The new school will be installed with a security system that can lock any door with the push of a button. Photo / YouTube/NBC News
The new school will be installed with a security system that can lock any door with the push of a button. Photo / YouTube/NBC News
Curved hallways to reduce a gunman's line of vision, hiding spots that can fit up to 30 students and bulletproof windows are sadly becoming the norm in American schools.
With mass shootings on the rise in the US and becoming deadlier — there have been 287 in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive — schools are being renovated to add built-in security features, with the hope of protecting students in the event of an active shooter situation, reports News.com.au.
NBC News was given a tour of a $US48 million ($A70 million) high school renovation in Fruitport, Michigan, where preventive measures have been factored into the layout. The plans were drawn up by an architecture firm that specialises in building prisons.
The school's hallways have been built in a curved shape to cut down a gunman's line of sight so a potential shooter can't aim and fire at as many students.
Classrooms have also been built with "wing walls" — hiding nooks with space for as many as 30 students and teachers.
Windows, meanwhile, have been treated with impact-resistant film so they won't shatter if hit by a hail of gunfire.
Classrooms and other spaces will also feature a "shadow zone" where students can line up against the wall, making it harder for the shooter to land a hit.
The new school will be installed with a security system that can lock any door with the push of a button, meaning a gunman could be quarantined until police arrive. Or, the shooter could be stopped from entering a library or classroom, with students safe inside.
American high schools typically have tall lockers lining the hallways, but the new Fruitport school has moved lockers to a special room. Tall lockers have also been swapped for short ones, so teachers and security guards have more visibility.
The extreme but sadly necessary measures aren't meant to frighten people and will make students safer, Fruitport Community Schools superintendent Bob Szymoniak explained.
"We put these things in place in such a way that if you looked at them, you didn't know that is a security measure," Mr Szymoniak said.
A 'wing wall' designed for students to hide behind in the event of an active shooter. Photo / YouTube/NBC News
"For that specific reason, we want students to feel that the school is warm and welcoming, not some type of refuge or bunker to keep them safe.
"I think that it's only responsible that school districts and communities do what they can to incorporate security measures into their schools to keep the students safe."
One Fruitport student told NBC the deterrent measures would bring her peace of mind.
"I don't have to think, 'What if a shooter came in right now?' I can just focus on Spanish class," she said.
Fruitport isn't the first school to incorporate mass-shooting deterrent design elements. Following the unthinkable horror at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in 2012, when 26 people died — many of the victims just six and seven years old — the school was overhauled with new security features, including bulletproof glass and a system that gives administrators the ability to shut all classroom doors at once if necessary.
The risk of a mass shooting has long been a sad reality for school students in the US.
Lockdown drills and metal detectors have been a necessity for many years. Even before new building security features, some students and parents have been taking safety into their own hands by purchasing bulletproof backpacks.
Curved hallways reduce a shooter's line of sight. Photo / YouTube/NBC News
And in a post-Sandy Hook and Parkland world, back-to-school supplies now include, for some, buckets and cat litter in classrooms. These have been given to teachers in some districts in case people need to go to the toilet during a lockdown.
Some have also been given textas to write on a tourniquet the time it was applied to a bleeding student.
US President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have argued an armed teacher could provide the best defence against a shooter. In May, Florida approved a bill that allows teachers to be armed after taking a 144-hour training course.
Since the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, in which 15 students died, hundreds more have been injured or killed by a gun at school. According to The Washington Post, more than 228,000 students have been exposed to gun violence during school hours since the Columbine massacre.
The most fatal school shooting in US history was Virginia Tech in 2007, in which 33 people were killed. Incredibly, despite efforts by groups like Everytown For Gun Safety, and growing activism led by survivors of the Valentine's Day 2018 massacre at the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, the US Congress has failed to pass any meaningful gun control legislation.
Students hold their hands in the air as they are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida after a shooter opened fire on campus. Photo / AP
Many Americans blame the NRA. The powerful pro-gun lobby group regularly make donations to political campaigns to wield influence in Washington. But gun ownership is also culturally entrenched in the US.
According to a 2017 survey, about 40 per cent of Americans say they own a gun or live in a household with one. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the United States constitution, although many Americans want commonsense reform like the banning of assault weapons, such as the AR-15.
In the wake of two mass shootings on the same day last month, in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Mr Trump briefly urged Democrats and Republicans to "come together" and enact stricter background checks, saying "I want to see it happen."
But before long he was back to blaming "mentally ill monsters" and "video games".
He also repeated what many Democrats believe is an old trope propagated by the NRA.
"Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," he said, echoing rhetoric often used by gun rights advocates who say "guns don't kill people, people kill people".
People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Photo / AP
