Key points:

• School safety concerns are growing–along with alarming incidents
• See article: School safety concerns are on the rise as classrooms open
• See article: Closing the gap in school emergency response
• For more news on school safety, visit eSN’s Educational Leadership page

Teacher training programs often introduce aspiring educators to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, an eight-decade-old principle that reminds teachers that learning is significantly more difficult when other needs are not accounted for.

Physiological needs such as air, water, and food are most important; however, safety, including personal security, follows closely as a foundational requirement. After years of devastating and heart-breaking incidents of school violence, school safety sentiment has plummeted.

According to Gallup’s most recent research, 44 percent of parents with K-12 students fear for their child’s safety while they are at school. The survey found that 20 percent of parents say their children “expressed worry about feeling unsafe when they return to school,” an eight-point increase in just three years.

A separate survey found that 26 percent of teachers are “afraid for their physical safety” while at school and report “dread” when the new school year starts in August.

There are many reasons for this.

First, school shootings have increased in frequency and scope. As the halfway point approaches, there have already been 69 shootings this school year, up from 18 in all of 2008.

Meanwhile, the mental health state among students is plummeting, adding to the pressures that school leaders and staff are tasked to respond to and support. In 2023, one-fifth of students reported mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and behavior disorders, while only half of schools say they can “effectively provide mental health services to all students in need.”

On the other side of the mental health epidemic, across society at large, research published by Statista Research Department states that “in 72 cases out of a total of 148 reported mass shootings in the United States since 1982, the shooter(s) displayed prior signs of mental health problems.” School leaders in today’s world have to navigate the difficult role of supporting students’ many increased needs, as well as operating as a publicly accessible building and facility that is vulnerable to the ever-present risks across America’s cities and communities.

Understandably, school (and student) safety is a top priority for school leaders who understand that their top and most important priority is to return students safely to their families.

In response, districts nationwide are investing in human and technological resources to improve security for students, teachers, and parents.

This is necessary to counter an ever-changing and increasingly prominent threat landscape where weapons enter schools and compromise the safety of learning spaces. Many still don’t feel prepared. Even as they increase security in their buildings, just 24 percent of schools say they are prepared for active shooters.

Crisis planning and preparation can change this dynamic, creating a security blueprint for safe schools. Here are five critical ingredients of a school crisis plan that can help minimize threats and promote a safe school environment for everyone.

1. Understand potential threats relative to your school’s environment and readiness.

School safety starts with understanding the potential threats relative to your school’s environment and the readiness of all within it.

Conduct an assessment of risks pertinent to the school’s geographic location, physical layout, and available resources. Understanding and evaluating the building’s physical footprint is central to these efforts.

The number and nature of access points to the building must be carefully evaluated to ensure they do not become vulnerabilities. Similarly, the internal layout of the school should be scrutinized to determine how students and staff can be safeguarded most effectively during a crisis.

At the same time, take time to determine your staff and students’ readiness to respond to emergencies.

These in-house stakeholders can be tremendous defensive assets, but only if they know how to effectively respond to a crisis situation.

2. Conduct tabletop exercises of real-life scenarios.

Tabletop exercises, where participants gather to walk through various emergency scenarios in a structured manner, allow staff and responders to practice their roles and responsibilities in a simulated crisis, such as an active shooter situation, without the stress of an actual event.

Understanding that it’s impossible to completely eliminate all threats, the focus of these exercises is on risk minimization, providing the school community with the knowledge to act effectively during a crisis.

By involving teachers, students, parents, and the local community, these drills foster a culture of preparedness through repetition, helping ensure that students and personnel can quickly respond to a real-life crisis.

3. Invest in preventative resources.

Schools are strategically increasing their investment in preventative resources, allocating more than $3 billion to security projects, a number expected to grow by 8 percent in the year ahead.

In many cases, schools are hardening their perimeter defenses, installing fences, access control systems, classroom locks and weapons screening.

According to The New York Times, “about two-thirds of public schools in the United States now control access to school grounds — not just the building — during the school day, up from about half in the 2017-2018 school year.”

This is the right place to start, but it’s not the only way to make schools safer.

As part of their school crisis planning, leaders should allocate resources to preventative resources, including training, personnel, and technology, from access points to within the building.

Additionally, schools need to have more funding made available to them in order to invest in the mental health resources that schools know they need and want to provide but are limited by strained budgets. However, such resources are well worth the investment – from social workers and community support services, which support student development – all of which collectively lower the risk of violence, and elevates academic achievement.

4. Define threat detection protocols and proper communication practices based on threat levels.

Crisis communication is critical to ensuring optimal outcomes when the unthinkable happens. However, school personnel have a lot on their plates, and threat detection protocols and communication practices often get pushed aside as other priorities take precedent.

That’s why it’s crucial to establish clear school crisis communication practices tailored to each threat level.

For instance, in the event of a lockdown due to a violent incident, it is essential to know precisely whom to contact.

A designated school crisis communication point person should be in place, equipped to provide honest, timely updates to maintain transparency and control. This proactive approach ensures that parents and stakeholders are not blindsided by emergencies, fostering trust through preparedness. Schools and institutions often neglect this aspect, preferring to avoid the notion of a crisis, but the reality demands thorough planning and open communication channels.

