SCHOOL SAFETY PLANNING WITHOUT ASSESSMENT: GUESSING IS NOT PLANNING

You go to the doctor because you feel sick. When the doctor enters the examination room the doctor tells you that he is giving you a prescription for to medicines. Confused you ask, “But you haven’t examined me yet to diagnose my problem?” The doctor replies, “Don’t worry I have a pretty good idea what is wrong with you so I’ll just wing it”.

How fast would you run out of there? This is how most school district design school safety plans. They use a little bit of internet information, a little bit of other districts information and a lot of guess work. This is not professional or effective planning.

Without a compete assessment an effective plan cannot be designed. Most districts have had safety assessments conducted by local people or companies. The problem is that these assessments are superficial and general ineffective for planning purposes or problems solving.
Most of the security assessments that have been performed in U.S. schools have focused either on security hardware [cameras, locks, etc.] or exterior crime prevention. Since school safety is primarily about the management of a school environment and the people in it, an accurate assessment of safety must include analysis of the management systems in place on a daily basis that affect daily security issues.
The following is a list of what a proper school security audit should include:

• Each audit / assessment must be custom designed to the school facility structure and personality. For example California style [one floor, flat or shallow roof] buildings present different security problems than a school facility that have multiple floors. Socio-economic aspects of the community and the surrounding area also set the personality of a school.
• A complete audit must also include interviews with key community people regarding juvenile crime and social problems related to children.
• The audit must seek out key personnel within each school for extensive interviews. These key personnel provide much of the relevant usable information for the audit.
• An audit of sub social groups must also be conducted.
• An audit of management structure related to security is also vital in a proper audit.
• An audit of the relationship and communication between staff and students must be properly conducted.
• Student movement and classroom management must be audited.
• An audit of disciplinary issues must be conducted.
• Finally, the audit must provide specific issues with specific solutions must be designed for each school facility.

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