Enhancing school safety with window film is an important topic. Vandalism in San Francisco Bay Area Schools is a fact of life and has been since at least the early 1970s. In fact, a 1975 Congressional report noted that while vandalism in Bay Area schools had been “minimal” in the early 1960s, by the 1970s, vandals were causing more than $750,000 worth of damage per year in the San Francisco School District. Broken windows are cited often throughout this report as a key target of vandals, whether to gain access to schoolrooms or for the sake of vandalism alone. The report does not highlight the number of broken windows in San Francisco schools but does detail how Washington, DC, schools spent more than $1 million to replace 31,000 windows in just one year.
The extent and cost of school vandalism and broken windows—in San Francisco and across the country—today is unclear. As noted by an Arizona State University report, a lack of consistency in reporting school vandalism makes cost estimates “imprecise.” Additionally, the rise of school violence, weapons, drugs, and gang activity over the past few decades “has eclipsed concern and discussion about school vandalism.” Overall, the magnitude of the problem is unlikely to be revealed by any available statistics, notes the report.
Security Window Film Can Mitigate Vandalism Damage
Whatever the current magnitude of the vandalism problem in San Francisco area schools, related window breakage can be mitigated by window film. Offering up to seven times the strength of the window glass alone, safety and security window films are specifically designed to help glass resist breakage. This added strength can serve to outright prevent some attempts to break school windows and, if broken, hold any glass fragments and shards together, which could help prevent injury.
The combined strength and shatter resistance provided by security window film also serves as a barrier, which can delay entry through a window or glass door for up to 90 seconds. Such delay can deter a vandal or burglar’s entry into the school and prevent subsequent damage by additional vandalism or loss through theft.
Window Film Could Impede Progress of School Shooter
The barrier properties of safety and security window film could also prove invaluable in helping protect students and teachers during an active shooter situation. While the film cannot stop bullets, it can inhibit a shooter’s passage through a glass entryway for up to 90 crucial seconds. This would provide students and school staff more time to seek cover and perhaps aid school security and police response. And this delay in a school shooter’s movement through a school can be expanded by every locked glass entryway protected with security film.
Window Film Better for Learning Environment Than Other Options
While certainly not a cure-all for vandalism, burglary, and school shooters, window film is more visually appealing than other protective options, such as wire-mesh screening and similar measures, which can make schools look more like correctional facilities than places of learning. In fact, there is growing concern that the trend of schools incorporating prison-style security measures is proving detrimental to the learning environment.
Safety Window Film Protects Students from Glass Breakage
Safety and security window film also protect against other threats to the classroom students and teachers. Its anti-shatter properties could prove invaluable during an earthquake or severe weather event, protecting students and staff from flying glass shards. Your window film can also include properties that reduce glare, block harmful UV light from the sun, and moderate temperature extremes.
Learn More About Safety and Security Window Film from ClimatePro
The San Francisco Bay Area’s window tinting experts at ClimatePro have more than 40 years of experience helping schools, businesses, and homeowners protect their premises with the help of safety and security window film. To learn more about how ClimatePro can help enhance your school’s safety and protect its classrooms, contact us today at (707) 569-9098 for a free consultation or get started with a free online estimate here.
With offices in North Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose, we can come up with the right solution for all of your window tinting and film needs. To encourage your local school district to update the windows in your local schools, use these links:
- Marin County: Website / (415) 472-4110
- Contra Costa County: Website / (925) 942-3388
- Sonoma County: Website / (707) 524-2600
- Napa County: Website / (707) 253-3715
- San Jose: Website / (408) 535-6000