Beyond internal coordination, it is important to have a dedicated individual or team—ideally full-time—entrusted with the oversight of these protocols. Their role is to orchestrate the various moving parts, ensuring the safety of everyone within the district or organization.

To bolster these efforts, consult external resources to identify and implement the latest best practices.

5. Document actions for continued improvement.

School safety is a moving target, and best practices are continually evolving. Schools must remain nimble, documenting their actions, evaluating their practices, and updating their response protocols accordingly.

This proactive approach involves meticulous documentation of safety measures, thorough evaluation of existing protocols, and consistent updates to ensure that response procedures reflect the latest insights and technologies. By doing so, schools can maintain a dynamic stance that is capable of addressing any threat or incident with the utmost efficiency and effectiveness. The goal is to create an environment where learning can thrive, unhampered by concerns for physical safety.

Act now to keep our kids safe

We all want our children to be safe. School safety is a shared responsibility that extends beyond the school grounds. It is a commitment that must be championed by the entire community, including parents, educators, students, and local stakeholders alike.

To ensure the well-being of our children, we must advocate for robust school crisis planning, adequate resources, new technologies, and continual reassessment of safety protocols in our schools.

Key points:

• Reliable and immediate communication is essential in school emergencies
• See article: Closing the gap in school emergency response
• See article: School safety concerns are on the rise as classrooms open
• For more news on school safety, visit eSN’s Educational Leadership page

For any school, keeping students, faculty, and staff safe is a top priority. Many school leaders will therefore be shocked to learn that 52 percent of U.S. schools include areas that fail to meet current building code requirements for minimum indoor radio signal strength for police and fire department communications.

The implications are clear. In an emergency, when timely and effective communications are vital, first responders may have trouble connecting via their smartphones, hand-held radios, or other devices. This can adversely affect their ability to respond to an emergency and, in worst-case scenarios, put lives at risk.

Ensuring schools have complete communications coverage is, therefore, an urgent imperative. Addressing this challenge involves boosting signal coverage for cellular networks as well as 700 MHz and 800 MHz Land Mobile Radio (LMR) frequencies traditionally used by emergency responders.

School districts will also need to ensure their schools have adequate coverage for FirstNet public safety broadband, which uses the reserved Band 14 communications channel. FirstNet provides a more data-oriented and versatile communication platform compared to traditional radio systems.

Key safety considerations

Expanding cellular, radio, and Band 14 coverage in schools is important for a number of reasons. At the outset of an emergency incident, for instance, poor coverage or signal could make it difficult for a student or staff member to make that first, all-important, 9-1-1 call. In an emergency, even a delay of a few seconds can have major consequences. In practice, schools should therefore look to ensure that coverage extends across basements, closets, and other out-of-the-way places – after all, it’s impossible to know where that first call will need to be made.

Once the emergency services arrive on site, they then need coverage to communicate with each other and coordinate a response. But they may also need to communicate with staff and students, and staff and students may also need to communicate with each other. Signal dead zones must therefore be kept at an absolute minimum, if not eradicated entirely.

Putting in place solutions that improve cellular and public safety coverage is a clear win for school districts, helping them to meet building code obligations and mandates from local authorities. More importantly, by investing in such technology, school districts can elevate their emergency preparedness, ensuring rapid response times, accurate information sharing, and ultimately, the safety and well-being of students and staff during critical incidents.

Updating communication systems

It goes without saying that schools are busy places, and it’s important not to interrupt students’ studies. That’s why timing school communications upgrades to coincide with school vacations, such as summer or winter breaks, makes perfect sense. Even then, however, districts will need options that deliver a rapid implementation turnaround.

When it comes to boosting coverage for LMR and FirstNet Band 14 communications, one great option is an Emergency Responder Communications Enhancement System (ERCES). As the name suggests, this is a technology that boosts the coverage of public safety communications coverage within buildings. Not all solutions are equal, however, and districts should look out for features such as no-noise guarantees for the highest quality connections, and true carrier-grade, multi-band support for FirstNet.

However, an ERCES will only cover emergency service communications. For reliable public cellular coverage, school districts need to look elsewhere. Here, an Active DAS Hybrid solution is the best approach for boosting cell signals indoors. Active DAS Hybrids offer a quick and affordable pathway to ensuring in-building cellular connectivity by taking prolonged planning, engineering, and technical installation out of the equation. These systems are fed “off-air”, which allows them to bring the power of the outdoor network into the building. By improving coverage in the most efficient way possible, Active DAS Hybrids deliver reliable cellular coverage with fewer signal interruptions for students and staff.

Getting the funding in place

For most school districts, money is tight, particularly when it comes to funding infrastructure upgrades. Every dollar not spent on education needs to be justified. But given just how important communications are to public safety in schools, a number of grants have been made to help districts fund these projects.

The Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018, for example, gives the Department of Justice (DOJ) authority to provide awards directly to school districts to improve security. Last year, the DOJ announced nearly $190 million in funding to improve the safety of schools across the country. Many states are also making funds available for school safety programs, including Connecticut ($15 million) and Ohio ($68 million), while others are pushing for new legislation that would require schools to deploy safety technologies. 

