School safety and security go beyond traditional measures, encompassing a multi-layered, multi-factor approach that combines technology, personnel training and emergency preparedness. As threats evolve, so too must a school’s response efforts change through new or different tactics and technologies.

Most schools have a public address (PA) system for broadcasting morning announcements, paging and triggering bells that signal the start and end of a classroom period and a separate system for emergencies that uses a horn or siren and flashing lights, but not voice.

Those emergency alerts are not typically tied into the public address system, and maintaining separate systems no longer meets the needs of today’s emergency preparedness. Hearing instructions audibly and intelligibly can be critical for ensuring the safety of the school’s occupants.

Why Are PA Systems So Important During School Lockdowns?

In high-stress situations and especially during school lockdowns, every second counts. The ability to convey information quickly through a PA system reduces the time it takes to disseminate instructions, enabling a more rapid and coordinated response to emergencies.

Coordination among staff, security personnel, and emergency responders is vital in a crisis. A PA system facilitates real-time communication, allowing stakeholders to coordinate their efforts and respond effectively.

Many American schools have used their communications technology daily for over a decade. But in recent years, school communications technology has come a long way, particularly given its importance in threat situations.

Former Pierce County SWAT team member and school security expert Jesus Villahermosa, Jr. believes the public address system is the most crucial technology a school owns during an active threat incident.

Schools with audio communications systems older than 10 years need to be aware of the advancements made to the technology. The latest modern communications deliver far greater capabilities than their predecessors, and the systems are becoming increasingly integrated, providing multiple operational benefits to schools.

Beyond emergencies, PA systems are valuable for making routine announcements, giving instructions, and providing information about school activities. This regular use helps establish familiarity with the system, ensuring students and staff pay attention when important safety messages are broadcast.

During fire drills or other situations requiring evacuation, a PA system can guide students and staff through the evacuation process. Clear and audible instructions help ensure that everyone moves to designated assembly points in an organized and efficient manner.

Staff, Students, and Parents Must Receive Training

Regular drills and simulations are invaluable for preparing students and staff for emergencies. Conducting fire drills, lockdown drills, and other emergency response exercises ensures that individuals understand and can execute predefined protocols.

Establishing crisis intervention teams within schools ensures that designated individuals are equipped to handle specific crises and de-escalate potential threats. These teams play a pivotal role in fostering a safe and supportive school environment.

Establishing strong partnerships with local law enforcement, fire departments, and emergency medical services during simulations and beyond is vital. Collaborative efforts enable a swift and coordinated response in the event of an emergency, maximizing the effectiveness of emergency preparedness plans.

Additionally, engaging parents and the broader community in school security efforts is crucial. Open communication channels, community forums, and workshops contribute to a shared responsibility for creating a safe learning environment.

Empowering students to be active participants in their own safety fosters a sense of responsibility. Programs that educate students on recognizing and reporting potential threats contribute to the overall security culture.

Use Technology to Enhance Emergency Notification Systems

Where older PA systems require a person to make announcements from a single location, such as the main office, modern systems allow administrators to initiate communications from a mobile device wherever they are in school.

Mobile accessibility is far more desirable during an emergency. An authorized staff member can activate the system from the parking lot, hallway, or playground with a cascading set of automated actions that the schools set up, including notifying first responders and making live or pre-recorded announcements through the PA system.

Newer systems can also integrate with mobile silent panic buttons in accordance with Alyssa’s Law or send automated mobile emergency notifications instantly via text to law enforcement, staff, and students. Every second matters in a threatening situation; this technology helps people on campus act faster and law enforcement to mobilize and get to the scene more rapidly.

Although local fire codes require schools to install fire alarms separately, the fire alarms can be integrated into modern communication systems and automatically activate pre-programmed announcements and messaging when a fire alarm occurs.

Audio Communications Done Right Will Bolster School Safety

School communications systems need to work every day, without fail. When evaluating technology in an upgrade, school IT and AV teams should huddle with as many teams as possible, from administrators, law enforcement and even the school board, to discuss needs.

A well-functioning public address system is critical to a school’s safety infrastructure. It enables effective communication, coordination, and response during emergencies, contributing to the overall safety and well-being of students, staff, and visitors. Regular maintenance, testing, and staff training are essential to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the PA system.

Improving a school’s communication system offers schools numerous benefits, particularly during emergencies. Modern systems help schools operate more efficiently and help deliver messages more effectively and faster.

In a crisis, speed is vital. The faster schools can activate an emergency response system and announce and guide staff and students on what to do or where to go, the safer a school will be.

 Michael Peveler is vice president of sales at AtlasIED. This article originally was published in CS sister publication Security Sales & Integration and has been edited.

Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety.

