No greater challenge exists today than creating safe schools or restoring schools to tranquil and safe places of learning. The challenge requires a major strategic commitment and involves placing school safety at the top of the educational agenda. This presentation will provide attendees with best practices to help secure their schools. Topics include: School safety package, school hardening, what products work, emergency operations plans / all-hazard approach, school resource officers, best practices, lessons learned from prior school shooting incidents, trends in school safety, understanding the threat, and threat assessments.

No one wants to see or hear about any school-related tragic event. School administrators and law enforcement would prefer to prevent all school-related crimes and ensure a safe learning environment each day. On each school day, we are responsible for the most vulnerable people in our schools. The reality is there are so many things outside the control of the school administrators and our school resource officers that such a task is virtually impossible. To attempt to predict the disruptive behavior of a student, a staff member, an intruder or a terrorist is unrealistic. However, individuals responsible for K-12 schools can take actions to prepare for a crisis, avoid a crisis, preclude successive crises, and now, equally important, to lead the healing process following a crisis.

Education is a federal concern, a state concern, and a local responsibility. Assigning such responsibility to parents, students, educators, law enforcement and other citizens closest to the need for schooling is both appropriate and demanding. A safe school is foundational to the success of the academic mission. What is a safe school? A safe school is a place where students can learn, and teachers can teach in a welcoming environment, free of intimidation and fear. It is a setting where the educational climate fosters a spirit of acceptance and care for all student, where behavior expectations are clearly communicated, consistently enforced, and fairly applied. A safe school is also one that is prepared to respond to the unthinkable crisis.