Board approves purchase of classroom door locking devices after safety briefing

The Berkeley County Board of Education voted to accept a vendor bid to purchase and install alternative locking devices for classroom and selected office doors across the district.

Melissa Holland, a coordinator in the people services (safety) department, told the board the devices are intended to make it easier for staff to secure classroom doors and to align district practice with findings in national school‑safety analyses. "One of the things that was very, very clear in that [Uvalde] report was the necessity of our classroom doors being locked," Holland said. She said district safety walkthroughs showed an increase in locked classroom doors this year but that human factors — substitutes, staff forgetting keys, or short‑term distractions — still result in unlocked doors in some buildings.

Holland said the devices already are installed at three schools (Hedgesville Elementary, South Middle and Jerristown Elementary) and that the district consulted the state fire marshal, which approved the device as a variance device. Holland described the bid process: the district reached out to 13 vendors, received two valid bids, and negotiated installation timing to avoid classroom disruption; Taylor Brothers' bid won after a negotiated 5% discount. The presentation noted the district sought vendor installation assistance to expedite the work and reduce disruption.

Board members asked about pricing differences between bidders, device compatibility with different door types, window coverage and warranty terms. Holland said the bid covered about 1,850 devices; the negotiated total cited during the meeting was $221,000. She said the devices are compatible with the district’s mix of doors and that the district is pursuing grants and other safety investments (ballistic film, updated crisis plans) alongside this purchase.

Board President Long called for a motion; a motion to accept Taylor Brothers' bid passed after a second. "All in favor. Motion carries," the chair said. The motion as presented in the meeting did not include a recorded roll‑call tally in the public transcript.

Staff said installation would be staged with principals and safety staff marking device locations, testing release tools on every installed door after school hours, and training local law enforcement on the release mechanism.