Schools: Security Alert !!!
School violence has again captured national attention as several tragic events have occurred during the past 60 days:
- A man walked into a Colorado school and fatally shot a student before taking his own life.
- Wisconsin authorities charged three boys with plotting a bomb attack on their high school and, two weeks later, a student in a rural school allegedly shot his principal.
- A gunman burst into a Vermont elementary school looking for his ex-girlfriend and gunned down a teacher.
- A heavily armed truck driver who was prepared for a long standoff barricaded himself in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, killing five girls execution-style before killing himself.
The 1999 Columbine massacre left 15 people dead. Since Columbine in 1999, the number of fatal school shootings in a school year has ranged from three (2002-03) to 24 (2004-05), according to National School Safety and Security Services.
Between 1992 and 2000, there were 279 violent deaths in schools, and teachers on average experience 16,000 serious violent crimes each year in the U.S. In addition, the National School Safety and Security Services counts 17 nonfatal school shootings so far this school year, beginning August 1. There were 85 the previous school year and 52 in the 2004-2005 school year.
Since the Columbine High School shooting incident and 9/11, increased vigilance and attention to school safety have served American schools well. Many schools have applied the lessons learned from such incidents and are engaged regularly in the process of planning for safe schools, crisis response and crisis recovery. In addition, other strategies include:
- Establishing law enforcement and education partnerships;
- Proactive problem-solving;
- Relationship and rapport building;
- Sharing common goals;
- Training;
- Engaging in drills and practice;
- Conducting safety assessment;
- Applying current technology to school safety issues.
Following incidents such as those that have occurred this past month in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, schools are asking the haunting question: Was there anything that could have been done to prevent such tragedies?
Dr. Ronald Stephens, Executive Director of the National School Safety Center recently reiterated the following recommendations that schools should conduct, highlighting some of the basic lessons learned from incidents of violence in schools:
Recommendations:
Assess the public’s access to your school. How easy is it for intruders to gain access to your facilities? How are vehicle and pedestrian access controlled? What non-school functions provide additional access to your site?
Review screening policies for visitors, volunteers, workers and service personnel. Be aware that individuals who are "rule followers" will abide by the rules and directional signs for visitor check in. Those who intend to do harm will circumvent screening procedures. Train school personnel regarding non-confrontational methods for approaching strangers on campus. Direct them to report all unknown persons who are in the building.
Encourage students to report any unusual activities, behaviors or people that they encounter on campus. Students must be taught that they share the responsibility for their own safety and for promoting the safety of their school. Students may be the first to see something unusual that requires an immediate response. Consider the use of a student tip line that gives students an avenue to report suspicious behaviors or rumors.
Review your official partnership agreements with law enforcement so that crisis roles and responsibilities of educators and law enforcers are clearly understood. School personnel must know when to lead, when to follow and when to step aside when a crisis unfolds.
Train members of the custodial and maintenance staff to assume roles and responsibilities for crisis response. Maintenance personnel may be the first line of defense against a campus intruder. They should be capable of being in radio contact with the central office to report unusual or threatening circumstances.
Provide all staff members with adequate crisis training and support. Become aware of those staff members on campus who have medical or other skills that can be used in an emergency.
Establish protocols and procedures for assessing and dealing with threats at school. Establish threat assessment teams - teams of school personnel, law enforcement and mental health professionals who are called upon to assess the validity of a specific threat or who work together in an information network to discuss as appropriate students who are experiencing unusual emotional stress or who are showing signs of trouble.
At Philadelphia Insurance Companies, we are committed to creating safe and secure venues and events through our work in physical security, crisis management and business continuity. And, as parents, we are deeply concerned that our children are safe and secure from harm. However, we also recognize the challenges that our schools face in balancing security efforts with an open learning environment.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police have created an excellent tool – A Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence – that takes business continuity principles and applies this approach to a school setting. We have seen the effective results of such an approach at many facilities and events, and support such an approach in schools as a way of reducing the vulnerability to the threat of violence.
For your information, the following is a planning and preparation excerpt from Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence that describes the steps that can be taken to create an effective crisis prevention, management and response plan. The complete document is available at:
http://www.theiacp.org/pubinfo/pubs/pslc/svindex.htm
Crisis Planning and Preparation
- Establish a Crisis Planning Team that includes representation from faculty and staff, as well as safety, security, and emergency response providers who are knowledgeable about crisis planning and/or would help intervene in a school safety crisis. The primary duty of these teams is to develop and periodically refine crisis management plans.
