Safety experts question classroom barricade devices

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A nationwide push allowing schools to buy portable barricade devices they can set up if an active shooter enters their building has school security and fire experts questioning whether they’re really safe.

Those opposed to the devices say they’re complicated to install under stress and could lead to dangerous unintended consequences – including blocking authorities from an attacker inside a classroom.

“Unlisted, unlabeled, and untested,” said a July report by Ohio’s building codes board critical of the devices. Nevertheless, the board was forced to update its codes to allow the devices after lawmakers approved them this summer after testimony from manufacturers and parents of school children.

The devices have gained popularity in the wake of the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook massacres and a 2012 shooting in the Cleveland suburb of Chardon that killed three students. Some manufacturers post real-life 911 school emergency calls to their websites along with scary actor reenactments of intrusions.

Regardless of such sales tactics, many parents have legitimate concern about keeping their children safe in an era of mass shootings.

Some devices slide under a door, while others attach to a door handle. Some require holes drilled into the floor for security pins.

But the National Association of State Fire Marshals says such devices could put people inside classrooms in peril – and run counter to recommendations made after the December 2012 Sandy Hook slayings. Critics say the devices could allow someone looking to do harm an easy way to cut victims off from help.

A better solution is doors that lock from the inside and can be opened from the outside with a key, said Jim Narva, the association’s national director. The group cites research by the Sandy Hook commission that found no shooter has ever breached a locked classroom door.

ALICE, a national security training organization based in Northeast Ohio, recommends barricading classroom doors with desks and tables from the inside in case of an active shooter. The group won’t endorse specific door devices out of concerns some may violate fire codes, better products may emerge in the future and schools may be over reliant on the device alone.