City, DCPS declares partnership with firm specializing in security doors, glass

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The town of Jacksonville and Duval County college district on Wednesday announced a brand new plan to maintain kids secure in the classroom.

The school district hired a New York company named Armoured One, which specializes in doors and glass and claims it will possibly decelerate or prevent a shooter from getting into a classroom.

Those are crucial components after police in Texas determined the door accessed by the gunman at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde was closed however not locked. Initially, state police stated a teacher left the door propped open. Investigators concluded the teacher really closed the door, nevertheless it didn’t lock routinely prefer it was alleged to. The gunman shot and killed 19 college students and two academics earlier than he was killed by regulation enforcement.

Armoured One, which was founded after the Sandy Hook Elementary College taking pictures, is made up of former navy and legislation enforcement brokers who examine mass shooting assaults and seek the advice of on school security measures.

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“We are going to first work collaboratively to establish the place Armoured One sources can greatest praise the coaching already provided, adding their sources to the training instruments and sources the district already makes use of,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry stated Wednesday afternoon at a news conference at City Corridor to announce the partnership.

Press the play button instantly below to look at the whole information conference.

The safety glass and film that Armoured One invented can withstand several hits -- whether that’s bullets, someone ramming into the glass or using other objects or weapons -- without breaking, which may sluggish an attacker. The doors it uses have metallic framing, latch bolts and deadbolts.

Armoured One can also be identified for offering active shooter coaching and assessments. The company points individual reports for each building and recommends the perfect equipment to make use of for every facility it’s working with.

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Curry mentioned he plans to seek out the funding for that training but in addition work with the corporate to perform college safety assessments. Armoured One CEO Tom Czyz mentioned his workforce knows what to search for when it assesses a faculty’s vulnerability.

“They’re ways to slow down an attacker and speed up police response,” Czyz stated. “How do we slow him down -- after which velocity up the response that may cease him.”

Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene and Duval County College Police Division Chief Greg Burton say security and safety are high of thoughts every single day.

What I want to be widespread is that our families know that we are prepared each and every day. And that’s what we work in direction of being a better school district because it relates to security and safety,” Green mentioned.

Burton stated, “I might say the one phrase that summarizes every part that we do is vigilance.”

Greene said that the district’s finest defense is its students and staff. She stated she continues to encourage the college neighborhood to report anything they see that’s suspicious.

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As far as the associated fee, it’s unclear proper now, because the partnership remains to be being labored out.

Duval County voters authorised a half-cent sales tax in November 2020 with the particular objective of changing growing older colleges, repairing a large backlog of upkeep issues, and bolstering college safety.

Proper now, 74 projects are in the design section and 15 are underneath development.

As of January 2022, the tax has generated greater than $118 million dollars, with more than $5.7 million already spent or allotted to projects under building.

Over its 15-year life, the sales tax is projected to generate $64.9 million for the precise function of upgrading faculty security in DCPS schools.

Extra details about how that cash is planned to be spent in individual faculties will be discovered on the college district’s half-cent sales tax data dashboard.

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The following list of safety measures is printed on the varsity district’s website:

Each school has a safety plan and emergency response workforce.

All school classrooms are locked when occupied by college students.

Faculty plans are reviewed with workers each semester.

The district has a extremely skilled faculty police department, giving all faculties direct access to highschool useful resource officers.

The district utilizes numerous major safety monitoring methods including digicam surveillance and monitored managed entry methods.

All faculties and district places of work have a District Emergency Communications Network radio with direct entry to school police and district leadership. College Police have direct entry to JSO.

All schools conduct common evacuation drills (hearth drills).

All faculties conduct regular emergency and lockdown (“code purple” and “code yellow”) drills.

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