Parents concerned about classrooms without doors in Tigard
TIGARD, Ore. – Some parents and teachers in Tigard are concerned about what they say is a serious safety flaw at Durham Elementary School.
The classrooms don’t have doors.
Several schools in Tigard and Beaverton, Ore. have those designs. The idea was to make the hallways feel more open.
But concerns about security are heightened in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
“We’ve been trying to get doors on these classrooms for a while now, for other reasons, and now is the time it has to happen,” said a Tigard mother who did not want her name released.
Parents started petitioning the Tigard-Tualatin School District to retrofit Durham by adding secure, lockable classroom doors.
“There has been several times when I’ve come in when there hasn’t been anyone in the office,” said the mother. “You can go right or left and you basically have access to the entire school.”
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security to help school districts design and build safer schools says interior doors, especially classroom doors, should be able to lock down quickly.
Durham does have fire doors that can seal off sections of the building, but those are controlled by buttons in the main office.
Tigard-Tualatin School District spokeswoman Susan Stark said the district listened to concerns from staff and parents and is acting quickly.
“We’re sending someone to measure for [the doors]. We’re going to figure out how much it’s going to cost,” said Stark. “We’re going to figure out what we can do to make it happen.”
We heard about this story from a KATU news tip. If there’s news in your neighborhood, email us at newstips@katu.com
Never thought about it until now, but Bethany Elementary in Beaverton had this when i was in school there in the 70's. There were 2 grades in each area, all rooms were just divided by movable wall dividers and they teachers would sometimes open the walls to share lessons/make more room. The only doors were right as you entered the grade area, but that was it.Â
We had something very similiar in Eastwood Elementry in hillsboro, but instead of 2 grades per room, it was 3, set up in sort of a pyramid shape with a central gather area in the middle, also moveable walls to open the area up, and the enterance to the room had double firewall style doors that could be closed and locked from within the classrooms.
This country needs to end door control. Door control has killed millions over the years. Call your congressmen and ask them to end the Door Ban today!!!!
No doors mean more noise and distractions for the students. Â What is wrong with these teachers?
 @sortbait Are you serious? What's wrong with "these teachers"?? Do you think we designed the buildings? Don't you think we complain daily about the conditions we have to work in? There are other schools that are not only missing doors, but walls! Imagine that! It is certainly not an ideal situation for students OR teachers but we are powerless. Instead of pointing fingers on a situation you are clueless about, how about you learn the facts and write letters to the people in control that can actually implement change.
Reasonable public safety concerns by parents who also happen to be tax payers as well as the very persons this SUPERINTENDENT is contractually accountable too.Â
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Imagine if you can - there are literally tens of thousands of OPEN CLASSROOM designed public schools that need to be secured. And classrooms closed off. I hope discussion and ACTION is occurring all across this nation today. And children and their parents are SHOWN PROOF that the safety of children in this country does indeed matter. Most of all.Â
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My son, now 39, went to grade school here in Gresham at Hall School. It was a school built without doors also. I'm not sure if it's still that way, but at the time it was open, airy, more communal. But that was in the 70's. Had I seen then what we're seeing now...there's no way I'd let that school continue to be that open, without trying to see if something could be done about it.
"Weâve been trying to get doors on these classrooms for a while now"
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Bullpucky!
This is very common fot the school to be wide open. Anyone can enter at anytime. At my school here in southern Oregon, the outside door the library was open all the time. The outside door to the weight room propped open most of the day. Doors to the cafeteria were open. I pleaded with administratiion and the district attorney to do something about this and they put no entry signs on the doors. That lasted a couple of months until the signs were tore down and they forgot about it.
Why announce this ? How dumb can you get Katu ?Â
Again, it's a non-issue, fomented by the media, just to have something to take up space. There's no actual security basis for requiring doors on classrooms - in fact, exactly the opposite. Interior doors provide a false sense of security, and may prove a barrier to quick evacuation. The kids who survived the classroom shooting in Connecticut were the ones who ran through the open doorway. The money contemplated for classroom doors would be better spent on improved perimeter security; i.e.: exterior cameras, electronic locks with keypad access on exterior doors, and reinforcing first-floor glass with security wire or lexan. The problem in Newtown, was that he got in the building in the first place. That building was a half-mile down a dedicated roadway; with the proper, relatively inexpensive, security measures in place, the shooter could have easily been delayed long enough for the police to respond. As one example, a remote sensor that alerts you when somebody drives into the parking lot, can be had for about $50.
