Some department directors have recently instructed West teachers to lock their classroom doors while they are teaching. While teachers and staff have typically locked classroom doors when rooms are unattended, as well as during lockdowns and evacuations, keeping them locked while teaching is a new practice for most teachers in the building.
This directive from administration addresses the need for safety within the building during school hours. According to CNN, at least 21 school shootings have occurred in Illinois from 2008 through Jan. 22, 2025. In addition, CNN also cited that in 2024, there were a total of 83 school shootings. The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission issued a report citing that “The testimony and other evidence presented to the Commission reveals that there has never been an event in which an active shooter breached a locked classroom door.”
“From where we sit, we don’t want random people having access to the building…The locking of the doors has just been wrapped up into this. I think some of the confusion is it comes off as that this is something that is new and this is something that we are changing now. More so, this is just something that we are constantly reiterating,” Assistant Principal Steve Parnther said.
Whether teachers have been locking classroom doors or not, Director of Security for District 219 Al Lopez says that doing so is “best practice.”
“I became employed with district in 2013 or so; the best practice has always been to keep your doors locked,” Lopez said.
English director Michael Kucera, who instructed teachers in his department to lock their classroom doors while teaching, recently participated in safety training with other district administrators.
“One of the things that we are working on is ALICE training, which is a form of crisis training to prepare for if there is, for example, an intruder in the building. There is debate over whether [locking classroom doors] had been a ‘new rule’ but locking doors had always been a safety measure. It is apparent to me that it’s one that needs to be communicated frequently,” Kucera said.
English teacher Jason Schmitt only began locking his door once receiving the communication from Kucera.
“I think at some point in years past that there might have been a policy shift that wasn’t communicated out from people above. I understand the logic [for locking doors], the best practice, the data that drives it, it just was not ever clearly communicated… [Kucera] was asked to remind us. It’s upsetting that people are dying and that we have to do things like [locking our doors during class time] for safety,” Schmitt said.
Some students suspected that the current political climate was the impetus for the new practice, but it is instead to ensure the general safety of the Niles West population. Sophomore Sophia Neuhauser, a student in Schmitt’s English class, acknowledged the safety issue.
“I think it’s good for safety purposes and it can help with the safety of the students in the classrooms,” Neuhauser said.
Students might also find the door locking inconvenient.
“Whenever anyone goes to the bathroom or is late to class, you have to rattle the door handle until someone lets you in… its kind of awkward, but it’s okay,” junior Jamie Hoffman said.
Lopez is also the Director of Security for Niles North, and while safety guidelines are roughly the same, North Principal, Marlon Felton, explained that at this time North’s administration has not sent out any communication regarding locking classroom doors.
Parnther also noted that subs have knowledge regarding safety protocols including those that handle what to do regarding the locking of doors during class time.
“Our substitutes have to know our protocol because they are responsible for that particular class. Part of our check in process with our subs… [include] our safety protocols,” Parnther said.
Substitute teacher Ted Smukler commented on his knowledge regarding the directive.
“No I never heard [about the directive]. What’s going to happen when students have to go to the bathroom? I know in cooking classes they have always [locked their doors] because of their knives. There has been no directives what so ever,” Smukler said.
At the time of publishing, the English and Social Studies departments are the only known departments asking its teachers to lock doors during class time. Most other department directors did not respond to a request for comment. The Physical Welfare department has special circumstances due to the large spaces used for their classes.
“Most of the teachers in the PW department teach in areas where they can’t lock or unlock the doors (weight room, pool, fieldhouse, cardio lab, dance room) those doors are always locked, so if they are closed, they are locked,” Director of Physical Welfare Joseph Collins said.
