Following the success of a two-year pilot program, Long Beach Unified schools will receive electronic door locks over the next few years to improve the safety of students and teachers.
The electronic door locks pilot project was launched in June 2021 at four schools—Bixby Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School, John Muir and Jackie Robinson K-8 Academies.
The school sites were selected based on the status of campus renovations; some sites where construction was already underway and others where Measure E—a $1.5 billion bond measure the district passed back in 2016—work had recently been completed.
LBUSD Public Information Office Assistant Director Evelyn Somoza told the Signal Tribune that the $1.5 million pilot program was funded by the district’s Measure K bond. Measure K is a $1.2 billion bond measure passed by voters in 2008.
The goal of the project was to determine if installing electronic door locks is feasible district-wide and assess if it helps improve the safety and emergency responses of schools.
Based on the feedback, the district plans to expand and implement the enhanced door locks at other school sites and district facilities. Executive Director of Facilities Development and Planning David Miranda said the project would take about four and a half years, tackling 18 to 20 sites per year.
Somoza told the Signal Tribune that the district-wide installation is anticipated to cost $40 million, and will be funded through Measure Q—a $1.7 billion bond measure approved in 2022.
According to data from the Washington Post, there have been 386 school shootings since 1999, 27 of which happened this year. Between 1970 and 2022, there have been 226 school shootings in California, as per the California School Board Association.
Pilot project results
The pilot project—which would grant the ability to lock down a campus with a few clicks of a button—was introduced to increase campus safety.
The digital door locks were installed for classroom doors only, but as the district moves to install them district-wide, the facilities team will return to the pilot sites to enhance the remaining office and hallway doors.
According to survey feedback, teachers expressed concern about whose credentials would have access to their classroom. Emergency Preparedness Program Manager Cameron Smith said when implementing the program at the first school, the safety office was assigning door access to teachers for their respective classroom only.
“Staff felt safer having the locks there, knowing that they were locked or had the ability to be locked down with just a click of a button. They [also] liked the idea of having fewer keys.”
Emergency Preparedness Program Manager Cameron Smith
However, after some evaluation, Smith realized that the proposed strategy would not work from an emergency safety planning aspect.
Smith mentioned that in the event of a lockdown, teachers would need to be able to lead students to whatever classroom is nearest and most convenient instead of risking endangering them if their classroom is farther down the hall.
To address the teachers’ concern, however, Smith said each door contains a log with the information on what badge was last used to unlock it.
“It allows us the opportunity to see, ‘Hey, Did something go missing overnight? We have an intrusion alarm at this time, was there badge access at that time?’ Not saying that that individual is responsible, but now we can identify if the access card wasn’t reported missing,” Smith said. “It gives us a little bit more knowledge into who’s on our campuses at what time.”
The 14-question survey was sent out to all staff who work at the pilot school sites. Smith said the survey had a 25-30% response rate from each school and that there was an improved perception of safety.
“Staff felt safer having the locks there, knowing that they were locked or had the ability to be locked down with just a click of a button. They [also] liked the idea of having fewer keys,” Smith said.
However, the new door locks meant that classroom doors would always be locked unless a teacher opened them, which could be disruptive when students had to leave and re-enter the room to go to the bathroom.
To address this, Smith said the best solution would be to create hall pass badges specifically assigned to each classroom that students can take.
According to the survey feedback, some staff identified wanting more training on how to use the badges. Smith said that while training was offered to all sites, some did not accept it and that some of the questions brought up by staff would have been addressed in the training.
“The little nuances of the system can all be fixed through that training opportunity and the use of videos as a way to educate that staff,” Smith said, adding that the school safety team is working on creating short videos on how the badges work as well as plans to make short trainings mandatory for any school that incorporates the new door locks.
Similar to the pilot program, the district-wide installation schedule would work hand-in-hand with the district’s modernization timeline.
