Middle Tennessee school has a ballistic dry

Jun 03, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With his U-Haul in tow, Izzy Fried made the trek from New York to Middle Tennessee. He's dropping off a whiteboard at a local area school.

"Anybody who wants the board, they're going to get it personally delivered from me," said Fried, the CEO of security consulting company Fox2Sierra.

But the classroom object is capable of something else.

"This board is rated for AR-15 rounds," said Fried. "The board is rated to handle five rounds in a six-inch square."

The father of twins said the idea came about after the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

"This board will cover a standard doorway so it can turn a classroom into a ballistic safe room merely by rolling this in front of the door," said Fried.

After watching tragedy strike at The Covenant School, Middle Tennessee dad David raised money to bring the whiteboard to his son's own classroom.

"As a law enforcement officer myself and a father myself, it hit me in a different way where I felt that I have to do something," he said.

It's something he wants to see in more schools.

"In my mind, this is unfortunately part of the new norm of modern life," said David.

A simple item charged with a not-so-simple task — a reality schools face today.

"We don't want to change the way our kids go to school and perceive school," said Fried. "This was designed so that when they see it in the classroom they honestly have no idea what it does."