What Illinois rules apply to classroom door locks during a lockdown?

Door hardware must allow free egress at all times and cannot trap occupants during an emergency. Select solutions that comply with 105 ILCS 5/10-20.72 and are compatible with your existing life-safety systems.

How do we choose between mechanical and electronic options?

Match technology to risk, budget, and staffing. Mechanical locks with inside-thumbturns are cost-effective; electronic access control adds scheduling, logs, and instant lockdown. Many districts deploy a hybrid of both.

What does “trauma-informed” planning look like for drills?

Coordinate with your threat assessment team to meet legal drill requirements while minimizing harm—clear communications, staff training, and alternatives to hyper-realistic scenarios that may trigger students or staff.

Can we phase upgrades over multiple budget cycles?

Yes. Prioritize high-risk entries and classrooms, standardize hardware, and select systems that support future expansion so each phase builds toward an integrated solution.

Who should be involved in product selection?

Facilities leadership, school administrators, security integrators, local code officials, and first responders should collaborate to ensure compliance, usability, and rapid response during incidents.

Evaluating School Security Lockdown Technologies: A Guide for Chicago Area School Administrators

School lockdown protocols are a national reality; in 2023 in Illinois, there were 12 incidents involving firearms that resulted in nine people injured and seven killed. Nationwide, 1 in 4 teachers experienced a gun-related lockdown. Proper lockdown hardware and technology can help reduce harm in these situations. In fact, it was found that inadequate door locks contributed to the horrible outcome at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

As a school superintendent or administrator, you bear the heavy responsibility of ensuring the schools under your care are secure. That means knowing how to evaluate and select the right lockdown technologies.

Anderson Lock has been securing schools for decades. We’re the go-to lock and security company for many districts in the Chicago area. Here’s a quick guide to what we’ve learned about the best way to implement school security lockdown technologies.

Security Laws and Requirements for Schools in Illinois

As you are no doubt aware, Illinois law mandates safety drills, annual safety reviews, and the creation of a threat assessment team. Specific means of securing a school through doors, door hardware, access control systems, and other security technologies are left up to each school or district.

The law governing door locking systems (105 ILCS 5/10-20.72) is designed to ensure that any locking mechanisms do not prevent people from getting out of the building in an emergency (what security professionals call egress) rather than protecting those inside.

So, the good news is that you have a lot of discretion in deciding how to secure your school for a lockdown scenario. The bad news is that there are far too many choices to expect any individual school administrator to fully master, so doing your due diligence requires thoughtfulness and consulting experts.

Best Practices to Keep Your School Secure

The American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and Everytown for Gun Safety collaborated to establish a series of fact-based recommendations for policy makers and school administrators to reduce, prevent, and mitigate the harm of school shooting incidents.

Effective Security Measures in Schools

The following are their school-based interventions.

Foster a Safe and Trusting School Climate

Most crime at school is committed by current or former students, and there are often warning signs, so improving the overall community cohesion of a school can both reduce individual feelings of isolation and increase the opportunities for early detection.

Build a Culture of Secure Gun Storage

Students who bring guns to school usually find them at home. Schools can help educate parents to take proper precautions and model safe gun ownership.

Create Trauma-Informed Crisis Intervention Practices

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports that early detection and intervention play a big role in making schools safer. A trauma-informed approach understands that the causes of violent behavior may be complex and that it is not usually helpful to treat students as criminals prior to any criminal activity.

Implement Access Control Measures and Door Locks

Most experts agree that access control measures that keep active shooters out of schools in the first place are important. A networked access control system can lock down the school with the press of a button.

In addition, classrooms can be fitted with locks that teachers can use from the inside.

Initiate Trauma-Informed Emergency Planning

School personnel should be fully trained in active shooter protocols and emergency plans, which should include how and what to communicate to first responders and emergency personnel. FEMA has a 6-step process for schools. Being trauma-informed means considering likely triggers for students and staff and not conducting active shooter drills.

