14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will be equipping their classroom with bulletproof whiteboards meant for professors' protection.
The decision follows recent school shootings and it is meant to provide faculty with a sense of security. The invention doubles as a whiteboard and a shield in case of a mass shooting.
The investment will set the school back $60,000 (€44,970) for boards in white, pink, blue and green, according to the Baltimore Sun.
"It needs to be a great whiteboard and a useful tool so that it doesn't get hidden in the closet," manufacturer George Tunis of Worcester County company Hardwire LLC states.
"When Sandy Hook happened … a light bulb went off that it's really the teachers and administrators [who need protection].
"Those brave souls were trying to close the gap and get to the shooter and stop him, but they didn't have anything that could stop the bullets along the way," he explains the necessity for the invention.
Tunis is a father of two himself and he describes that the boards absorb the shock and do not pose a threat for people using them or standing near them.
"The kick of stopping a bullet is no worse than the kick of the gun itself," he says.
National campus safety advocate S. Daniel Carter has pointed out that other security measures are also underway, referencing the killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.
"Being able to respond accordingly is very important. [...] It's all about being prepared.
"We're very happy to be on the front end of this. [...] We believe this is a technology that is going to be helpful in keeping our students and our facilities safe, and we actually applaud Hardwire for their entrepreneurial spirit," Bell comments.