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AAADM Joins PASS for Safer Schools

Blog 36, May 2025

We're pleased that AAADM has joined PASS, the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools. It's a nationwide organization that's been around since 2014 and brings together representatives from education, public safety, and industry to promote the effective use of proven security practices in K-12 school environments.

We think AAADM is uniquely positioned to help schools understand how they can effectively incorporate automatic doors into their campuses while serving the dual needs of accessibility and security. Some school administrators are reluctant to add automatic doors to their buildings because they believe it will compromise safety. Via our PASS partnership, it should now be easier for us to help schools get the information they need to alleviate these concerns.

As we all know, automatic doors can be fully integrated into existing security systems while still enabling access for people with legitimate reasons to be inside the building. Options like remote activation support lockdown procedures or controlled entry. Because our industry's products balance accessibility and safety, we can support PASS's mission of creating secure, inclusive learning environments.

PASS offers a number of safety publications, the flagship being "Safety and Security Guidelines for K-12 Schools." The comprehensive document runs 80 pages and includes best practice recommendations for how to secure the entirety of a school district, from grounds and parking lots to building entrances to individual classrooms.

Each section of the guide includes in-depth discussion of access control. It is here where we expect AAADM to make the most impact, particularly as it pertains to building exteriors and interior classrooms. The guide is updated periodically and currently on its sixth edition. We look forward to working with PASS on the next update of this publication to transform access control discussions with rich new content about the capabilities of automatic doors. It's also possible we'll assist in development of a white paper on the subject of automatic doors and schools.

Joining PASS is an opportunity to help strengthen the security of school buildings via controlled access that empowers students, staff, and visitors with disabilities to maintain their independence.

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