School grounds have become hunting grounds for sick individuals with automatic weapons.Leaving schools under attack and scrambling for security solutions.
School teachers, principals and superintendents today face challenges rarely faced before the new millennium.Every new program they start, every new upgrade they make, and most new products they purchase for their facilities must be mindful of security aspects. Window shades are a great example.
Threats from outside the building…
The shades or blinds on the outward facing windows in a school are critical to an active shooter lockdown. If the threat is on the outside of the building, teachers need to be able to quickly and safely close the shades or blinds.
Individual shades for each window are likely a thing of the past. Making window coverings, larger, and covering several windows with one large shade or blind is the future for lockdown.
A trend towards motorization and automation
Classrooms have large banks of windows. Sometimes as many as 10 windows mulled together. Whether a school chooses horizontal or vertical blinds or chooses shades that roll up and down, motorization and/or automation is likely in their future.
Window shades use motors that are inside the roller tube that roll the fabric up and down. Most motors take about 20 roller rotations to fully lower or raise a window shade, which takes about 10 to 20 seconds to fully lower all the classroom shades.
There is a window shade specifically designed for school lockdowns called SecurShade. It may be the best solution if you prefer rolling window shades.
It can be made as a chain operated treatment for everyday use but also automatically deploys to the down position, using a special component.
This can happen from each individual classroom or from a central location. The system allows the shades to quickly close (only one to two seconds) with the push of one button. It’s a pretty amazing system designed as a Labor of Love by a retired engineer in Vermont that was fed up with school shootings.
Using manual blinds for lockdowns
Now, window blinds are a different story. Horizontal Venetian style blinds are super effective for lockdowns. Venetian blinds were once a favorite in schools for sun control.
I think they fell out of favor because of the maintenance aspect. They create a lot of horizontal surfaces that need periodical dusting. But, they are super efficient when closing.
If Venetian blinds are done correctly, teachers could get manually operated Venetian blinds all closed within 10 seconds or so. If you motorize the tilt function of a Venetian blind, you can lock down a room instantly.
I’m Steve Beaudoin, creator of Shelter Shutters and small business owner for 45 years. I created Shelter Shutters 10 years ago ( also a labor of love) and that has allowed me to assess over 650 schools nationwide. I provide a low cost consulting service to Schools for their visual lockdown needs.