In a world where everyone has a cellphone and emergency response communications are more sophisticated than ever, schools can be safer. The key is to ensure these sophisticated devices can work effectively and at the first time of asking. For that, cellular and radio solutions that quickly and cost-effectively boost coverage will prove invaluable. In any emergency, communications should be the first line of defense. It’s time to make sure that they will work when needed.

Key points:

• With the new school year underway, concerns about school and district emergency planning and response are increasing
• Eighty-nine percent of parents say their child has participated in a school lockdown drill
• See related article: Preparing for the worst, hoping for the best: School leadership for emergencies

More than half of teachers and parents are more worried about school safety than in previous years, according to the 2023 K-12 School Safety Report from Motorola Solutions, which captured sentiments from 1,000 K-12 parents and 1,000 K-12 educators across the United States.

The research reveals the most pressing concerns for those closest to school safety and highlights their perceptions about emergency preparedness plans, communication practices, school safety technologies, and training for teachers and students.

The new data shows that 67 percent of both parents and teachers are much more concerned about school safety now than they were five years ago, even as 73 percent of parents and 80 percent of teachers are confident that their school’s emergency response plans are effective. 

“School safety is top of mind for parents and educators alike, with both groups expressing concerns about mental health issues, bullying and active shooter situations,” said Todd Piett, vice president of Rave Mobile Safety at Motorola Solutions. “Ensuring that school personnel and families are aware of proactive planning practices, the notification methods employed by schools, technologies in place to thwart and report emergencies and school protocols for when incidents occur will not only help to alleviate worries, but ultimately improve safety outcomes.” 

Key findings from the report include:

Safety and preparedness plans are key to gaining parents’ and teachers’ trust: When looking at schools, parents and teachers both rank school safety as a critical factor (66 percent for parents, 72 percent for teachers). 

Student mental health continues to be a top concern: Sixty-four percent of parents and 68 percent of teachers are very or extremely concerned about students’ mental health. Additionally, parents and teachers are worried about the mental health of community members who may perpetrate acts of violence on a school campus and teachers’ mental health.

Communication channels before and during crisis events are essential: Nearly half of teachers (48%) say that they are able to submit anonymous or confidential tips to their school, public safety or both, compared to 43 percent of parents. In the event of an emergency, 57 percent of teachers indicate they would typically use a classroom phone to call the main office – a time-consuming approach that does not simultaneously loop in school district officials, 9-1-1 call handlers or first responders who may need to act fast. 

School safety technology is in use — and can help to put parents at ease: Seventy-one percent of teachers say that their school has adopted new safety technology in the last two years, but 54 percent of parents say they haven’t seen new technologies implemented. This disparity presents an opportunity for schools to periodically communicate with parents about the safety solutions they’re implementing to reduce risk or expedite response. Almost half (46 percent) of parents say panic button apps that allow teachers and school staff to quickly notify 9-1-1 would increase their confidence in school safety.

Nearly all teachers and parents report participation in lockdown drills: Eighty-nine percent of parents say their child has participated in a school lockdown drill, with 96 percent of teachers reporting the same. Eighty-two percent of parents say their child has participated in a drill specifically for active shooter preparedness, while 73 percent of teachers have participated in such drills with students and another 10 percent without students. Thirty-six percent of teachers have not engaged in training with first responders but they want to.

This press release originally appeared online.

Related:
Closing the gap in school emergency response
How our school handled the chaos of an active shooter hoax

Key points:

• One of the biggest issues surrounding school emergency plans is a reliance on disparate and disconnected technologies
• Automated emergency response and streamlined communications are two ways to improve school emergency response plans
• See related article: How our school handled the chaos of an active shooter hoax

As school violence has reached a 20-year high, schools and first responders are feeling more pressure to make sure they’re prepared to respond to and resolve school safety incidents as quickly and effectively as possible.

When an emergency happens at a school, every second matters during the response. But communication and visibility gaps continue to hinder school officials and first responders and their ability to respond quickly in emergencies. The ability to effectively communicate during these incidents saves lives.

Some of these gaps stem from technology-related challenges, like poor radio coverage in school buildings, a lack of real-time information about how an emergency is unfolding, and limited communication lines between schools, police and parents. But outdated plans and insufficient training can also impact communications, whether it’s different agencies not speaking a common language or frightened parents who aren’t sure of what’s happening with their children during an emergency.

Fortunately, progress is being made on closing these gaps. New and more interoperable technologies can help all parties better communicate during an emergency and improve how law enforcement monitors fast-changing developments. During these incidents, accurate situational awareness is paramount to effective and efficient incident resolution. And schools are revisiting and revising outdated plans to help make sure school personnel and parents alike are prepared for an emergency.

Closing the gaps

A top issue with school emergency operation or action plans (EOPs/EAPs) today is that they rely on disparate and disconnected technologies.

Here’s how an emergency response might play out at many schools: An emergency happens, and an administrator or teacher presses a panic button to alert local law enforcement. Then, school officials contact that same law enforcement agency over the phone or a dedicated police radio to provide key details about what’s happening. School officials also alert staff and students of the situation, and staff may need to take actions like locking all doors.

