4 Ways to Strengthen School Safety for all Students

School safety has become top priority for schools as of late due to the many tragedies our country has endured recently. This has caused many school districts to review their safety procedures so that all students are protected while learning at school.

This post will cover 4 ways to strengthen school safety for all students. As you browse the post, think about which of the four ways could benefit your students and implement the changes at your school site immediately.

Emergency Response Plan

All schools should have a written emergency response plan. The following information should be included:

• types of emergencies (ie. natural disasters, active shooter, power outage, etc.)
• evacuation procedures with building map (ie. exit routes and meeting points)
• designated staff members to contact for various emergencies
• communication tree to notify staff, students and parents
• special needs care (ie. assisting students with mental or physical disabilities)

Once it is created, it is time to communicate the emergency response plan to staff. As this plan is implemented on site, make note of what changes need to be made. It’s important to update and revise immediately and as often as needed.

Threat Assessment

Now that the emergency response system is designed and communicated, it’s time to conduct a threat assessment. This means a team of appointed personnel (administrator, school counselor, law enforcement etc.) think through potential threats to student safety while walking the physical spaces of the school. You want to ensure the building is free of hazards, eliminating poor lighting, placing security in secluded locations, making sure locks on doors and windows are in working condition and evaluating student behavior on and off school grounds.

This team will also create clear criteria for potential threats, outlining steps to take once a threat is identified. This allows for a proactive and urgent response to suspicious behavior or activity. If a threat is reported, this same personnel team gathers together again to analyze the details of the event. They can interview witnesses and staff, and collaborate with all stakeholders to devise an appropriate intervention to ensure safety and health of everyone involved. Keeping detailed records are essential as well as following mandatory reporting protocols by law.

Training

Once all the protocols are put in place, all staff and students should be appropriately trained. The training is comprised of two phases: inform and practice. Informing staff on the emergency response plan ensures they know when to reach out for help and who specifically to contact. Sharing the results of the threat assessment as well as upgrades made on campus to further safety will alert staff to using the new additions (and reporting when the new additions need attention). Staff will then share only the pertinent details with students to encourage their participation in making the campus safe while also alerting them to how to reporting suspicious activity, bullying or personal safety threats.

Now that staff and students are on the same page, it is time to execute what they learned. Instead of waiting for an incident to occur, administrators with the help of the crisis management personnel can run practice drills like evacuations, lockdowns, active assailant response, and mental health and medical emergencies. This will help everyone feel comfortable with protocols so when a safety threat arises, everyone can respond quickly and calmly as planned.

Recovery Plan

After a crisis occurs on campus, a recovery plan should be set in motion. But before that can happen, it needs to be designed. In the past, natural disasters were the only thing on our radar to recover from and those were rare. Nowadays, sick outbreaks (ie. Covid-19) and school shootings occur much more regularly. Planning what to do after a crisis is just as important as having a plan for during the actual crisis. (ie. Employ criss management team to secure the site, provide medical attention and emotional support via health professionals. There may be a need to provide flexible learning options for as long as needed.)

One of the biggest stressors in schools is when an incident occurs, parents tend to find out on social media or via their child’s text. This causes chaos to erupt in the community. So notifying parents of what occurred as quickly as possible allows them to support you in implementing the appropriate recovery plan until students can be safely returned to their homes. Principals should share pertinent details like date, time, type of incident, current state of safety on site and recover plan next steps.

Next Steps

After reading these four options for increasing the safety of students at school, you should be thinking about which step is most necessary for you to implement at your site. Even if you have completed all four steps in the past, its essential to review these protocols often so they themselves are up-to-date and that everyone executing the plans remain informed and equipped to keep students safe.

As you can see from this post, devising a thorough plan with the assistance of the community, informing staff and students of safety protocols and providing ongoing support ensure students can remain focused on learning while at school. All schools should remain the safest place for children and this four part post will ensure that is reality of every child.

There are two resources that could be of benefit to consume in relation to school safety:

• You can listen in on a candid discussion that occurred around the Covid-19 outbreak that discusses how to create calm among the chaos, which continues to remain relevant due to the crisis that continue to occur in our schools. Tune in here.
• I spoke about the Crisis Response in Education on the Empowering Educators Podcast sharing what you can do to make it better. I discuss resources and tangible action steps to make your school more prepared in a crisis situation.