Seattle Schools upgrades locks, posts safety signs after shooting

Seattle Public Schools is in the process of replacing all classroom door locks and posting safety and emergency signage following a deadly shooting at Ingraham High School three months ago.

All building locks will be updated to make sure doors can be locked from inside a room, according to a statement by Superintendent Brent Jones.

The safety and emergency signage will include the phone number for a safety hotline and instructions on what to do during a shelter-in-place, lockdown and evacuation event, district spokesperson Tim Robinson said. The signs will be posted this month.

There are about 15,000 locks that need to be changed and the district is about halfway done, Robinson said. The work should be completed in the next two years. This initiative started about three years ago, and is being paid for through a voter-approved capital levy.

Safety reviews for each of Seattle’s 106 school buildings are also underway. Both the posters and the updated locks were recommendations from safety reviews conducted after the Ingraham shooting.

Jones said he’s been listening to safety concerns from the community and he’s “proud of the progress made within the first 90 days since launching SPS’ three-tiered safety initiative last fall.”

A day after the Nov. 8 Ingraham shooting that left 17-year-old Ebenezer Haile dead, Jones announced the safety initiative, which includes safety reviews of all school buildings, creating a “community action team” made up of safety leaders, and establishing a “wellness advisory council” that’s made up of health and mental health professionals.

Safety reviews started at the high schools and are being done by school building management and capital improvement teams.

Jones has also sent safety updates to Ingraham staff and families, and his team is reviewing recommendations on how to improve safety at the North Seattle school. The recommendations include working to build trust with security personnel, minimizing unmonitored building entrances, and improving safety procedures and training.

“Some recommendations in this report may take longer to fully implement, and others are action steps that are already in progress,” Jones said in an email.

The next safety update from Jones will be next month.