A different technology is used in each of these steps, whether it’s the panic button, phone or radio, and school intercom system. What’s more, each technology is used independent of the others. This can make EOPs and EAPs not only inefficient but also ripe for failure if a single step is compromised. What if, for example, the police radio that’s used to contact police can’t be reached during an emergency?

New technologies can help solve these challenges by helping school and law-enforcement personnel better monitor, respond to, and resolve fast-changing emergencies. But not every school will deploy the same technology package. Schools have different needs and restraints, like varying budgets and available resources.

Consider two ways that a school can modernize its emergency response to be more efficient and effective.

1. Automated emergency response

Reducing the number of steps that responding personnel need to take in an emergency can save precious time. That’s why some schools are choosing to deploy automated emergency response software.

The software connects voice, video, IoT and data communications. This allows those responding to an emergency to communicate with each other–and other responding agencies–and access everything from building maps to videos streams. And because the software can connect to technologies like a school’s access-control and intercom systems, it can automate critical response activities.

Here’s how the software can improve the scenario described earlier: A teacher detects a threat and presses a panic button on an app on their smartphone. This immediately notifies law enforcement of the emergency and automatically activates the school’s access-control system to instantly lock all doors. It also triggers the school communication system to notify all students and staff of the emergency, and all digital signage to display the message “remain in class.”

Meanwhile, within seconds of the panic button being pressed, the responding police department can start assessing the situation. For example, they can access the live feed of the school camera that’s closest to where the emergency was reported, or switch to other school camera feeds to further assess the situation.

As officers start arriving on scene, the commanding officer can share a satellite map with them and mark it up in real time to show them where to position or enter. That officer can also use the software to call officers from any responding agency on their radios–no matter what band or brand of radio those officers are using.

All of this is made possible by an alliance of companies that have banded together to provide end-to-end, open standards-based technologies. Their applications, hardware, and services have all been tested and validated for interoperability and compatibility.

2. Streamlined communications

Not every school has the resources to deploy a fully automated emergency response system. But there are other actions that schools can take to keep communication lines open so law enforcement can swiftly and confidently respond to school emergencies.

Too often when an emergency happens, responding officers can’t communicate with school officials–or sometimes with other responding agencies–because their radios can’t talk to each other. This can create confusion and uncertainty among officers on the scene about what’s happening and cost precious time.

A radio gateway device can solve this problem by connecting disparate radio platforms so they can communicate with each other. The gateway device can support the integration of fixed station or mobile radio transceivers regardless of their operating frequencies or protocols. And it can use an assortment of configuration parameters to adapt to a wide range of radio systems.

Bringing it all together

Any technology changes require schools to update their EOPs or EAPs. But as a best practice, schools should take a fresh look at their plans every year, and they should do a formal review of the plans every three to five years. Too often, after-action reports for school incidents identify communication issues that could have been uncovered and addressed through such reviews.

One activity that schools are working to address in their EOPs and EAPs today is the reunification process. It’s critical during and after an emergency that parents know where they can expect to meet their students when it’s safe enough to do so.

EOPs and EAPs should include detailed guidance for where and how school staff should reunite students with parents after an emergency. But these plans should also outline how school administrators can communicate this process to parents.

Still, plans are only as good as the people who use them. That’s why training is important.

Some schools do emergency response training with law enforcement every three years. But experts in emergency preparedness recommend annual training, ideally with a “crawl, walk, run” approach. This begins with tabletop exercises to review how school personnel would respond in an emergency and reveal any gaps in resources, communications or understanding of EOP/EAP processes. Next, school personnel must do functional exercises to help overcome the gaps identified. Finally, full-scale training of a real-world emergency provides validation that personnel will follow the protocols in their plans. This training must occur at least annually. 

Support is available

Put simply, when it comes to keeping kids and teachers safe, schools don’t have to go it alone – industry is all-in on the mission, too.

For example, the aforementioned alliance of companies that’s bridging technologies to enable instant communications during an emergency can also help schools and law enforcement navigate the many challenges of emergency preparedness.

The alliance can help school districts identify funding sources, like school-safety grants, and provide grant writing support for qualified applicants. It can also provide training to help make sure school officials understand and properly use technologies as part of their emergency response. And it can help school districts update their EOPs and EAPs.

Protecting what matters most

Nothing is more important to a community than the safety of its children. With a well-vetted plan and interoperable technology in place, school personnel and first responders can work together more seamlessly than ever to address school emergencies with the urgency that they deserve.

Related:
3 ways schools play a vital role in community safety
Preparing for the worst, hoping for the best: School leadership for emergencies

Key points:

• Every moment is critical during a school emergency, and having the right tools is a must
• An emergency response app helped one school leader receive and deploy clear communication

I was in a meeting when I heard the sirens. I immediately excused myself and saw the first squad car screech to a halt in front of our doors and knew it was bad. The police department had just received a call saying there was an active shooter somewhere at Spanish Fork High School and two students were deceased.  

