Shatterproof windows being planned for WV schools

Architects who help build West Virginia school buildings will meet with officials from the state School Building Authority this week to determine how to make the buildings safer.

SBA Executive Director Mark Manchin told members of the House finance and education committees Tuesday one proposal is to use a special product from 3M on some school windows to make them shatterproof.

Manchin says he’ll recommend the policy change at next week’s SBA mtg.

“Every new school built in the state of West Virginia, if the authority approves our new policy, will have, at the very minimum, on the front entry of every school building, this film,” Manchin said.

Lawmakers at the meeting asked Manchin what multiple shots would do the protected glass.

“After repeated shooting it does weaken at the point of entry at the bullet,” he said. “It eventually can be kicked in after repeated firing.”

Manchin says he does believe a shatterproof glass is more affordable and could hold off a shooter for three to five minutes, which he says, in many cases, will give enough time for armed emergency personnel to arrive on the scene.

Del. Linda Phillips, D-Wyoming, and House Education Committee Chair Mary Poling, D-Barbour, urged Manchin to explore the cost of bulletproof windows.

Manchin says new schools in West Virginia are also being built with red buttons that automatically alert 911 centers when there’s an emergency.

The SBA has spent millions in recent years on keyless entries and other door security measures at hundreds of schools across the state.

Manchin believes the state is on the right track to making schools as safe as possible.

“This (3M product) along with the keyless entries, along with the immediate 911 calls and with the lockdown (will make schools safer),” Manchin said.