Another Durham parent here...my child is in the classroom pictured. This classroom has an emergency exit leading outside the building...furthermore the entire wing locks down with big heavy doors. Schools have to make choices with the limited funding they have available to them. I know for a fact the kids are drilled regularly on evacuation procedures. It's a safe school...as safe as any can be anyway. Thanks for the unwanted attention though KATU.
 @pdx_echo Do they have bulletproof windows?
As a parent of Durham students I am not concerned about it. Many if not all of the classrooms have exterior doors. If a rampaging lunatic came into the school the kids could make a run for it from the school. A moving target is harder to hit than a bunch of kids huddled together.
Remember back in the good old days when we went to school, and teens kept their rifles in the rear window gun racks for hunting after school, and their pocket knives in - where else, shock shock! - their pockets, and a lot of our classrooms didn't just lack doors, they lacked walls.Â
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Those open classrooms were part of the "mod" system, and they had what amounted to tall cubicle partitions, and sometimes, accordion-fold doors. Great for co-teaching, poor for noise control, and wouldn't do diddly to stop a bullet.Â
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Funny how all the tightening down of gun laws since then, and all it has done is happen more and more and MORE... that would certainly suggest that guns aren't the problem, now wouldn't it?
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Too bad no one wants to admit that PEOPLE are the problem, and actually do something constructive about it.
Classrooms without doors is fairly common in schools built during certain time periods. Back when I was in school and doing a lot of academic competitions, I visited many schools that were like that. I have to admit that it did give an open feel to everything.
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But I definitely get that having doors that can easily be locked is a good thing. And if doors have small windows in them, there should be an easy way to have them covered.
 @Jenni S. Locked doors often lock in the bad along with the good... I'm not in support of locked doors, either. I went to elementary schools with open floor plans and those with doors. I preferred the open floor plans. Teachers needing help just needed to call out and get assistance from other adults nearby. To be fair, the areas were in clusters or pods. Having some type of locked door between the pod units, not such a bad idea (especially if simply used as fire doors) but I'm against doors on classroom doors -- especially elementary school doors.
It just doesn't seem to me that this is even a good article to have online. Now, just about everybody knows the school that has no doors.
Seems like they were just being cheap and the "open feel" is just an excuse so that they don't look bad.
If you want to worry, think about explosive or chemical devices thrown into playgrounds. Â Vehicles loaded with explosives ramming buildings. Â Buses with bombs. Â Aircraft suicides. Â PTSD teachers and staff. Â A child with aids spreading it. Â And somewhere in the US everyday, a child (minor) is arrested for bringing a gun to school. Â There are probably thousands of guns brought to school daily. Â You might as well have an "Introduction to the NRA" class.
 @RandyH EVERY DAY! lol wow don't hold back I don't feel your statement was dramatic enough to get your  point across.Â
 @RandyH "A child with AIDS spreading it" ???Â
What would work, if the district does not have the immediate funds to retrofit the doors, families could chip in a couple $$$ each to help. That way they could also have some pride in ownership in their schools.
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 @Just Lookin I was thinking a community fundraiser. I bet they could raise the funds for that specific work really quick. There may even be contractors and such willing to donate the time to do it and businesses willing to donate doors.
 @Jenni S.  @Just Lookin so you do think a door is going to stop someone with a gun who will either shot the heck out of it, or just kick it down and get in anyway
 @Jenni S.  @Just Lookin ~ Well, depending on when it happened, there are construction workers who aren't working sometimes, due to the weather or whatever...some of them might help with a community project like this...
I agree.
I went into a beaverton elementary school yesterday, and BAM.. there was the library. No door, and NO wall.Â
I was thinking, "hmmm, I wonder if I'm the only one that thinks that is not a good idea.Â
Make doors out of that clear stuff they use in banks to protect the tellers.
That way the kids are safe and the halls retain that "open" feel.