As it turns out, we were the victim of a coordinated hoax that targeted schools throughout Utah and other states, but for the next 24 minutes, this was our reality and as principal, I had to act. My emotions almost got the better of me; not only do I care deeply about each and every one of our 1,469 students, I also have a daughter who was in class just down the hall. I almost lost my motor skills but was able to pull my phone from my pocket to instantly lock down the school with the push of a button and watch our emergency plan unfold almost flawlessly before my eyes.   

To fully understand the importance and power of that simple act, we need to take a step back. I have been the school’s principal for four years. Although we had published an emergency plan and conducted drills four or five times every year, from day one, I felt there was something off or missing from those plans. We had the standard procedures and instructions for locking classrooms, counting students and making announcements on the PA system, but nothing that would help us know what is happing in the moment, coordinate actions between law enforcement and school administrators or communicate with teachers and staff to effectively manage the chaos.  

A few months ago, I was approached by a former student who wanted to introduce me to a technology called AEGIX AIM (Active Incident Management) that other schools have implemented to address the very challenges I was worried about. We received approval from the district to install and pilot the software. As fate would have it, we finished rolling it out and conducted staff training on it exactly one week before the active shooter hoax was perpetrated.   

AIM has an app that is installed on the phones of all administrators, teachers, and staff at the high school. Our local first responders including the police department, sheriff’s department and fire department all are on the platform as well. Within the app, there is a map of the five buildings that make up our campus. When an emergency happens, which can range from an injury in the gym, a flood in the cafeteria, or an active shooter, anyone on the system can report the emergency or initiate a lockdown, like I did that day. 

When I hit lockdown, everyone on the system heard an alarm on their phones and saw that the school was in lockdown. Teachers knew they needed to push a big button to report themselves and their classroom as “safe” or “unsafe.” If they are safe, their classroom shows up on the interactive map as green, if unsafe, it is red. The system also has a chat feature that proved absolutely critical during the emergency. We had students who were in other teachers’ classrooms and staff that were alone in offices or bathrooms. Teachers and administrators were able to clearly communicate with each other to quickly account for every person on campus. 

Earlier, I said the plan unfolded almost flawlessly. We had one teacher who accidentally pushed “unsafe,” teachers across the hall messaged her to make sure and she immediately changed her status to the correct one.  

Not only was I able to see my daughter’s classroom light up in green, because law enforcement has the app, they watched with me as every classroom and building on campus report in as “safe.”  

During the event, students were naturally on their phones as well and social media was doing nothing to help the situation. False reports and rumors were adding to the fear, confusion and anxiety, but teachers were able to hold up their phones and say to students, “This is what’s real, and this is what’s happening,” which served to calm nerves and minimize chaos.  

Lt. Cory Slaymaker of the Spanish Fork Police Department was monitoring the situation through the app as well. He learned that other agencies around the state were receiving similar threats and after 24 of the longest minutes of my life, he sent a message through the AIM app that the active shooter threat was a hoax and what the next steps were to be. The police were clearing the classrooms as per procedure. Lt. Slaymaker was able to give peace of mind by telling those huddled together behind locked classroom doors or isolated by themselves in bathrooms, stairwells and offices that this is a hoax, stay calm, we’ll get to you soon.  

We count ourselves fortunate that this situation turned out the way it did, especially knowing that too many threats are not hoaxes. I take solace in the fact that I can, as an educator and parent, say to the parents of my students that our school has the training and the tools to help keep their children safe. 

Related:
Focusing on upstream prevention can stem school violence
Preparing for the worst, hoping for the best: School leadership for emergencies

According to The Washington Post, more than 331,000 children at more than 350 schools have experienced gun violence during school hours since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. And while school shootings tend to capture news headlines, they are not the only ill plaguing schools today.

According to the CDC, about one in five high school students report being bullied on school property. These numbers do not include the faculty and staff that may have also been affected by these situations. Not to mention the increase in severe weather events – in the first three months of 2023, schools across the nation have scrambled to secure buildings and protect students because of heavy snow, rain, flooding, tornadoes and wildfires.  

The unfortunate reality is that it’s not a matter of if an emergency impacts a school–it’s a matter of when. And when an adverse incident occurs, time is of the essence. Here are three tips to help educational leaders effectively manage safety gaps and mitigate risks in their school community and ensure a swift response.

Revaluate current safety plans

The backbone of emergency preparedness is a comprehensive, well-articulated and practiced plan that identifies important resources, key stakeholders, and communication methods that will be utilized throughout an incident. At a minimum, plans should be reevaluated before the beginning of the school year and then again at the beginning of the calendar year to ensure that new protocols and technologies are being considered and implemented for every scenario. For example, schools in the normally wildfire-prone areas out West may want to revisit their emergency plans after the flooding that has polarized that part of the country in 2023.

When updating plans, leaders should remember to include the technologies that are part of their school safety ecosystem. It’s not always easy to keep pace with progress, but technology can be a game changer when it comes to school safety. Innovative solutions help schools with access control, video surveillance, emergency notification and incident management. Thanks to the influx in federal, state, and local grants, schools that have been behind on innovation can now purchase security systems, multimodal alerting solutions and panic button apps.  The state of Texas, for example, has released more than $450 million dollars in funding in recent months so that more than five million students in 8,000 schools are protected from harm.

