South Carolina School District Installing Bulletproof Doors

South Carolina School District Installing Bulletproof Doors

The doors will be installed as part of a pilot program at two elementary schools and one high school.

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • July 30, 2018

South Carolina's Charleston County School District announced they will install bulletproof doors to increase school security. The doors will be installed as part of a pilot program at two elementary schools and one high school.

"If our students do not feel safe or are not safe, they can't learn," CCSD School Board Chairman Kate Darby said. "School safety remains out top priority. It is a daunting task maintaining 5,500 cameras, 1,550 electronic door access points, completing 100 emergency drills and screening more than 300,000 visitors to our schools per year but out district staff has been up to the task."

Darby says the doors will be placed at the entrance to some classrooms at the schools. Each door will cost approximately $4,000, not including installation.

R2P Innovations, the manufacturer of the bulletproof doors, says the door will stop the highest level of ballistic threat.

"Over the last four years we've taken the experience of protecting the war fighter and incorporated that into a solution that can now address another clear and present danger and that is the ever increasing spike that we see in active shooter events where military-grade hardware is brought on campus and mass murder is committed," R2P Innovations CEO Tony Deering says.

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said his city placed 31 police officers in schools at a cost of about $2 million per year. Summey said the police officers act as a deterrent, but that bulletproof doors would give schools time to protect students until first responders can arrive.

"We're talking about the millions of dollars it's going to cost. You break that down in a 10-year bond, you're talking about $500,000 a year. We've got 50,000 students. That's $10 per year per child," Summey said. "How much is life worth?"

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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