Just weeks before the tragic shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, West Elementary School in Alabama became the first US school to install a new security system unveiled in early March. The security system can reportedly block bullets as well as be used for protection from extreme weather events, per CBS 42. Several State and local officials attended the demonstration that showcased a whiteboard that can expand into a safe room.
The school has purchased two of these “whiteboards” for its special education classes at a cost of $120,000, according to the Independent.
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The security system was created in response to school shootings.
A local man named Kevin Thomas invented the system after the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. That school shooting resulted in the death of 19 students and two teachers, according to the Independent. In 2022 alone, 46 school shootings took place in the US, the Washington Post reported.
Though events involving gun violence have increased throughout the country, Alabama reportedly has the second highest rate of gun violence in the US, according to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
The safe room can reportedly hold up to 60 children or 20 adults.
The company that created the safe room, KT Security Solutions, stated it offers “NIJ level III protection,” which withstands a .308 caliber rifle, per AL.com. The whiteboard can be expanded into a “safe room” within 10 seconds and can function as an additional learning space when not in use for safety.
A special education teacher at West Elementary School uses the space in a different way than it was originally designed for. “I’ve started using it as a sensory space for my children. It’s an incentive … if you behave, if you do what is asked of you, you can go in and have some free time,” Hali Marquette said, according to AL.com. “So it’s been really good so far. They love it. And that’s the most important thing is making it a safe space for them.”
Officials see it as an important investment.
Democratic State Representative Anthony Daniels said, “I serve on the Budget Committee and so for me, this is something that’s needed and it’s something that I’m certainly on board with,” per AL.com. “We can’t afford not to do anything. We’ve been having conversations for too long and someone has come up with a solution to solve the problem.”
The president of National School Safety and Security Services did not seem to view the whiteboard security system the same way.
“Active shooters are only one of many school safety threats and school leaders need to spend as much time, if not more, on prevention and planning for more likely security threats such as non-custodial parent issues at elementary schools or fighting and issues that require heightened adult supervision to prevent incidents,” Kenneth Trump said, according to AL.com.
Twitter users were not impressed with the security system.
Gillian Brooks, a journalist and reporter with WBCR, shared a video of the system in action on Twitter. The tweet and video have been viewed more than 28 million times. The response from Twitter users, however, was not a positive one.
“Imagine thinking ‘deploying bullet-resistant a room inside a room’ a solution instead of comprehensive gun reform legislation,” one person commented.
“Alabama is deploying safe rooms in schools while banning books in schools. The idea seems to be that kids can survive mass school shootings but not reading The Bluest Eye or a Brave New World,” another user wrote.
One way or another, we hope that West Elementary School never has a reason to use its new security system as it was intended.
