As gun incidents grow, schools have beefed up security significantly in recent years

Recently released federal data shows that U.S. schools have significantly raised security measures in recent years.

About two-thirds of public schools now control access to school grounds—not just the building—up from about half in the 2017-18 school year. Some 43% of schools have a “panic button” or silent alarm that connects directly with police in case of emergency, up from 29% five years ago.

A strong majority, 78%, outfit classrooms with locks, up from 65% a few years ago. Random metal detector use was reported in 9% of schools, with 6% using this equipment daily. Many schools have campus police, but just 3% arm teachers or other non-security employees.

Last year, more than 330 people were fatally shot or wounded on school grounds, up from 218 in 2018, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, a research project that tracks incidents of a gun being fired or brandished on school property.

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Exterior rendering of new K-12 school in Prince George's County in Maryland

K-12 Schools | Jun 29, 2021

A Maryland school system launches a P3 program to speed up K-12 school design, financing, and construction

Gilbane and Stantec are part of a consortium that breaks ground on six new schools this week.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.

A rendering of a new school campus with flexible indoor-outdoor teaching spaces

K-12 Schools | Jun 20, 2021

Los Angeles County issues design guidelines for extending PreK-12 learning to the outdoors

The report covers everything from funding and site prep recommendations to whether large rocks can be used as seating.

Exterior rendering of mass-timber TimberQuest school building

Wood | Jun 10, 2021

Three AEC firms launch a mass timber product for quicker school construction

TimberQuest brand seeks to avoid overinvestment in production that has plagued other CLT providers.

A digital twin of Marishal Square in Scotland

Digital Twin | May 24, 2021

Digital twin’s value propositions for the built environment, explained

Ernst & Young’s white paper makes its cases for the technology’s myriad benefits.

Daylighting | Mar 7, 2021

Texas intermediate school lets the sun really shine in

Solatube tubular daylighting devices bring sunlight into the two-story commons/media space for 600 students in grades 3-5 at Sunnyvale Intermediate School.