Some teachers and school administrators are urging a board reviewing school security standards following the Newtown massacre to keep it simple and focus on requiring classroom door locks and communication devices.
The School Safety Infrastructure Council held a hearing at New Britain High School on Thursday evening to gather recommendations from many who spend much of their time in schools.
"We can do all we want to harden the buildings but we don't want fortresses we want them to be inviting," said Robert Rader, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
Ron Chivinski, a teacher at Newtown Middle School and a member of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's panel reviewing the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said it's important for teachers to be able to lock their classroom doors from the inside when there's an intruder.
The group has until Jan. 1 to recommend new standards to improve or enhance security and safety in schools constructed in Connecticut.