The post Schools Must Incorporate Audio Notification into Their Safety Programs appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

When it comes to keeping our kids safe, we all have a role to play. For school board members and superintendents, there has never been a time when so much is at stake. Yet, for all the school safety training happening around the country that focuses on the important discussions of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, there is a lack of crisis management training and lessons learned shared with leaders, those with the ultimate responsibility.

Many school board members have limited knowledge about the state of school safety, the seriousness of threats impacting schools, and the consequence of changing discipline strategies at odds with the emerging promising practice of threat assessment. The social emotional concerns in schools today impact educational time, climate, culture, and school safety.

These are just some of the important issues of the day, at a time when school violence is increasing at an alarming rate. School board members and superintendents must be well versed in school safety because at the end of the day, it is our leaders who are held accountable.

It is also important that school boards learn about the safety issues impacting their district annually both in public and executive session board meetings. The school safety discussion is an important opportunity to tell your district’s story about what you are doing to protect and support students and staff, while the executive session is an opportunity to have a direct, open, and honest discussion of confidential security arrangements and the specific and emerging threats facing schools. Both conversations are necessary for good governance and policy. Failure to understand the changing landscape of school safety limits a district’s ability to effectively operate in the world of prevention.

John McDonald will be presenting "The intersection of technology and school safety: Make the school safer from the curbside to the classroom" at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference being held in Atlanta, July 8-10. For more information and to register, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

On the surface, crisis management may seem as if it is a one-size-fits-all decision matrix, but in a K-12 system, every issue is magnified, every decision is scrutinized, and every emotion is on full display when our most innocent are impacted, often for life. The crisis traps are many, and failure to effectively manage the crisis can lead to “panic management.”

For a system built on organizational structure and consistency, where everything and everyone has its place and purpose, the lasting impact of loss of life and lost trust, litigation, and legislation reverberates for years.

5 School Crisis Management Traps to Avoid

1. Not having a strong crisis communications plan

A community’s perception of how a district manages a crisis is often defined by what we say and, more importantly, by what we don’t say. Somewhere along the way, school leaders have become so concerned about litigation that they often fail to address the media and even the school community, leaving lingering questions that lead to greater frustration and lost trust. Trust is hard to earn and harder to keep, and lost trust limits the effectiveness of a school board and superintendent.

A strong crisis communications plan is critical to any chance of success, and great leaders are visible to their students, staff, families, and community. Understand early who the best spokesperson on behalf of the district is going to be. During the initial press conference, a principal should never face the media alone without the superintendent. While it is the principal who should be the voice of the school, the superintendent must be the voice for the district.

The school board president, at a minimum, should stand with the superintendent. If the school board decides to add its voice, then the school board president speaks to the media on behalf of the board.

2. Leading by headlines

Too often districts lead by headlines following a tragedy and fail to manage the crisis at hand. Manage what you see and what you know at the time. Understand that the changing narrative can often be managed by a point person who can correct misleading or wrong fact sets quickly without detracting from the crisis management work.

A good crisis team doesn’t allow soundbites to detract from the work, and a good spokesperson can correct the record during regular communication updates to parents, staff, and students. Remember, there is no such thing as internal communications. Internal messages will be sent to the media within moments of receipt, so whatever you say internally must be something you can also discuss externally.

3. Focusing on politics rather than student and staff recovery

Tragedy is not a political opportunity for school districts. There will be others that take up that space in the immediate aftermath, but our work as leaders is to find a way through recovery, focusing on our people so our students and staff can return to learn. Getting caught up in the political debate takes time away from your crisis management responsibilities.

There will be time in the aftermath of a tragedy to determine how best to use the voice of the district, but it is not in the immediacy when emotions are high. No matter the position we take, half of our families will be upset.

4. Not vetting business partnerships

School safety is a multibillion dollar-a-year growth industry, and everyone will want to sell you the next great product to save your life. There are trusted and vetted partners, and there are also those that would profit from tragedy with less than effective safety solutions. Know who you are working with and trust those you have longstanding relationships with. Ask other districts for recommendations and understand the problem before you seek a solution that will cause you to overspend the limited dollars you have available.

Are those who you’re doing business with trying to make a name for their company, using your tragedy to market their product? If the answer is yes, run! Focus on mission-aligned partnerships with businesses who are not offering something free for the school impacted by tragedy but who are interested in making sure all schools in the district have the same opportunity for safety.

Strong collaborative partnerships with businesses who will be there for you in the long term are an essential service that add value.

5. Saying ‘yes’ when you should say ‘no’

It is ok to say no! Give yourself grace and don’t feel like you need to say yes to everyone and everything. Organizations, businesses, nonprofits, and others will offer you support you didn’t know you needed. Most offers will be with good intention, while others will do things in your school’s/tragedy’s name that you won’t be comfortable being associated with. You do not have to say yes to everything.

