Letter: Do you think Clark County schools are secure?

Area resident Michael Jelineo questions why Vancouver Public Schools won’t spend the money needed to provide better locking devices on doors

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

Do you know if the door to your child’s classroom(s) locks from the inside? When we hear schools are on a lock down, don’t we assume that the kids are inside their classrooms and the doors have been locked from the inside?

Recently the Board of Directors of Vancouver Public Schools (VPS) were asked, how many classroom doors lock from the inside? It was revealed that 33 percent of the doors at one school could lock from the inside. Why is it not 100 percent?

Vancouver School District thinks spending $1.50 on a magnet that you stick in the door jamb is the solution. If door handles were replaced with locking devices the cost could be $200-$1500 per door. These new handles would allow doors to be locked from both the inside and outside.

VPS spent thousands of dollars on new wheeled health carts last year, but they won’t spend thousands on door locks.

Michael Jelineo
Vancouver