How schools are changing the designs of American classrooms to prevent child massacres
American schools are being radically redesigned to prevent mass shootings and slow down gunmen if they get inside.
Doors are magnet locked with the push of a phone key, every window and door has a bullet-resistant glass film, and panic buttons are everywhere.
Once straight-lined hallways are curved to reduce a shooter's line of sight and 'wing walls' just out from the side to provide cover for police and students.
These hallways are made of thick concrete blocks so a gunman can't fire through them into classrooms, as happened in some school shootings.
Inside the renovated Fruitpoint High School in Michigan - a model for the new world of American schools designed to prevent mass shootings
Classroom doors all have locks and are positioned so there is a 'shadow zone' of the room a shooter couldn't see from the entrance that students can hide in.
Some schools are also trying to design windows in ground-floor classrooms that can be easily opened for students to escape.
Blinds can also be quickly pulled down to prevent a shooter who is outside the building form seeing or shooting inside.
Lockers are moved out of hallways into large open-plan areas where students can be under the watchful eye of teachers at all times.
Classroom doors all have locks and are positioned so there is a 'shadow zone' of the room a shooter couldn't see from the entrance that students can hide in
Lockers are moved out of hallways into large open-plan areas where students can be under the watchful eye of teachers at all times - but they also provide cover
The inside of the classroom with the door positioning shown here
However, the lockers are also positioned to be short enough that teachers can watch students use them - but tall enough to hide behind in a shooting.
Entry points are also redesigned to control access - starting with fewer points of entry and a gate that can be closed during school hours.
An intruder would then have to get through multiple layers of security before they reach a central reception rotunda.
Once straight-lined hallways are curved to reduce a shooter's line of sight and 'wing walls' just out from the side to provide cover for police and students
A school official shows off the wing walls in a tour after the school was built
This desk has easy line of sight to the the entrance so it can see the shooter coming from a long way off, even if they shoot their way through.
A model for this approach is Fruitport High School in Fruitpoint, Michigan, near Grand Rapids, which had a $50 million redesign that opened in 2021.
The design by TowerPinkster architects incorporated most of these features that are becoming standard on all newly built and renovated American schools.
