New Ohio school barricade rule concerns disability-rights groups

Associated Press

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio

The Ohio building standards board Friday gave final approval to rules allowing schools to deploy barricade devices in the event of an active shooter, but a disability-rights group said they are not consistent with federal law ensuring equal access.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that locks be usable by people with disabilities and doesn’t hold an exception for the devices, according to the Ohio Disability Rights Law and Policy Center.

That inconsistency may prevent some school employees from being able to use the devices and “has the potential to create an environment where they are discriminated against because of their inability to operate this device,” said Michael Kirkman, the center’s executive director.

The new rules overseeing the barricade devices take effect in 10 days.

Parents, school districts and device manufacturers lobbied lawmakers to allow the devices after school shootings, including the 2012 killing of three students in Chardon, in Northeast Ohio.

Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio are among states that have updated their fire or building codes to allow the devices. Some devices used in Ohio and elsewhere slide under doors and could require that holes be drilled into the floor for security pins. Others attach to door handles.

The federal disability law is outside the board’s authority, said Steve Regoli, the board’s architect project administrator. As a result, it’s up to schools as employers to explore options to comply with the disabilities law, he said.