Male Teacher Is Uncomfortable With School’s New Rule To Close & Lock The Classroom Door At All Times — Even If There's One Female Student In The Classroom With Him
"I feel like the people making these rules have never actually taught before."
Red Fox studio | Shutterstock As school shootings have become increasingly common, schools have started to implement new rules to keep their students and staff safe.
These rules are made with the best of intentions, yet as one teacher on Reddit pointed out, they do not always work in practice.
The male teacher felt uncomfortable with his school's new rule requiring teachers to close and lock classroom doors at all times.
The fourth-year Florida teacher shared his concerns in a Reddit post, explaining that he's unsure about a rule that the school he teaches at recently implemented.
“As a male teacher, I’ve always been taught to leave my door propped open when there’s a student in my classroom, [especially] female, like in the mornings before the bells, lunch, etc.,” he wrote. “It has never been a problem.”
Jacob Lund | Shutterstock
However, recently, a new rule was introduced to hopefully keep students and staff safer.
“With the shootings, we have new rules,” he explained. “All doors must be locked at all times unless someone is manning the door. We cannot ever prop a door open unless we are standing near it.”
This teacher is concerned, and he’s not alone.
“A bunch of teachers want answers,” he said. “Are we supposed to close the door also when we have one student in the classroom? No answer.”
Although he and his colleagues tried multiple different avenues to get an answer from the administration — in person, by email, in meetings, and over the phone — they have been given no further clarification. “We’ll get to you on that,” is all leadership has said.
"It has been eight weeks," he added. "They refuse to be responsible for giving an answer.”
Classroom doors need to be able to lock.
Alyssa Keehan wrote about the importance of classroom safety for United Educators. According to Keehan, it is essential to “offer an interior locking option.”
“Exterior locking doors may put teachers or others in the path of an active shooter by requiring them to go into the hallway to lock the door,” she said. “In the February 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, teachers were injured or killed while trying to lock their classroom doors from the outside.”
It is important, Keehan noted that doors with interior locks also have exterior locks so they can be accessed by administrators and other essential staff.
Keehan’s report does not mention whether doors need to remain closed and locked, though. This seems counterintuitive, as a threat could arise inside the classroom.
She addressed this when writing about what kinds of covers are best for windows on doors. “Temporary coverings are preferable because permanent classroom privacy may increase the risk of sexual molestation, which occurs more often than shootings,” Keehan wrote.
Still, such rules are not unheard of. Campus Safety Magazine stated, “Schools may adopt a practice of keeping classroom doors closed and locked at all times.”
While locking doors to keep threats out makes sense, many unsafe things can happen inside a classroom as well. The teacher's concerns are valid, as young students — girls especially — may feel uncomfortable alone in a classroom with a male teacher and a closed door.
It's truly unfortunate that there are so many threats to student safety, and clearly institutional and legal change is needed.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.