The questions you should ask are: “What makes sense for our school? What will help our students and staff recover and be able to return to learn?”

A delicate but important conversation that every district crisis team will need to have is about the concept that a politician that isn’t adding value doesn’t need to be there. You will know quickly who is there for a soundbite and who is there to make a difference, and every tragedy has both. Be open to the possibility that the one who is providing the most support may be the least likely candidate to do so.

Success or Failure in School Safety and Crisis Management Is Foundational

The executive limitations or guardrails that a school board has in place, the board policies, the district practices, and the school procedures set the climate and culture for a prepared school response to any emergency. Board-driven, superintendent-led school safety is always the most effective model. When it becomes interlinked with a positive learning environment that includes kind, caring, and trusted staff, the school will be more prepared, empowering administration, educators, and students alike to own their own safety.

There is limited time to win back your school after tragedy. Success or failure will come down to leadership, people, communications, and intentionality. Understand that the decisions you make in the first 10 days following a tragedy can define your next five years. The greatest difficulty for leaders is keeping the focus on the main thing (the impacted school) while never taking your eye off the other main thing (the entire district).

Your decisions have real-life consequences, and you will model the behavior for your cabinet/crisis team. Consider bringing in a crisis facilitator to help your leadership team navigate the perilous path to recovery. Small missteps can have serious implications, and you have a district of kids and educators, parents, and community counting on you.

Never Forget Those We Have Lost

District leaders are sometimes advised not to talk with families whose loved ones have died in our schools for fear of litigation. Sometimes, district leaders don’t talk with families because the anger and grief directed at us is overwhelming on a personal level. While there is nothing we can say or do to change the outcome after tragedy, we can engage and be present. Following tragedy, families who have suffered great loss often feel isolated from the school, compounding the grief they are experiencing. Find the balance and put the effort into supporting the victims.

There is no shortage of crisis management issues facing our schools today. The good news is that the lessons learned are out there, but for others to learn, we need to be willing to share our failures and successes.

Crisis management demands we check our egos at the door. In the end, what matters is that you do all that you can to live in the world of prevention because tragedy is just too damn hard.

John McDonald is the COO of the Council for the School Safety Leadership. The Council for School Safety Leadership is a Missouri School Board Association nonprofit initiative, providing crisis response solutions to school district leaders across the U.S.  For more information or if your district needs support during a crisis or in the aftermath of tragedy, please visit www.cssleadership.org

The post The Role of School Boards and Superintendents in Crisis Management appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

The 2024 Campus Safety Conference, taking place July 8-10 in Atlanta, will unite safety and security leaders for K-12, higher education, and healthcare campuses to focus on intensive education, hands-on training, peer-to-peer networking, and product showcases over two-and-a-half days.

Now in its 11th year, CSC allows attendees to meet face-to-face with their peers and share lessons learned and promising practices. Our events are collaborative, innovative, and peer-driven, and offer resources and training needed to increase preparedness, communication, and response before, during, and after a variety of safety and security incidents.

Below is an aggregate page for all things CSC24, making a seamless experience for all attendees from pre-show to post-show. We will constantly update this page as more information becomes available!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS AND LINKS:

• June 21: Discounted hotel rate ends! Book your hotel now.
• June 21: Summer Break discount pricing ends. Register now!
• UNLV Leadership to Deliver CSC 2024 Keynote: ‘Anatomy of an Active Shooter Event on a College Campus’
• View the 2024 Campus Safety Conference Agenda
• What’s New at Campus Safety Conference 2024?

May 29, 2024

How to Create Reunification Plans for K-12 Schools

Kelly Martin, Lieutenant/Deputy Director of School Safety at Seminole County Public Schools, will present on the topic.

One critical component of a K-12 emergency response plan is reunification. Reuniting K-12 students with their loved ones following a campus emergency is an extremely complex task and, if not done properly, can have a lasting traumatic impact on students, staff, and parents.

At the national Campus Safety Conference, Kelly Martin, deputy director of school safety for Seminole County Public Schools and lieutenant for the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, will present on the development and implementation of robust reunification plans.

This session will underscore the critical importance of reunification plans in the broader framework of emergency preparedness and response. By exploring real-world incidents and emergencies, attendees will gain valuable insights into the significance of having comprehensive and well-thought-out strategies in place to facilitate the safe and efficient reunification of students with their families during crisis situations.

Read more about the session here.

May 7, 2024

Lessons Learned from Nationwide Protests to Be Covered at Campus Safety Conference

The GroupProjects general session puts all CSC attendees in one room to openly discuss safety and security topics impacting educational institutions.

Dozens of college campuses have experienced pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations, many of which have resulted in violence and arrests. Some campus leaders have received significant criticism for how the unrest was handled while others have been praised.

