With classes now well underway again this fall for the majority of school districts, leadership can rest well knowing that their efforts in tightening school security have been well received by parents and teachers: More than 70% believe their schools have put effective emergency response plans in place.
Even so, one can never be too confident about school safety.
The Gun Violence Archive has already recorded at least 40 shootings across K12 schools and college campuses in August, the majority of which took place at the high school level. Similarly, the K12 School Shooting Database has logged 208 shootings so far in 2023. Since beginning its tally in 1966, this is the third-most frequent year of shootings, with four months of the year remaining.
With a full semester ahead, leaders are always looking for effective new ways to tighten security. Here are several useful tools and resources to help them do so.
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SchoolSafety.gov
The Biden administration has teamed with multiple federal departments to create SchoolSafety.gov, a hub of collaboration and communication on the latest campus safety practices in K12. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), along with the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Justice (DOJ), have made accessible hundreds of resources and evidence-based practices for school administrators, teachers, parents and guardians, and state and local government officials.
On this website, those interested can easily find resources on a range of topics, such as:
- school safety
- student mental health
- cyber bullying
- preventing violence
- improving emergency preparedness
Each topic is customizable to help meet stakeholders’ specific needs. For example, teachers and parents who need help addressing bullying can select help with prevention, protection and mitigation, and response and recovery. Bullying is also broken down by verbal bullying, cyberbullying and physical bullying.
Districts struggling to update their security practices due to budget constraints can apply for a grant.
Campus notification systems skyrocket in popularity
A 2023 report by Campus Safety found that more than seven out of 10 (71%) campus protection professionals in higher ed, K12 and hospitals say they either plan on deploying new or upgraded mass emergency notification solutions in the next two years, a 20-point increase compared to 2017.
When broken down by sector, however, K12 was the most interested: Four out of five campus protection professionals are either actively planning or thinking about making upgrades and purchases. They also showed the most interest in panic buttons and intercoms or overhead paging systems.
Two companies have recently joined forces to accentuate the strengths of mass notification systems and loudspeakers. Advanced Network Devices (ANetD) and Audio Enhancement have delivered an integrated solution that provides both visual and audio alerts and can configure bell schedules, messages, visual messages, and emergency alerts all in one system.
Intelligent video surveillance
Colleges and universities now have access to surveillance equipment with back-end systems that can analyze footage and transmute it into data that IT teams can access using a “database-like search,” according to EdTech.
Lancaster School District (Calif.) installed IP surveillance cameras, and its video analytics capacity allows schools to detect emergency incidents faster. School fights, for one, have dramatically decreased. The new camera system can send a text alert to administrators if students begin to quickly assemble, the tell-tale sign of a fight.
“Sometimes we stop a fight before it happens,” said Rebecca Cooksey, Lancaster’s assistant superintendent of innovation and technology services, according to EdTech.
