In the 10 years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, school security and safety have become an extremely important area of focus for me and for many other security professionals.  One thing I’ve learned is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, no “right way” of doing things that works for every school district or even for each school within a district.  It’s important to have options, to be able to respond to lessons learned, and to make changes as needed.

There are several lock functions that are commonly installed on classroom doors, depending on the needs of the school.  The outside lever of a storeroom function lockset is locked at all times, so when the door is closed, it is automatically locked to prevent access.  An entrance/office function lockset has a push button on the inside, which allows anyone to lock the outside lever from within the room.  A classroom security lockset has a key cylinder on the inside, so an authorized person inside the classroom can use a key to lock the outside lever without opening the door.  All of these functions allow free egress from the inside and authorized access with a key from the outside.

Schlage recently announced a new classroom security function for the ND series Grade 1 cylindrical lockset and I have received some questions about how this new function is different from our previous classroom security lock.  The new function is the ND78 (ND98 with the Vandlgard® feature).  The previous classroom security function was the ND75 (ND95 with Vandlgard®).  The difference between these functions is that for lockdown, the ND78 and ND98 require a 180 degree turn and return to home for key removal, where the ND75 and ND95 require the key to be turned 360 degrees.  The lockdown instruction rose for the ND78 and ND98 states “180° lockdown.”

The ND75 and ND95 will continue to be available for several years, but for new projects, the ND78 and ND98 are recommended.  The new functions are available to order now, with pricing and lead time remaining the same as the previous classroom security functions.

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.