Jason Glissman, head locksmith for the last nine years with the Lodi Unified School District (LodiUSD), decided to replace several of the locksets used throughout the District with 11 Line bored locks from SarGent Manufacturing Company. He is pleased to be installing such rugged and reliable locksets; he just wishes he had turned to SarGent a bit sooner.

Glissman never expected that he’d have to replace the older locksets so soon. But just a short time after the original locks were installed — mere months in some cases — problems began to arise.

“We had several failed latches, problems with spindles, parts sticking and many locks that just couldn’t stand up to everyday use,” Glissman said. “It was frustrating thinking that I was going to be working with these locksets for upwards of 10 years, when things were failing so quickly after installation. Sure, the locks were under warranty, but there’s no compensation for my time spent trying to fix and then replace these things.”

Glissman brought the problem to the attention of the District’s Facilities and Planning Department in early 2009, and has been working on replacing these deficient locks and other outdated locks with the SarGent 11 Line bored locks ever since.

Of course, the process of replacing and installing all of these locks takes some time. The LodiUSD encompasses 350 square miles in the central valley of Northern California, including the cities of Lodi and North Stockton, and communities of Acampo, Clements, Lockeford, Victor and Woodbridge. The District comprises more than 50 sites, including four high schools, two continuation high schools, seven middle schools, thirty-four elementary schools, a mail-house building and the District headquarters.

Every school had many locksets that needed to be replaced; every classroom has a lockable door, and some have multiple doors. The total number of locksets for the District was well into the thousands.

Glissman couldn’t afford to make a mistake with his selection of the next lock. He needed a lockset that was not only mechanically sound from the get-go, but also rugged and durable enough to stand up to years of use and abuse in a school setting.

“I was familiar with the 11 Line and the product’s reputation for durability, so I contacted them,” Glissman said. 11 Line bored locksets are specifically designed for high-traffic and high-abuse areas; in fact, they undergo testing that exceeds 15 million cycles.

Glissman began his own testing process in a few different schools that were already undergoing some new construction or remodeling. To really test the strength and functionality of the 11 Line locks, Glissman initially focused on a couple dozen doors that were constantly being victimized by vandalism.

“After seeing the 11 Line lock in action at these trouble spots where vandalism had been a huge problem,” Glissman said, “the durability and functionality of the SarGent locksets spoke for itself. I was sold.”

Glissman feels that the money he’s spending to upgrade the LodiUSD’s door locks and hardware is certainly money well spent. “As the guy who maintains these things, it’s much smarter for me to spend more money purchasing top-quality locks up front than to have to purchase replacement parts for failed parts down the road,” Glissman concluded.