Plenty of PR pitches for classroom products come our way, but this one for bullet-resistant dry-erase boards really got our attention.
According to the company's website, these personal whiteboards can be used not only to facilitate quick-feedback classroom exercises, but also "as a shield from a gunman's bullets." The boards come in three sizes and two "levels"—denoting the kind of gunfire they can protect against. They cost between $28 and $62 a piece (or, based on a little reporter's math, about $700 to $1,550 per classroom). The website states:
They could be placed under or in student's [sic] desks, fastened to the side of desks, or even positioned in backpacks for quick access and protection. School administrator's [sic] could conduct school wide drills and various training exercises to teach students how to effectively protect their vital body parts from a gunman who enters the school.
The site shows happy students writing math problems and then blocking their bodies with the boards. But I can't help but wonder: How do you explain the "dual purpose" of these dry-erase boards to young students without completely freaking them out?
To be fair, the question of how to protect students without instilling a fear of school has been viable in myriad situations since the tragic Newtown school shootings. I have a nephew who is in kindergarten, and at his public school they conduct active-shooter drills, but tell students they are practicing in case a wild animal enters the school. (My nephew, apparently, thought nothing of this. But it got me choked up.)