 @Mikey ~ Oh yeah... at my bank, there is a heavy clear door that goes from the teller and lobby area into the vault... It's inside the regular vault door...  I think it's glass, but it's quite thick ~ I would imagine bulletproof; it has its own lock... (only reason I ever paid attention to it is because I go through it to get to my safety deposit box...)  It's probably a good door for that use, but as Jenni S posted, I think you'd want an opaque door for a classroom, so they couldn't be able to see where the people were located...
 @Mikey I wouldn't want to do a clear door - you want a door that can be closed and locked so that you can't see in to see if there are students hiding inside.
 @Jenni S.  @Mikey so Jenni, who put you charge of how the school should be designed? Yes lets all like in fear and let the bad guys win
 @Jenni S.  @Mikey But, then, couldn't a closed non-visible door pose a risk and a hiding place or location for criminal activity? I'm thinking about an older child or adult sexually assaulting another child or teacher... That's actually more likely statistically (although, still, quite low) than what just happened at the mall and in Connecticut.
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In one elementary school I attended, a creep of a substitute teacher wouldn't let us out of the classroom until he fondled some breasts. The door held us in and administrators didn't believe those of us who went to them for help because they couldn't see anything happening through the small window when they walked by in the hall. In one day the substitute sexually assaulted at least six female classmates (mostly 11 and 12 year olds).
I teach in this district and I TOTALLY agree!!! Â Not only are the "no door" classrooms hard on kids with attention disorders, but it is a HUGE safety concern. Â The only reason this design was adopted was it saves money when it comes to energy costs, but it is a bad idea for kids.
 @aifanoregon It probably doesn't save money on energy costs since the a/c and heat from the classrooms is constantly leaking into the hallways. Hallways tend to have less vents and are often warmer/cooler than the classrooms because of that.Â
@Jenni S. stop talking jenni s. Everything you've written about this article reeks of ignorance.
turn all schools in fema slave camps and get it over with
 @Pixsure Syence Just like minimum security prisons with triple barbed wire fences, guard towers and a guard with a hungry dog and metal detectors at the gate.  Probably cheaper than guns, ammo and training.  Not to mention accidental gun discharges through a wall.
Isn't this a violation of a fire and safety code..and I do not like tabloid coverage.
 @lee986321 ~  "Durham does have fire doors that can seal off sections of the building, but those are controlled by buttons in the main office."  (from the story)
This probably meets the requirements of the fire code, but it doesn't do much for the safety of people in individual classrooms in an event such as happened at Sandy Hook...Â
If you think it is a violation, then perhaps you can look it up.
If it were a violation, it would not have been allowed. Schools are more than likely built per policies, rules and regulations.
If you do not like "Tabloid" coverage, perhaps it is time to get up and walk away from the computer for awhile.
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Go outside and get some fresh air, however make sure and wear a coat...it is a bit chilly out.
Paranoia will destroy you
 @ICANCU  So say the voices in my head.
Here are some simple facts:
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-Mass shooting occurrences has not increased over time.
-There is a one in 3.5 million chance to be in a mass shooting.
-Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1Â
-Odds of being killed by lightning: 2,320,000 to 1Â
-Odds of fatally slipping in bath or shower: 2,232 to 1Â
-Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1Â
-You have a greater likelihood of being killed by the government than being in a mass shooting.
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Random other facts:
-DHS just bought 1.6 billion bullets to protect us
-Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation
-This tragedy has been sensationalized.
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@portlandborn83 ..."simple facts".........nothing simple about any of those outcomes.
 @portlandborn83 Thank you for sharing this information. If a safe school, with the highest safety measures in place has an incident like this no amount of 'retrofitting' is going to help. Sandy Hook was safe AND prepared. A horrifyingly rare event took place there.  It is more likely that we are safe, and we are surrounded by good people, doing good things.Â
 @portlandborn83 *horrifying and rare event.Â
Doors are a good start.
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What about the school buses?
Shouldn't they be heavily armored?
 @Mipsfer Yes, with gun turrets on top.
 @Mipsfer Tabloid Journalism at its worst in my humble opinion...
Good Lord - and these parents are not worried about family pedophiles and drunk drivers? Obviously they have been indoctrinated by Tabloid Journalism...
 @boned As the parents said, they've been working on getting doors for the classrooms for some time now, well before this shooting took place. There are a number of reasons for doors beyond school shootings, including keeping the heated/cooled air inside the room and not pouring into the hallway and helping to block out sound from other areas of the school.