Will County fortifying entrances of all local high schools

Will County — The Will County Board recently approved a measure which would provide the Will County Regional Office of Education with funds to increase security for local high schools.

The county approved $70,000 for the first phase of a project that will reinforce the glass in the windows and doors of school entrances, making them bullet proof and resistant to extreme weather conditions, including tornados and hail, according to Will County Regional Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lisa Caparelli-Ruff,

The funding was sourced from the county’s cannabis tax revenue.

Caparelli-Ruff reported on the project at the Illinois State Board of Education’s March meeting at Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 on Wednesday, March 12.

Caparelli-Ruff and officials from several school districts, including District 202, visited the Clear-Armor facility in Greyslake to test and see the custom security measures in action.

Clear-Armor provides custom fit laminate covers for glass windows and doors, which reinforce the glass, making them shatterproof and resistant to forced entry attempts, potentially buying valuable minutes for students and staff to lockdown within the building and for law enforcement to respond.

As a start for the program, Caparelli-Ruff’s office dedicated funding to reinforce one entrance at each of Will County’s 21 high school buildings.

“Each school got to pick one entrance they wanted done,” Caparelli-Ruff explained. “Typically it’s their busiest one, and all the glass in that entrance, no matter how big it was, was covered.”

For schools that already have similar security on their main entrance, other doors could be selected for the countywide funding.

Caparelli-Ruff estimates that the cost for each building was between $3,000 and $4,000.

The Will County ROE hopes to expand the program in the coming years with additional county funding. Phase II of the project would secure the main entrance at all middle schools and junior highs, while Phase III would reinforce entrances at elementary schools.

High schools were selected for the upgrade first since the majority of violent school incidents take place in high schools.

“It’s just one more tool the schools have,” Caparelli-Ruff said. “I just want to give our kids the best safety and security that we can possibly give them.”

Caparelli-Ruff said that she hoped learning about the Clear-Armor product would inspire districts to independently explore expanding the protection to other doors and windows in their schools.

“If I had the money, we’d pay for all of it at all our schools, but since funds are limited, we wanted to reinforce the main entrance-exit of every building,” Caparelli-Ruff said.

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