- Establish School Crisis Management Teams at district and site levels utilizing the nationally recognized Incident Command System (ICS). The ICS provides a comprehensive organizational structure, role assignment, and decision-making process to prepare for and respond to all types of crises. Schools should contact emergency management agencies (e.g., fire departments) for information about ICS.
- Have a working knowledge of all available and needed resources for handling and responding to a crisis situation. During planning, utilize school personnel to determine resources available within the building and the district. Utilize emergency response personnel from the community to help determine availability of resources within the community.
- Include off-site school activities such as stadium events, field trips, etc. in crisis planning.
- Assign all faculty and staff to clearly defined roles under the ICS system. Critical assignments must be staffed three deep to assure coverage at all times.
- Identify and make pre-incident arrangements with the counselors who would provide the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing immediately following a crisis.
- Identify and train on-site building maintenance staff (primary and backup) and off-site personnel who will take responsibility for dealing with fire alarms, sprinkler systems, gas, etc. These personnel should immediately be available at the command post.
- Identify personnel who will have master keys, codes, and access to secured areas at the site.
- Establish and publicize the chain of command so that if the appointed crisis director as specific in the ICS is unavailable, the next designated Crisis Management Team member will take charge.
- Establish and practice how to protect students with physical or developmental disabilities.
- Prepare a dismissal plan in the event students need to be sent home early. Establish procedures for notifying parents/guardians and media. Make arrangements for transportation of special needs students.
- Establish and practice lockdown and evacuation procedures, including where students should go during different types of crises. Consider various/adverse weather conditions and ways to transport evacuees. In the event of evacuation, predetermine specific locations of safe havens for students to gather a safe distance away from the school. Publicize locations to students, parents, school teachers and staff, crisis team members, and emergency response personnel.
- Develop an emergency traffic plan capable of protecting emergency response routes and accommodating the likely traffic and parking needs of parents/guardians and media.
- Pre-designate places, depending on the nature of the crisis, for personnel to perform their roles. Places include:
- A designated media contact location.
- A designated place for parents/guardians to congregate.
- A designated place for clergy.
- Staging areas for transportation, etc.
- Establish a "Calling Tree" or "Phone Tree" which allows the Crisis Management Team to be notified immediately. Post Calling Tree lists in strategic locations, such as superintendents', principals', assistant principals', nursing, counseling, custodians', crisis team representatives', and school department offices; as well as at local police department, school district, and other designated off-site locations.
- Make alternative response plans known to key personnel who would communicate the nature of the crisis and the appropriate level of response. Information about some aspects of response plans may need to be restricted as a security measure.
- Create crisis and evacuation kits and place them at strategic locations inside and outside of schools. For a list of items to include in crisis kits and types of places to locate them, contact your local police department.
- Consider utilizing digital technology and computer databases to store photographs and demographic information that would enable easy and accurate identification of students, teachers, and staff. Always have hardcopy versions in the event computers are inaccessible.
- Provide copies of all emergency and evacuation plans to local law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response agencies.
- Provide law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response personnel with blueprints, layouts and floor plans of school buildings and grounds, including information about main leads for water, gas, electricity, cable, telephone, HVAC, alarm and sprinkler systems, and locations of hazardous materials, elevators, and entrances. These should be reviewed annually and include both officials' and students' names for each location on the property. Schedule walkthroughs by emergency responders, including city public works personnel. Consider color coding interiors of buildings and numbering doors to assist responders.
SPECIAL THANKS: Special thanks to Mr. Joseph DesPlaines, Senior Vice President, Crisis Management, American Specialty Insurance and Risk Services, Inc. for his contributions to this resource.
References:
National School Safety Center:
http://www.schoolsafety.us/
International Association of Chiefs of Police:
http://www.theiacp.org/pubinfo/pubs/pslc/svindex.htm
Additional Resources:
US Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Investigation:
The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective
http://www.securitymanagement.com/
http://www.schoolsecurity.org/resources/articles.html
http://www.keepschoolssafe.org/
Information on School Violence:
Here are several links to schools safety reports for Pennsylvania and New Jersey and district and school reports for 2004-05
New Jersey's 2004-05 report, Violence, Vandalism and Substance Abuse in New Jersey Public Schools
New Jersey District information
Pennsylvania's School Safety Report for 2004-05
Pennsylvania districts and school reports for 2004-05
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