Protecting Students

A Michigan town is spending $48 million on construction updates for its high school. Typically, that might mean the addition of a state-of-the-art computer lab or perhaps a new practice field for the football team.

But this is 21st century America, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the school is redesigning its campus not to improve students’ lives, but to protect them in the event of a mass shooting.

Shadow Zones

Fruitport Superintendent Bob Szymoniak recently gave NBC News reporter Kate Snow a tour of the town’s under-construction high school, pointing out the various features designed to help students survive a shooting.

The school’s designers curved its hallways to shorten a shooter’s line of sight and added seemingly countless wing walls to give students “shadow zones” where they can hide. Impact-resistant film covers the windows outside classrooms, while a special lockdown system allows officials to isolate threats with the push of a button.

Taking Action

In 2018, the U.S. was home to 24 death- or injury-causing school shootings — that’s one nearly every two weeks — meaning it’s almost a given that there will be dozens more before Fruitport even finishes its incredibly dystopian construction updates in 2021.

Of course, that could change if the U.S. takes action to prevent mass shootings — but with the lives of its children at stake, Fruitport clearly isn’t waiting to find out if that’s the case.

READ MORE: This Michigan high school is being built to deter active shooters [NBC News]

More on school shootings: Fearful Parents Are Buying Bulletproof Backpacks for Their Kids