A $70,000 allocation from the Will County Board’s cannabis fund will help outfit entrances of 21 high schools with a protective bullet-resistant window laminate.
Will County Regional Superintendent of Schools Lisa Caparelli-Ruff said her office is working with Clear-Armor, a Grayslake-based company that creates a customizable security laminate to reinforce glass, to create a shatter-resistant barrier to withstand the impact from bullets and forced entry attempts.
The company works with schools, colleges, universities, financial institutions, government buildings, medical facilities and places of worship to enhance their windows and doors.
“Seeing the warehouse, seeing the live demonstration, is believing,” Caparelli-Ruff said. “We took a gun at point-blank range and were shooting at this film. The bullet was not going through the other end.”
The endeavor is part of Caparelli-Ruff’s platform to improve school safety, she said. As part of that effort, the Regional Office of Education, its director of security, Theresa Ward, and the Will County School Safety Task Force has met with school resource officers from 34 districts to put together a needs assessment.
Caparelli-Ruff said she is grateful the Will County Board is funding the first phase of the glass reinforcement initiative.
Her team said they studied how best to roll out the security enhancements and chose high schools because, while there are exceptions, shootings are frequently carried out by high school-aged students and at high schools. The county also has fewer high schools than middle or elementary schools.
Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, more than 338,000 students in the U.S. have experienced gun violence at school, according to the Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit organization founded after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Caparelli-Ruff said the protective film is in addition to other security measures school districts already have in place.
“It’s just one more tool the schools have,” Caparelli-Ruff said. “I just want to give our kids the best safety and security that we can possibly give them.”
Caparelli-Ruff said Clear-Armor technicians measure and install their product, which will be put at building entrances and exits.
“I don’t want them gaining access to the building,” she said.
“Bullet resistant film, it may take you five to seven minutes to get through, but it buys the good guys five to seven minutes to either go and hide, have the SWAT team there, have police there, someone to protect our youth and our staff,” she said. “We’ve then given them a fighting chance.”
The Clear-Armor product also works in extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, keeping glass in the frame and preventing it from flying into the building, Caparelli-Ruff said.
“This was a good way, I thought, to spend cannabis money to give some people not only peace of mind but a real fighting chance at not having a bad guy coming into our schools and harming our children and staff,” she said.
Caparelli-Ruff said the response from area superintendents has been positive.
“While some of our entries are already bulletproof protected, we are excited to partner with the Will County ROE to install even more,” Lockport Township High School District 205 Superintendent Robert McBride said in a statement.
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 spokesperson Jen Vujosevic said the district is grateful the office of education secured the funding and is excited to partner with them.
“Putting school safety first is always important to us,” she said.
Will County Board member Raquel Mitchell, a Bolingbrook Republican, along with former board member Natalie Coleman, a Plainfield Democrat, reviewed the office of education’s request for cannabis funds that was included in the 2025 budget.
Mitchell said it was a “no-brainer” to support this initiative.
“Dr. Caparelli-Ruff really cares about the kids,” Mitchell said. “You can tell her passion.”
Mitchell said in addition to helping those affected by the war on drugs, cannabis funds have been allocated for the Children’s Advocacy Center, the county’s housing stabilization program, workforce services, problem-solving courts, court-appointed special advocates, early childhood development programs, small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve done,” Mitchell said.
Caparelli-Ruff said she hopes to continue to roll out the initiative to other Will County schools.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