Ineffective School Security Measures

It’s worth reading the full article and doing your own research, but they do not recommend (1) arming teachers, (2) deploying school resource officers (SROs), or (3) conducting active shooter drills. These practices can cause other kinds of harm and unintended consequences.

There are two things to note about this list. First, access control measures are only one piece of a much larger picture. We believe in the power of door locks and electronic access controls to keep schools secure, but they can only create barriers to someone intent upon doing harm; they do not address root causes.

Second, because the Illinois Threat Assessment Procedure law (105 ILCS 128/45) mandates lockdown drills, it’s important for your threat assessment team to implement as many trauma-informed and harm-mitigation protocols as possible.

Evaluating the Wide World of School Security Lockdown Tech

There are too many good options for school door security hardware to attempt to review even a portion of them. It’s more helpful to give you a framework for understanding the options available to you.

The best security hardware for your school are the ones that align with your security needs and your budget capacity. Most schools will use some combination of solutions.

Mechanical Door Locks: Tried and True

Mechanical locks are the most budget-friendly locks, and nearly every security system employs them to some extent. Nowadays, master key systems can create hierarchies of access for different users, and patented key control systems protect against unauthorized key duplication.

Mechanical security includes door closers and even how your doors hang. Anderson Lock is the region’s only access control company that also has its own door division, which seamlessly integrates with the lock and hardware side.

[Callout: Read how we worked with Glenview PSD #34 to implement a master key system in 8 schools and their admin building.]

Electronic Access Control

Electronic access control systems, which include smart locks, allow users to activate locks with a key fob, card, number pad, or even their phone. These offer more levels of customized access control, allowing you to program who can enter which doorways and at which times. Many of these create electronic records that can be useful for audits or investigations.

[Callout: Learn how Diamond Lake SD 76 upgraded to keyless electronic access controls across four of its buildings.]

Integrated Security Solutions

Integrated security hardware solutions represent the most advanced school lockdown security measures we have. These allow you to use your electronic locking system in tandem with security cameras and other devices connected to the same network. You can operate some systems entirely from your phone.

[Callout: Learn how we helped Reavis High School District 220 upgrade from a master key system to integrated electronic access controls.]

Pro Tips from 60 Years of Experience

We’ve installed thousands of locks across hundreds of Chicago area schools, and there’s so much more we could tell you if space allowed. Before we wrap up this article, we want to make four more points that we hope will help you make good decisions about your lockdown security system.

You can still upgrade school security if you’re on a budget

Do not avoid upgrading your door hardware or access controls because you think you don’t have the money for it. We have just about seen it all when it comes to school budgets, and making any small improvements is better than continuing to use outdated or malfunctioning equipment.

Budget-friendly solutions include phased implementation, which focuses on high priority areas and locks that can be readily upgraded later, and hybrid systems that combine mechanical and electronic devices. There are also some state and federal funds available for school security upgrades.

Don’t cut corners at the planning stage

There are a lot of boxes to check when upgrading your school’s security, and then you want to make sure the installation comes off without a hitch and with minimal disruption. Work with your security experts to be thorough and detailed in the planning stages to avoid costly and lengthy delays.

Train your people

Your security system is only as good as the people who use it. Be sure to train your people on how to use all the locks and entryways they need to. Use your safety drills as an opportunity to refresh them.

Communicate with your community

Our children’s safety is of paramount importance to us, so be sure to clearly communicate with parents and other community members about the steps you’re taking to secure your schools. Communicating with them about lockdown drills and lockdown procedures is also important to minimize uncertainty should you face a lockdown situation.

Properly evaluating your school’s lockdown technology needs requires balancing factors like legal compliance, your budget, your specific buildings’ needs, community input, and possibly even environmental factors. As a Chicago-area school administrator, it behooves you to work with trusted professionals to find solutions that meet all your needs.

Anderson Lock is honored to be those trusted professionals for dozens of area school districts, and we would love to earn your trust, too. Contact us today to learn more about working with us to improve your lockdown security measures.

Lockdown Technology for Chicago Administrators