The need for every school system to have a comprehensive school safety and security plan has never been greater and the good news is that you don’t have to figure it out all on your own.
There is a Roadmap to help us create safer schools.
The news and school crime statistics paint a challenging picture for educators in the United States today. While the number of incidents involving weapons on our school campuses is on the rise, the media magnifies every incident no matter the scale.
Even though our schools are some of the safest places on earth, the increase in violence and the heightened focus from the media is causing an ever-increasing level of anxiety for students, parents, and teachers alike creating pressure to ACT. Couple this with the fact that administrators and school board members are absolutely bombarded with vendors offering “THE SOLUTION” that will solve all of your problems. It is a lot to sort through.
The Roadmap to Safer Schools gives you a plan
Our consultants have decades of experience in working with schools of all sizes. Through our experience with thousands of schools, we have developed a comprehensive process to help guide you through creating a logical safety and security framework. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for school safety.
We help you through the maze of decisions that need to be made by analyzing your current situation, examining what solutions are most appropriate for your schools and community, and working with you to build a master safety and security plan.
The Roadmap takes you through Six Proven Steps
Step 1 – Engage
It is important to understand what your stakeholders think about, worry about, and find concerning. We engage students, teachers, parents, and administrators through a series of surveys, working groups, and focus groups.
Step 2 – Involve
Most school systems have a safety and security committee. In our experience they are often not as comprehensive or as engaged as you would like them to be. We use Step 1 to identify who else might be a good fit for an ongoing committee that is truly committed to bringing results.
Step 3 – Assess
We work with you to assess the current state of safety and security throughout your facilities. We look at the physical elements as well as evaluate policies and procedures. We tailor the assessment for your situation.
Step 4 – Plan
Now that we have worked with you to collect all the information about where we are and what is most important, we build a plan. That plan lays out what needs to be done, who will do it, and when it will be completed. Focus on the right things in the right order and you will be amazed at what can get done.
Step 5 – Execute
Now it’s time to put the plan into action. Often the school system will already have architects, engineers, and security specialists on board. If not, we have the resources to help you with design, project management, and training.
Step 6 – Evaluate
What gets measured gets done. We encourage you to bring in an outside team to evaluate your progress every year. This can also be a chance to stay connected with your stakeholders and demonstrate real progress.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said, “Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual.” I couldn’t agree with him more and being an educator has never been more challenging than it is today.