City, DCPS proclaims partnership with firm specializing in safety doors, glass

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Town of Jacksonville and Duval County college district on Wednesday introduced a new plan to maintain children secure in the classroom.

The varsity district employed a New York company named Armoured One, which makes a speciality of doorways and glass and claims it may slow down or prevent a shooter from getting into a classroom.

Those are essential components after police in Texas decided the door accessed by the gunman at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde was closed however not locked. Originally, state police mentioned a trainer left the door propped open. Investigators concluded the trainer truly closed the door, but it didn’t lock automatically prefer it was alleged to. The gunman shot and killed 19 college students and two academics before he was killed by regulation enforcement.

Armoured One, which was founded after the Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty taking pictures, is made up of former navy and law enforcement agents who research mass shooting assaults and seek the advice of on faculty security measures.

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“We are going to first work collaboratively to determine the place Armoured One assets can best praise the coaching already offered, including their sources to the training tools and sources the district already uses,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said Wednesday afternoon at a news conference at Metropolis Hall to announce the partnership.

Press the play button directly beneath to observe the entire information conference.

The safety glass and film that Armoured One invented can face up to a number of hits -- whether or not that’s bullets, someone ramming into the glass or using other objects or weapons -- with out breaking, which may slow an attacker. The doors it makes use of have metal framing, latch bolts and deadbolts.

Armoured One can be recognized for providing energetic shooter coaching and assessments. The corporate issues individual reports for each building and recommends the best equipment to make use of for every facility it’s working with.

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Curry said he plans to seek out the funding for that training but also work with the company to perform college safety assessments. Armoured One CEO Tom Czyz mentioned his crew knows what to look for when it assesses a college’s vulnerability.

“They’re methods to slow down an attacker and velocity up police response,” Czyz said. “How do we gradual him down -- and then speed up the response that would stop him.”

Duval County Public Colleges Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene and Duval County College Police Division Chief Greg Burton say security and safety are top of mind each day.

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

Burton said, “I'd say the one phrase that summarizes all the things that we do is vigilance.”

Greene stated that the district’s best defense is its students and staff. She said she continues to encourage the college neighborhood to report something 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 approved a half-cent gross sales tax in November 2020 with the particular purpose of replacing ageing colleges, repairing a massive backlog of maintenance points, and bolstering college security.

Proper now, 74 projects are in the design part and 15 are beneath construction.

As of January 2022, the tax has generated more than $118 million dollars, with more than $5.7 million already spent or allotted to tasks underneath 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.

More details about how that cash is planned to be spent in particular person colleges can be discovered on the school district’s half-cent sales tax data dashboard.

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The next list of safety measures is published on the school district’s web site:

Each school has a safety plan and emergency response staff.

All faculty lecture rooms are locked when occupied by college students.

Faculty plans are reviewed with workers each semester.

The district has a extremely trained faculty police division, giving all schools direct entry to school useful resource officers.

The district makes use of various major security monitoring methods together with camera surveillance and monitored managed entry methods.

All colleges and district places of work have a District Emergency Communications Community radio with direct entry to highschool police and district leadership. College Police have direct entry to JSO.

All schools conduct common evacuation drills (fire drills).

All faculties conduct common emergency and lockdown (“code red” and “code yellow”) drills.

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