During Broward County Public Schools winter break, safer spaces – also known as hard corners – were identified and painted in dozens of classrooms in six buildings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD). Hard corners are recommended by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission as a security measure to help provide safer environments for students, teachers and staff by designating areas to gather or take cover in the event of a code red emergency.
District staff worked with the Broward Sheriff’s Office to evaluate the classrooms and adapt hard corners to meet each of the room’s unique physical features. The new hard corners are identified by a graphic that is painted red to be consistent with the code red warning.
“We plan to get feedback from students, teachers and staff this week about the design, color, size and position of the proposed graphic, and if it exudes the feeling of a safer space,” said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert W. Runcie. “Once there is a consensus, the implementation of hard corners will be facilitated by school-based staff and will begin concurrently in all of our schools.”
The District’s 234 schools include more than 20,000 classrooms. The implementation of hard corners in all schools throughout the District is scheduled to be completed by the end of February 2019.
In December, the District initiated the rule adoption process for two new policies for emergency codes and safer spaces in classrooms. For more information regarding the two new proposed policies, visit:
