should schools have automatic door locks

[888888]

should schools have automatic door locks that can only be open from the inside to allow students or anyone else in or out of a classroom once the lock is set by a computer in the office? Still kids would be at risk for the time they are changing classes but it seem it would be a start. And maybe open areas would have to be done away with.
There are things we could do, is there not?
We will never stop crazy bastards from doing stupid things, but maybe we can stop them from doing them in a school or at least slow it down some.

 

[LeRoy_Was_Here]

The school in Newtown had such automatic door locks, but the shooter simply shot his way through them.

No open areas? So we should turn all our schools into something resembling prisons? I'm sure that would be just wonderful for the educational achievements of our students. No more teaching classes outdoors on days when the weather is beautiful (which we often do at our school)? Students must spend their entire days in classrooms under lockdown conditions? I think this would all be tantamount to 'surrendering to the terrorists'.

 

[888888]

well if we are not going to do something to keep weapons that are made for mass killing from being used in this manner what answer would fit? Just take our chances? Have many armed guards at each school and any activity that people people attend in large amounts, solely for for this purpose.

I know that I would be worried if I had to attend a school that I was not protected in, if I was a child or a parent.

 

[PhilFish]

such things exist today in many schools.

My son's elementary school allows entry only up to the vestibule and administrative office. the hallways leading to the classrooms are secured with automatic locks controlled from the office.

there are highschools in philadelphis with metal detectors at the main entrance, grated windows, armed guards...and so forth.. not for this reason, but in an attempt to curb violence and weapons brought in..

 

[Bo-4]

I'm kind of with LR on this one. Fine line between safety and creating prison-like environment. And kids have to go the the bathroom sometimes during class.. what then?

Newer schools do have limited entrances and more security. But who pays for retrofitting on the old ones when Republicans don't even seem to have an appetite for fixing the schools that are crumbling right now?

 

[Arkady]

should schools have automatic door locks that can only be open from the inside to allow students or anyone else in or out of a classroom once the lock is set by a computer in the office? Still kids would be at risk for the time they are changing classes but it seem it would be a start. And maybe open areas would have to be done away with.
There are things we could do, is there not?
We will never stop crazy bastards from doing stupid things, but maybe we can stop them from doing them in a school or at least slow it down some.

It might help in some cases. But I worry about creating a prison mentality among pupils. It's not so much an issue, I guess, with the youngest kids, who are kind of used to a "lock-down" setting even at home, where they're rightly under constant supervision. But, by the time they've reached high school, I don't want that high-security setting for them. The world's never going to be a completely safe place, and that's OK.

 

[LeRoy_Was_Here]

well if we are not going to do something to keep weapons that are made for mass killing from being used in this manner what answer would fit? Just take our chances? Have many armed guards at each school and any activity that people people attend in large amounts, solely for for this purpose.

I know that I would be worried if I had to attend a school that I was not protected in, if I was a child or a parent.

Ah, but I didn't say we should not 'do anything'. The something I would do would be to prohibit private citizens from owning military-style assault weapons with large-capacity magazines. Perfectly constitutional, as a reasonable, common-sense restriction on the Second Amendment.