Something occurred to me while I was thinking about Sandy Hook and it would not be an inexpensive fix for enhanced safety for children.
This is Weston Elementary School in Manville, New Jersey.
It is where my sisters and I attended school for K through 6th grade.
The Kindergarten was located at the front of the school. It was tangent to the Main Office / Principal's Office. The building is one story throughout. The picture below is fuzzy because I enlarged it to see what design existed for the Kindergarten.
The Kindergarten had four classes a day. Two in the AM and two in afternoon. There were two rooms for the Kindergarten classes. The Kindergarten also had their own playground immediately outside the safety glass door (There was wire throughout the door in the structure of chicken wire in case the glass was damaged. It would not shatter). It was set up that way to prevent disruption to the rest of the school when they came and went. And they were the 'little guys' and shouldn't be on the same playground with bigger and taller children.
Interesting enough those glass doors were never a problem and actually let more sunshine into the school room. Those doors opened from the inside, so the children would line up outside after being called as they were probably busy on the playground and then they would walk into the classroom on time to class.
Above to the right is the door. It is immediately the first dark area that goes from top of the windows to the ground. The other classroom was the same except it was at the far end of this area of the school.
When I was thinking about Sandy Hook and when I was a 'little guy' I thought about those doors. The children in those classrooms had fire drills and were exited out those doors to firemen "The Good Guys" waiting outside. I can't help but believe if classrooms had fire doors or safety doors like this they would be able to get away from a gunman.
Just a thought.
