There is a new line item in the
University of Maryland Eastern Shore's budget:
Calling "campus violence a reality" to prepare for, a university in Maryland announced last week that it planned to spend $60,000 on the Clark Kent of teacher supplies: an innocuous-looking whiteboard that can stop bullets.
The high-tech tablet — which hangs on a hook, measures 18 by 20 inches and comes in pink, blue and green — can be used as a personal shield for professors under attack, according to the company that makes it, and as a portable writing pad in quieter times.
How would the whiteboards help? According to the creator, George Tunis at Hardwire LLC, they give teachers and administrators a chance to fight back:
"When Sandy Hook happened … a light bulb went off that it's really the teachers and administrators" who need protection, said Tunis, a father of two. "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."
University of Maryland Eastern Shore officials aren't the only ones placing orders:
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is the first university to adopt Hardwire's technology, though the company said it had sold bulletproof whiteboards, which cost $299 apiece, to about 100 schools in five states. It also makes bulletproof door shields, clipboards and inserts for children's backpacks, all of which it sells online.
Will the child-sized backpack version be on the list of needed school supplies next year?