Invest in technology that serves more than one purpose

Most educational leaders recognize the value in having access control systems, video surveillance technologies, and other hard-wired solutions that help to secure school buildings and protect the precious occupants within. These systems play a major role in deterring unwanted visitors from entering facilities. Throughout the school year, administrators should remind the school community about access protocols and the importance of adhering to traffic patterns as part of an overall emergency preparedness plan.

Once within the confines of a school building, technology is key. Leaders should assess their onsite communication and collaboration capabilities with a keen eye on engagement and efficiencies. For example, while a physical red emergency button attached to a wall in a school may effectively summon first responders to the scene of a crisis, the technology may prove to be inadequate for the following reasons:

• An incident occurs in a hallway, classroom, or cafeteria not equipped with one of these devices.
• The system alerts police but does not convey what type of emergency is taking place, reducing awareness.
• Key stakeholders in adjacent classrooms, school offices, or offsite personnel are not looped in during that initial push of a button.

Before making an investment in innovation, school officials should connect with their local 9-1-1 counterparts to ensure their new technology will integrate with public safety systems. Ask key questions such as: Will this technology allow teachers, administrators, staff, and school resource officers to easily communicate in a timely manner when an emergency occurs? Will key stakeholders, onsite and off, be looped in as an incident unfolds? Are first responders part of the initial wave of communications and are they receiving data including device location, facility information, and type of activation to help with situational awareness?  Does your panic button solution broadcast to other channels including digital signage, video systems, access controls, websites, sirens, and IoT-ready devices? Are you able to use two-way communication for live-streaming video and status checks?

Collaboration and communication are the cornerstones of safety

Last, but certainly not least, communication and collaboration are two critical considerations when developing the cornerstones of a good safety plan.

Schools can invest in technology that offers an incident sharing platform that allows all stakeholders—including those in the school, public safety and other responding agencies—to be on the same page during emergency response. When you think about the number of agencies that respond to mass casualty events or even the medical mishaps that happen more frequently in a school setting, the need for timely information-sharing cannot be overstated.

Schools and public safety agencies are increasingly using geo-targeted safety solutions too. By establishing smart proximity alerts, for example, schools can be informed about incidents that are unfolding in the area. These warnings provide schools with additional time to secure buildings and go into lockdown mode. Schools can determine what types of events to flag, the radius for these events, and which stakeholders need to know, rather than alerting all members of the school community and possibly creating message fatigue. By automatically integrating with your local 9-1-1 system, this process can be done easily and is highly informative. 

When it comes to school safety, today’s administrators have a daunting task before them. By revisiting school protocols, ushering in new safety tech solutions, consistently sharing information with the school community, and ensuring that all the right stakeholders are looped in when an emergency occurs, school leaders will sleep better at night.

Related:
Focusing on upstream prevention can stem school violence
3 ways schools play a vital role in community safety

While instances of school violence are on the rise, there is strong evidence to suggest that upstream violence prevention is what’s needed to curb this trend. Since 1999 there have been over 300 violent tragedies that have played out from college campuses to elementary schools, and 320K students have been exposed to gun violence. 

According to a 2019 CDC study involving 13,667 students, 1 in 5 report of being bullied on school property within the last year and roughly 8 percent of high school students surveyed indicated they had been in a physical fight on school property at least one or more times within the last year.  

These events have cast a spotlight on school safety and have put teachers, students and administrators squarely at the center of taking steps to create a positive school environment. It is widely known that a safe and supportive learning environment has a profound, positive impact on the academic success, mental health, and social well-being of students.

Why an Increase in Violence?

The 21^st century has seen a 19 percent increase in violent events on school property. Experts attribute this increase to distinct factors including severe and long-term bullying experienced by the perpetrator, non-compliance and withdrawal side effects of psychiatric medications, social media, exposure to violent content, access to weapons, and a lack of mental health resources.

Upstream Violence Prevention

One of the most effective approaches to stemming the school violence crisis is a scalable community approach using upstream violence prevention. This approach refers to preventing violence before it starts by giving members of the school community the tools and accountability to ensure a safe environment for all.

Tips and Strategies for Upstream Prevention

• Creating a safe, inclusive school community
• Violence and bullying prevention training for students, staff, and parents/caregivers
• Zero tolerance bullying policy
• Readily available mental health service for student referrals  
• Threat assessment by school or district

Training as part of Prevention

One way that schools and districts are setting a stable foundation for violence prevention is through educator and student training. From game-like training simulations to videos and digital content delivered via on demand modules, schools are trying to get ahead of the behaviors and attitudes that lead to incidences and violent situations on school grounds.

By giving students the tools to understand their emotions, teaching growth through resiliency and understanding when to seek out help for themselves or a peer in distress, districts are finding powerful, lasting support from online training that can be integrated into a school curriculum.

How to Integrate a Training Curriculum

To realize the greatest benefit from both educator and student training, it’s recommended that schools and districts create a roll out plan, train facilitators and measure outcomes.

Create a roll out plan: To ensure the training is integrated into the curriculum and that students have adequate time to complete it, each school/district should appoint a team that will manage the roll out the training program.

Train the facilitator: If the training will be offered as part of the curriculum it’s important that each facilitator is completely trained on the content, how to handle student questions and understands how to make referrals to support for students in distress. Facilitator training as well as resource guides for reference are essential.

