By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
State officials today announced new school construction protocols in response to the Newtown tragedy, including exterior surveillance, blast-resistant entryways and classroom door locks—all features that might have stopped or slowed Adam Lanza’s assault on Sandy Hook Elementary a year ago.
“We’ve attempted to take an all-hazards approach,” Donald J. DeFronzo, the commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, said shortly after releasing the new protocols. “There are no security standards now.”
The new standards must be met to qualify for the $600 million spent annually by the state to build and renovate schools, a local responsibility that is subsidized by the state based on local wealth, with an upscale suburb like Avon qualifying for 20 percent and a city like New Britain getting 80 percent.
The standards will apply to all new school construction approved for funding by the legislature after June 2014.
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