• Increased staff supervision at the bus arrival and departure time.
• Exterior doors are locked after the school day begins.
• Signs on all exterior doors direct visitors to the main entrance for sign-in.
• A monitored single point of entry is established at or near the main office entrance.
• A counter height Visitor Center at the main entrance is preferable.
• The Visitor Center has a highly visible “Welcome and Expectation Sign” clearly stating the visitor procedures and expectations. (See below)

Consider posting this sign or a similar one at entrances to all buildings, as a handout to visitors, in communications to parents, in student handbooks, and on your website. In some communities it is appropriate to post the sign in other languages.

• The Visitor Center should be staffed throughout the day, have a prominently posted visitor welcome sign, sign-in materials, and communications capability.
• A waiting area for visitors is appropriate for many schools.

It is essential to standardize visitor procedures district-wide, alert all staff to their responsibility to be vigilant in following procedures, and communicate a safety rationale and visitor expectations to community, parents, staff and students.

THE DISTRICT COMMITMENT TO SAFE SCHOOLS

            To create and maintain safe and civil schools, the District leadership must commit to comprehensive, systematic program.  This means that allocation of adequate resources to collect and analyze pertinent data, educate critical personnel, train and support safety teams to plan, implement and measure outcomes.  This commitment includes the agreement to provide training to staff, institute necessary student programs and work with the parents and community to provide for the general welfare of the students of your district.  The Superintendent needs to be aware of safety team efforts, provide coordination between school teams, offer needed support and hold school teams accountable for the projected outcomes. Anything less will not be effective.

            The School Safety Team training part of the program is specifically designed to create a viable team with the capacity to plan and implement a comprehensive school safety plan at a building level.  It is purposely designed to involve skilled leaders of constituent groups in the school/community as leaders in the creating and maintaining a safe school.  The building principal is an essential leader of this highly skilled team. It is critical that the principal be a full time participant in the entire training process, skill development, data gathering, program planning, implementation and evaluation.  Without this involvement, the principal will know less than team members and will have difficulty understanding and supporting team plans and strategies. The principal needs to delegate responsibility for implementation and measurement of plan components to appropriate team members. When a principal is involved, available, facilitative, collaborative and supportive of the processes and the team, superior results are realized.

            To be effective, a team needs the full involvement of all members.  Each has information, skills, and abilities to help the team be effective.  The effective utilization of these team members is critical to the creation of a secure, safe school. Therefore, the attendance of all team members at the pre-training, team training, and follow-up team visitations is vital. Time for these sessions and time to do follow-up planning and implementation must be provided.  Anything less, sends a message that the safety program is not important.  The team relationship is the cornerstone of group planning, implementation, and ultimate success.

PROFILE OF A SAFE AND ORDERLY SCHOOL

            Students do not learn in an unsafe environment.  Students do not learn in a school in chaos and disorder. Students do no learn in a climate of inconsistency, mistrust and uncertainty.  Students do not learn when they are afraid.  It is tough enough to learn in an ordered and secure school, without trying learn in the craziness of a fearful or dysfunctional school.  A major difficulty in today’s schools is that the culture of any school has evolved over time.  This evolution is seldom the result of systematic planning.  Instead, the component characteristics became attached to the fabric of school life as new programs were added, old staff retired and new staff replaced them, leadership changed, significant events occurred, student populations shifted and societal attitudes were transformed.  The result has been the gradual, unintended and often imperceptible evolution of a school that has gone from being safe to unsafe, from secure to dangerous, from orderly to chaotic. 

            As this has occurred in more and more communities, people fear for the safety of their children and go through a cycle of anger, blame, confusion.  They don’t know what to do.  They demand that the school and district do something about their fears and concerns.  In some communities the problem is so severe that school authorities spend all their time reacting to and trying to manage the behaviors of aggression, violence, dysfunction and disorder.  Students have difficulty learning because of inconsistency of attendance, heightened fear, frequent interruptions and reduced time on task due to constant disruptions.  Many staff are fearful, demoralized and ineffective.  Schools, as they evolve, are becoming increasingly unmanageable.