Establish benchmarks & measure: To demonstrate the effectiveness of the training, schools or districts should establish how they will measure outcomes. This could be measured by the number of students and educators trained over a school year or the decrease/ increase in the number of violent incidences on school grounds.

Related:
4 major components of school violence prevention
How to talk to your students about trauma and school violence

Schools do so much for a community. They provide a safe place for children to learn and grow each day, filled with educators who truly care. However, as a parent or educator, it’s important to understand that many schools aren’t being used to their full potential.

When utilized properly, local schools can uplift safety in your community, providing a place outside of traditional school hours for children and families to feel secure and supported.

The task of neighborhood safety shouldn’t fall solely on teachers and administrators. However, these individuals who have regular contact with local youth can spearhead the initiatives that promote safety in the community.

If you’re not sure where to get started with that kind of promotion, let’s cover a few ideas that can increase the role schools play in community safety and security.

Community Outreach Programs

One of the best ways to utilize local schools is to transform them into community centers when classes aren’t in session. School outreach programs provide countless benefits for kids and teens. They bring resources into the buildings that keep young people engaged while providing a place of safety after school. Some of the biggest benefits include:

• Continued education on specific issues;
• Behavioral changes;
• The promotion of civic engagement;
• Improved student outcomes.

If you’re not sure how to transform your space into a community center, think about what your neighborhood really needs. Some teachers could volunteer to teach specialized classes. You could open up the gym to offer sports programs to kids and adults alike. Professionals from the community might be willing to come and teach parents about things like financial health and self-care.

Related:
5 school safety questions your district should be prepared to answer
Learn to align your communication strategies with school safety

Not only do community centers and outreach programs provide a safe space for kids and families to spend their afternoons and evenings, but they also bring communities together. When people take the time to get to know their neighbors and get involved in their communities, it generally makes for a safer neighborhood. This kind of collaboration encourages people to look out for one another and build a strong, secure community full of support.

Providing Proper Nutrition

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools across the country provided free meals for their students. Some went the extra mile and would send extra food home on weekends. For some kids, those free meals would be the only real nutrition they received each day.

Unfortunately, many government grants and forms of assistance have halted in this post-pandemic society. While some schools are continuing to offer free lunches, others have gone back to charging their kids.

If your district isn’t currently offering free or reduced lunches for local kids, you might want to consider speaking up to the community or starting a fundraiser to make it happen. It’s essential for kids to receive proper nutrition each day if they want to stay focused, grow and develop naturally, and continue to excel in school. However, a lack of available nutritious food can also cause safety issues. Some of the benefits of free school lunches include:

• Ending school food stigmas;
• Reduced food insecurity within the community;
• No more “lunch shaming”;
• Reduced bullying;
• More social solidarity.

By finding the funds to provide nutritious lunches and extra weekend meals for families, your school can also foster a greater sense of community and help families in need from having to struggle to survive.

Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Again, the burden of student and community safety doesn’t solely need to fall on teachers. However, educators have a unique opportunity to connect with young people. Often, teachers interact with children and teens more than their parents do on a daily basis. If you’re an educator, you can use that connection to promote safe, healthy living for kids and teens in your community.

Teachers are already mandatory reporters when it comes to any dangers they might foresee, such as a minor in a relationship with an adult. However, sometimes those situations aren’t so obvious. You can use your daily interaction with teenage students to talk to them about things like dating apps for teens and the potential dangers of connecting with someone online. You might also consider talking to your school counselor about popular apps and social media sites teens are using, so you can work together to make parents aware and protect as many young people as possible.

No matter what type of neighborhood your school is in, there’s no reason it can serve as a central safety hub for the community. Whether it’s a safe place for kids to stay after school, a safe haven for families in need, or a place where kids and teens can go to get honest advice from educators and administrators, there’s no reason your local district can’t wear multiple hats and help as many people as possible. Consider bringing up some of these school safety ideas to your local school board or campaigning for them within your community.

Having a campus-wide communication ecosystem is imperative, and school district leaders have no higher priority than to create secure and informed campus environments.

Being able to initiate a controlled emergency notification protocol to alert, notify and monitor directly from a mobile device, classroom audio system, or interactive flat panel is essential.

An eSchool News panel of experts, including Brent Thrasher, Instructional Technology Coordinator at Overton County Schools and Todd Eddy from Galaxy Next Generation, offers insights into how to make better decisions, prevent risk, and strengthen communication between faculty, administration, and first responders during an active threat.

Topics include:

• How to immediately notify teachers of a lockdown through software alerts.
• How to instantly notify law enforcement and first responders.
• How to monitor communication within your entire ecosystem using one software platform.

Related:
3 keys to school communication and community-building

With students and educators reentering their classrooms for the 2022-23 school year, district leaders need to be able to reassure everyone in their school community that school safety is a priority and that they will be safe physically, socially, and emotionally.

Decades’ worth of research have shown that school safety, school climate, and student well-being are all important for academic achievement. The conditions that support them are complex and ever-shifting, which means it’s a constant challenge to create an optimal learning environment. That’s why district leaders should always be ready to explain what their school safety plans are and how their administration arrived at them.

