Case Study: St. Thomas School, Medina, Washington

St. Thomas School in Medina, Washington used tinted 3M S800 safety film from American Window Film to make its entrances and exits safer while adding privacy to glass-heavy front doors. The installer says the school chose a gray tint with 70% light transmittance, which is a practical way to strengthen vulnerable glazing without making the campus feel closed off.

Project Overview: St. Thomas School, Medina, Washington

School context: St. Thomas School is a private school in Medina, Washington. The case study shows a familiar problem for schools with glass-heavy entries: the front doors are surrounded by glass on all sides, which makes them more exposed and increases the need for both security and privacy.

Scope: Tinted 3M safety film installed at the school's entrances and exits to make the glazing harder to exploit while keeping the building bright.

Product: 3M S800 safety film from the 3M Ultra series.

Appearance: Gray tint with about 70% light transmittance.

Reported outcome: Safer entry and exit points, more privacy, and a more comfortable sense of security for the school community.

Why the Entry Design Mattered

The source page makes one thing clear: the front doors were wrapped in glass. That is a design choice schools and parents often like because it keeps a campus feeling open and welcoming, but it also creates a weak point. If someone targets the entry, there is a lot of exposed glazing to deal with.

Security film is a sensible answer to that problem because it works with the existing glass instead of requiring a wholesale replacement. In a school setting, that matters. The retrofit can improve the delay at the glass while keeping the look and daily use of the building mostly unchanged.

Why the Gray Tint Made Sense

Privacy was part of the brief, not just security. American Window Film says it recommended a tint because the school wanted to make it harder for people outside to see into the entrance and exit areas.

The gray option was a practical middle ground. At 70% light transmittance, it still lets plenty of daylight through, but it softens visibility from the outside. That is a useful tradeoff for a private school that wants to feel approachable without leaving its main entrance completely exposed.

What This Case Study Shows

This is a short case study, but it is useful because it captures a very common school-security decision: improve the glass, add privacy, and do it without a major construction project. A lot of schools can relate to that combination of goals.

It also shows that not every school security project needs to be framed as a dramatic crisis response. Sometimes the right move is a quiet retrofit that makes the building easier to manage every day.

Lessons for Other Private Schools

• Glass-heavy entrances are an obvious place to start when a school wants better security.
• Tinted safety film can solve for both privacy and forced-entry delay at the same time.
• Keeping the building bright matters, and a 70% VLT tint preserves a lot of daylight.
• Security film is often the lowest-disruption way to harden entry points without replacing the whole window system.

Key Takeaways

• St. Thomas School in Medina, Washington used tinted 3M S800 safety film at its entrances and exits.
• The school wanted both better security and more privacy at its glass-heavy entry points.
• The chosen gray tint still allowed about 70% light transmittance.
• The retrofit gave the school a practical upgrade without major construction.

Related Resources

• Real Schools: Security Window Film Case Studies
• Are Security Window Films Required in Schools? 2026 State-by-State Guide
• Navigating 2026 School Safety Grants for Security Window Film
• Campus Security: Strengthening School Glass with Window Film

Sources

1. American Window Film - Security Film for St. Thomas School
2. American Window Film - Schools & Universities Window Tinting

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