            To return schools to a safe and orderly status will require a more systematic approach. This means eliminating dysfunctional behavior while intentionally planning and creating an orderly school where all people feel safe and secure.  A good starting point to the creation of this type of setting and culture is to understand the strategies and programs that intentionally promote healthy community, school and classroom settings.

School organizational strategies have critical impact on school safety.

            Research has confirmed that smaller schools (600-900) are safer.  It is felt that smaller, more manageable groups of students working with a smaller staff make for a more stable, caring and secure school.  In larger schools, the initiation of a house plan and team teaching often creates a closer student to staff relationship and improved behavior.  A closer connection of students to staff reduces the incidence of acting out behaviors and referrals and increases student autonomy, competence and resiliency.  When teachers remain with a group of students for more than one year there is an improvement in safety levels.  Academic results are better, teachers record fewer incidents of acting out, students get along better and there is a consistence in conduct and consequences. All these lead to a school where there is less conflict, more student success, strong support and a calmer setting. 

Flexible and longer blocks of time for learning also have a calming effect in schools.  When students are engaged learning during longer blocks of time, they have less opportunity to mix and mingle during the school day.  The traditional schedule calls for eight to ten hallway passing times.  The typical long block model provides for five or six passing times.  This leads to fewer conflicts and a decrease of aggressive incidents.  Schools that have staggered passing times, so that only half the students are in the hallways at any given time, have noted a corresponding decrease in incidents of aggression and violence in the halls.  Generally team teachers have fewer problems with aggressive and violence than teachers that work in isolation or departmentally. They provide better support for one another in working with problematic students, help each other with solutions, establish team (family) rapport more easily and reinforce team and school rules with greater frequency and consistency. They provide students with a greater sense of belonging and frequently help in the mediation of disputes. 

Stable, effective leadership is a major organizational factor leading to school safety.  An administration that gives clear messages about conduct, expectations and consequences establishes consistency and order.  They are fair, available, involved and model the behaviors the school values.  They have high expectations for everyone and hold all people accountable for their performance.  Schools need to be vigilant about the safety and security of their environment.  They need to limit access to school grounds and buildings to student, staff and approved visitors.  A single point of entry with greeters, staff, student, and visitor ID’s, better control of student traffic and improved capability to monitor and manage problematic students are all strategies that will make a school more secure.  Increased vigilance is by schools must be the order of the day from this time forward.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A SAFE AND ORDERLY SCHOOL

School Rules & Consequences

• Rules based on an agreed upon set of core principles. (fairness, respect,                  honesty, teamwork, diligence, responsibility, civility)

• Rules, consequences and expectations for behavior follow these principles.

• Rules and consequences are taught, written, discussed, posted followed, reviewed, revised and modified.

• Consistency in conduct, accountability and consequences is universal.

• Everyone is held accountable for their behavior.

School Policies and Procedures

• These conform to the core principles.

• Policies and procedures designed to promote school safety.

• Policies and procedures are need satisfying to all members of the school                community.

• Policies and procedures are based on information and current thought.

 Educational Programs

• School focuses on the education of the whole child by providing programs  for academic, social, physical, emotional, wellbeing and growth of all the  students.

• School promotes competency, autonomy, and sense of responsibility to self and others.

• Classroom learning is academically rigorous and expectations are universally high.

• School provides a wide range of co-curricular/extra-curricular activities, field activities and socialization opportunities.

Support Services

• School recognizes its obligation to assist students in need of specialized services.

• Programs include effective orientations, social services connections, alternative settings, counseling and nutritional assistance.

• School encourages expression of and respect for diversity through its programs and actions.

School Environment

•  School is secure from outside intrusions.

•  School is calm, quiet, and orderly.

•  Buildings are clean, well lit, well ventilated, and well maintained.

•  All members of the school community are included and respected.

Staff Considerations

• Staff has the necessary supplies and equipment.

• Staff is well trained and has opportunities for continuous improvement.

• Staff has the support of administration, parents and students. 

• Staff is highly respectful of students, parents and colleagues.

• Staff is engaged in total school life.