Tennessee District Adding Protective Coating to School Doors and Windows

Tennessee District Adding Protective Coating to School Doors and Windows

"[…] We're always looking for ways that we can increase the difficulty and increase the amount of time that it might take someone to breach those areas, so by putting this coating on those glass surfaces, it does provide a more secure area,", Assistant Superintendent Andy True said.

  • By Jessica Davis
  • January 16, 2019

Kingsport City Schools is using funding from the State of Tennessee designated for safety to install Llumar coating on doors and windows at the entrances of all of the city’s school campuses.

Llumar bonds to glass, making it much harder for bad actors to break the doors or windows out and make their way into the schools. School officials said the coating will help make entrances safer.

"In these types of scenarios, we're always looking for ways that we can increase the difficulty and increase the amount of time that it might take someone to breach those areas, so by putting this coating on those glass surfaces, it does provide a more secure area,", Assistant Superintendent Andy True told WJHL. "An entrance point that you just can't break your way through, it takes a significant effort and amount of time to come through that."

Llumar is not bulletproof; a bullet could potentially pass through the coated glass, but the glass won’t shatter and it will take several minutes for the bullet to pass through. In addition, the coating on the glass is 13 millimeters thick and bonds to the glass rather than simply covering it, making it impossible to remove.

“It allows time for any kind of response to take place. If it is going to take minutes to breach a broken glass, it doesn't shatter, so it will take someone that might have ill-intent, it will take them minutes to be able to get through that,” True said. “Allowing for a response, and again, act as a deterrent, folks would know that can't just break a glass and go through it."

The Llumar coating on the glass is 13 millimeters (about half an inch) thick and bonds to the glass rather than simply covering it, making it impossible to remove.

Most of the campuses in Kingsport already have Llumar on their entryway glass. The schools that still need it installed should be done sometime this week.

 "We feel good about some of the things that have been put in place, but we always know we can improve,", True said. "We're always on the lookout for ways that we can make improvements, ways that we can create those safe environments so that when students and staff come in our buildings, they feel safe."

About the Author

Jessica Davis is the Associate Content Editor for 1105 Media.

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