Be prepared to answer these five questions on the topic of school safety from parents, educators, and students as you head back to school:

1. What is our district-wide approach to safety and what mechanisms are in place to ensure it is known and followed?

As we’ve seen over the past year, emergencies due to natural disasters, medical situations, active shooter threats, and other causes can happen at any place and time. Having a comprehensive security and safety program is one of district leaders’ most important responsibilities.

The federal government recommends that every district create an Emergency Operations Plan (school EOP) that outlines how it will prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency. In addition to having an updated EOP based on risk assessments and lessons your school has learned over time, it’s crucial to train staff through education and drills in coordination with local first responders; test communications systems; conduct audits; run alerts and reunification drills; and update building maps. Today’s representative safety training is going beyond the typical active shooter training and fire drills, and now incorporates many all-hazard situations as well as training on bullying, suicide, and basic first aid.

2. What is your district doing to deter attacks and violence?

Violence is preventable. Early detection, assessment, and intervention in cases where individuals may pose a threat are crucial.

Putting tools and technology in place to detect and become aware of threats is an important part of a holistic approach. Programs to educate students, staff, and the community on how to recognize concerning behavior and report tips and information anonymously are table-stakes high today. And, in today’s digital world, threats and warning signs are abundant – something known as “leakage” – which can be detected through email and social media scanning technology, as well as web filtering that can detect high-risk issues at scale using artificial intelligence (AI). These tools help schools get ahead of harmful intent before it escalates.

Read More:

6 things parents can do to boost school security efforts
How administrators can address mental health and physical safety this fall

Rapid assessment and intervention are key once a tip or risk has been identified. There are many models for identifying, assessing, and supporting students who exhibit challenging behaviors. The two most important elements of any model are to first, make sure sufficient information is collected and connected so no threat-related data is left unexamined, and second, apply a multi-tiered intervention approach with supporting educational tools and resources to ensure safe, positive and sustainable change – while still ensuring that districts comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

3. When it’s not a drill, what is in place to ensure seamless, fast communication with first responders, and how do we ensure safety until help arrives?

The average duration of a violent critical incident is 5 minutes long – and the national average law enforcement response time is 3 to 5 minutes. During those precious minutes, it’s imperative that school officials can communicate with law enforcement and first responders so they can accurately gauge the situation and put plans into action.

Three states (Florida, New York, and New Jersey) have passed laws addressing the issue of emergency response time with silent panic alert systems linked directly to first responders and law enforcement agencies. Named Alyssa’s Laws after a victim of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy, legislation requiring the installation of time-saving silent panic buttons is gaining momentum in other states as well.

Leveraging available technology to streamline communication during a crisis and reducing the potential for human error during a stressful time is vital. It is also critical to speed up the processes of establishing safety checkpoints, accounting for individual students and educators, and managing reunification with parents.

To secure safety within the school until help arrives, a multi-option response is the federally recommended model for active threats. It incorporates a variety of strategies for protecting students and faculty during a violent incident, including: 1) fleeing the scene, if possible; 2) if unable to flee, enhanced lockdown that includes barricading in a room with environmental objects; and 3) as a last resort, distraction, movement, noise, and swarming the gunman.

Training for a multi-option response teaches everyone in the school community situational awareness skills to help them make informed decisions and choose strategies specific to their circumstances. In addition to age- and ability-appropriate considerations, it’s critical to take a trauma-informed approach to these trainings so educators and students leave feeling prepared and empowered.

4. How do we reunite students with parents and guardians?

Planning for reunification starts with having accurate and up-to-date documentation of students, volunteers, and staff – and making sure that information is accessible during an emergency to help limit chaos. Next comes figuring out evacuation routes from all parts of the campus, with contingencies for different scenarios and considerations for mobility-limited individuals or those with special needs.

When setting up the reunification site itself (as well as a backup site should the first site be compromised), it’s important to consider that it be accessible, flexible, and safe, with plenty of space for sharing information privately should the need arise to tell a family their loved one has been wounded, is missing, or is deceased. It should also include quick access to mental health and trauma resources, sufficient internet and cell phone signals, clear entrance and exit routes for families, and sites for media to set up.

Finally, coordinating and practicing at the site with the emergency team – those responsible for accounting for students, communicating with families, coordinating with media, providing transportation and more – will help identify glitches. Training staff, students, and families in the reunification plan increases confidence and builds awareness of what to do during a real event.

5. How do we maintain a culture and practice of school safety?

Look ahead and identify your priorities. Address ongoing challenges. Adapt current plans for changing circumstances. Follow up on opportunities to be proactive and improve on what’s already in place. Next steps might include:

• A full-scale risk assessment.
• More effective behavioral and mental health plans, including behavioral threat assessment, suicide awareness and prevention, and behavioral intervention supports.
• Updates to training your educators and staff have received to ensure understanding and compliance.
• Regularly scheduled drills.
• Incident tracking and reporting.

By answering these five questions, you help ensure that the entire community is on the same page in terms of training, technology, and planning to address potential threats to students’ safety. And when students feel secure and supported in their environment, they’re more likely to be on track to reach their full academic potential.