PRC Schools to deploy intruder defense system on classroom doors
During their June 4th meeting, the Pearl River County School Board Trustees approved a proposal from Louisiana-based Intru-Door for equipping classroom doors with their devices that are intended to be put into action if an armed intruder becomes present in a school.
Intru-Door is an upstart manufacturer of a system designed to enable teachers to lock down their room by covering the vertical window with a sliding plate and a drop bar which will secure the door from being kicked or push in by a would-be intruder.
Brothers Brian and Ricky Coe came up with the idea from Brian’s girlfriend, who is a school teacher.
The unit uses CR640 quarter-inch heavy gauge steel and is all welded together. The unit will mount into cement (concrete or block), a metal frame of the door, or sheet rock anchors in a wall. The brothers have a patent pending on the Intru-Door system.
As of May 7th, the Intru-Door is being used in one school, Simpson Academy in Magee, MS, according to Brian Coe, but they have many proposals awaiting a decision from other schools in the region.
The device can be deployed in seconds as shown in the video link below.
(Click to watch video)
The district had received a proposal during their May 7 meeting, but after much discussion, the board decided to table the proposal until the June 4th meeting due to some concerns raise during discussion among the board and school administrators at the meeting. The board also wanted Intru-Door to prepare a different proposal that was more specific with a quantity and cost per school.
Concerns raised were about the possibility of students barricading themselves inside a room using the Intru-Door system by locking out a teacher and classmates in the hall. Also, during the discussion, it was realized that the elementary school doors would not be able to work with the Intru-Door system with the current configuration based on the size of the openings on the doors.
After receiving the new proposal and another long discussion, the school board approved to move forward by a vote of 2 to 1 with the purchase of 102 window protectors (slides) at $200.00 each and 114 door protectors (latching arms) at $144.00 each from Intru-Door for a total cost of $36,816.00.
Board members Jeremy Weir and Jeff Jones voted yes, while Elaine Voss voted no. Rodney Dyess and Natalie Glorioso were absent from the meeting.
