By Stanley Cohen

Editor's note: The following article was written by a Ballard resident whose grandchildren attend a local school.

December 14, 2012, a day which will “live in infamy.” No, I’m not talking about Pearl Harbor. I am talking about Sandy Hook Elementary School and the tragedy that occurred there on that day in which 20 elementary school students and 6 school staff members were shot and killed by an active shooter who entered the school. From that indescribable horror there arose at the same time the idea for a possible solution that may prevent such an incident from occurring in the future here in Ballard or anywhere.

Two teachers at that school, Teacher Roig and Teacher Soto, upon hearing gunshots and the announcement of a school lockdown, hid their students in a bathroom and a closet. When the shooter arrived at their classrooms, he did not see any targets, because the students were hidden in a closet and a bathroom, and he moved away looking for more students to shoot. The students who were hidden lived.

I thought that if students at North Beach Elementary School, where my grandson is presently a second grader, could hide in something similar to a closet or bathroom if a shooter ever enters the school, they, like the surviving students at Sandy Hook, would have a better chance to survive. But there are no closets or bathrooms in the classrooms at North Beach and many other schools for students to hide in. And the cost for building them is prohibitive.

Not deterred, I scanned my grandson’s classroom, and noticed a row of book cases against the wall under the windows. The light in my head went on: move four or more of the books cases and form them into a cubicle against a wall in the classroom to enable the students to hide inside the cubicle if a shooter ever enters the classroom, the same way the students at Sandy Hook hid in a closet and bathroom. Position the cubicle so that a shooter standing in the door way to the classroom would see the book cases but not the students hiding inside the cubicle. Like the shooter at Sandy Hook, he will move on looking for targets. The students inside the cubicle will live.

I explained the idea to his teacher, Ms. Larson, who has since retired, and she told me to build the cubicle. I did so on the spot, moving four book cases by myself and shaped them into a cubicle against the wall. I did this in 30 minutes while she taught her class and did not make any noise doing it. She had all the students, 21 of them, and herself move into the cubicle to test it and all the students and Ms. Larsen fit into the cubicle. When I stood in the doorway to the classroom in the same position a shooter will be in, I could not see any of the students or Ms. Larson. The room looked empty even though the students were hiding inside out of my view. If I were a shooter, and pressured by knowing police are on their way, i would feel like walking away and looking for targets elsewhere.

North Beach Elementary School and most other schools in Seattle and in the nation do not have a hiding place such as the cubicle in the classrooms. At North Beach if a shooter enters the school, where there is no hiding place, the teachers have been instructed to line the students up against a wall side by side with their backs to the wall. If the shooter breaks the window on the door and looks inside the room, he will see all the students and have them in his sights. When I brought this problem and solution to the attention of the Principal, the local PTA, the Seattle School District Superintendent and the Seattle School Board of Directors, they rejected the idea and have refused to build the cubicle in the classroom without giving any explanation or justification sufficient to justify leaving students and teachers in the dangerous situation of not having a place to hide if an active shooter enters the school.

Equally as important as a hiding place in a classroom is the need to lock all doors to a school prior to during and after school is in session. Allowing students and parents to walk freely into the school simply by pushing ot pulling on an unlocked door has the inherent danger of allowing a shooter to walk into a school unannounced and to walk directly to a classroom and begin shooting before the students have a chance to hide. If the doors are locked a shooter has to shoot the lock or break the lock open creating a lot of noise to gain entry and this noise gives the schools and students advance notice that danger is present and time to hide before the shooter arrives at their classroom door. Without this advance notice, the students are sitting in their classroom when the shooter suddenly appears and places the students in his sights.

At North Beach and Salmon Bay School and other Seattle schools, one or more entry doors are always unlocked thus enabling a shooter to enter secretly without the school having any advance notice and without being able to declare a lockdown early enough to allow students and staff to hide and conceal themselves from the shooter.

The effectiveness of the cubicle to save the lives of students depends on the teacher and students hearing the shooter shoot or break the lock in the entry door which will give them time to hide in the cubicle before the shooter arrives at the classroom. If the doors are unlocked, the shooter can enter quietly and appear in the classroom while the students are sitting at their desks working and present easy targets for the shooter. The inconvenience to parents and students of being locked out can be minimized or avoided by installing a coded combination lock on the door and providing the coded numbers to the parents and students. My 8 year old grandson knows the code to combination lock on my house door and can open the door by himself.

I recommend that parents and other persons who support the idea of a cubicle hiding place in a classroom and all doors being locked with a coded combination lock while school is in session to unite as a group and express their feelings and support of the cubicle in a classroom and locking all doors to the Superintendent of Seattle Schools and the Seattle Board of Directors and the Seattle Chief of Police and the PTA at the local, state and national level, and their representatives in Congress. If these changes are not voluntarily made, a statute should be passed requiring all schools to build cubicles in the classrooms and to lock all doors to the school.

I offer to support and assist your efforts. Please email me at stancohen1@comcast.net
or call 412-656-3297.