way we should be doing things. Keeping children safe is so important.”

The bill calls for educators in districts that opt into using these locks to get trained by first responders, as well as for annual inspections of the devices.

“This would allow law enforcement professionals those extra seconds or minutes to be able to arrive on the scene, and know that our kids and our staff are secure in the building,” Turco said.