No matter the circumstances, lessons learned from the response and recovery can and should be carried over into the next school year, and campus leaders can learn even more by discussing their experiences with others in similar roles.

To orchestrate these discussions, in place of a traditional keynote, the 2024 Campus Safety Conference will kick off on July 8 with the general session, “GroupProjects Live: Lessons Learned from Recent Campus Protests.” Since the current unrest is extremely challenging to navigate and will likely continue into the 2024-2025 academic year, this year’s GroupProjects will solely cover protest successes and challenges.

Attendees will collaborate in small groups and share lessons they’ve learned, struggles they’ve experienced, and strategies they’ve used to maintain safety and security while protecting First Amendment rights when demonstrations and controversial speakers come on campus.

Read more about the session here.

April 25, 2024

Campus Safety Conference at EDspaces Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for Campus Safety Conference (CSC) at EDspaces, happening November 12-14, 2024, in Houston, Texas, at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Now in its third year, this co-located event offers the content Campus Safety Conference attendees have come to expect and love and free access to EDspaces sessions. It opens the door to more resources for school and college administrators, campus security executives, law enforcement, and emergency management professionals by providing new insights into architects and distributors in the education design market.

CSC attendees will have the chance to walk the EDspaces show floor which will feature manufacturers and distributors that demonstrate how the physical learning environment can meet the pedagogical needs and technology demands to support an educational institution’s mission of student success and well-being.

Pricing increases on June 4. Register today to get the best available price!

April 12, 2024

Campus Safety Conference to Cover Clery Compliance

Photo: mehaniq41 – stock.adobe.com

At the 2024 Campus Safety Conference, Jenn Scott and Kyle Norton with the Healy+ Group will discuss changes in the Education Department’s Clery finding rubric and what that means for campuses in real dollars. They will also discuss pending changes to both the Clery Act and Title IX regulations, including the addition of hazing as a Clery Act crime that schools will be responsible for reporting on.

The session will address several areas of institutional risk, including emergency response policies and procedures and best practices for sending timely warnings and emergency notifications to your campus. Learn more about the session here.

Check out this new interview where Scott and Norton discuss why Clery fines have gotten so massive and how to improve compliance.

April 1, 2024

UNLV Leadership to Deliver CSC 2024 Keynote

Photo courtesy UNLV

At this summer’s Campus Safety Conference (CSC), leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Police Services and the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) will present the keynote, titled “Anatomy of an Active Shooter Event on a College Campus.”

In this panel-style presentation, all five UNLV and NSHE executives will discuss the timeline of events of their December 6 active shooter ordeal, lessons learned, emergency management protocols, and the teamwork and coordination of staff, leaders, and government that was required as the event unfolded.

Read more about the session and its participants.

March 19, 2024

Campus Safety Conference Adds Georgia Tech Tour to 2024 Agenda

Campus Safety announces another new addition to this year’s programming — a tour of the prestigious Georgia Tech campus and its police department!

Georgia Tech currently consists of 400+ acres and 200+ academic, residential, and recreational buildings. With more than 36,000 students and nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, the campus attracts people from all over the world and can exceed 50,000 people on any given day.

Chief Robert Connolly and his team will give a tour of the campus, focusing on access control, traffic flow, how technology keeps the campus running, and more areas that keep Georgia Tech secure.

This tour has limited availability and will fill up fast. Secure your spot at registration!

March 7, 2024

The 2024 Campus Safety Conference Agenda is Here!

Campus Safety is thrilled to announce the agenda for our summer Campus Safety Conference is now live!

CSC strives to collaborate with presenters who have varying backgrounds and experiences and therefore offer different personal and professional perspectives. Speakers at CSC include a security director, a chief operating officer, a grant writing associate, a Title IX coordinator, a retired commander, a current police chief, a compliance director, an assistant superintendent, a public safety director, a business continuity analyst, and more.

Sessions topics will include, among others: 

• Effective Reunification Plans for K-12 Campuses
• Expand Your Funding Streams: Why You Should Apply for Security Grants
• The Intersection of Campus and Municipal Policing
• Selling Safety: Successful Strategies for Securing Funding of Your Safety Initiatives
• Alternative Response Units Within Institutions of Higher Education
• $37 Thousand or $37 Million? The New Cost of Violating the Clery Act
• Boosting Community Engagement
• Armed Staff: Security Enhancement or Liability?
• Navigating the Challenges of Free Speech on Campus
• Redesigning the Tabletop Exercise Scenario Setup
• Leveraging School Cameras and No-Cost Software to Produce Training Triumphs
• How Stress Impacts Our Behaviors

Check out the full 2024 CSC agenda.

February 21, 2024

Announcing the 2024 Campus Safety Director of the Year K-12 Finalists

Campus Safety is pleased to announce the 2024 K-12 school/district Director of the Year finalists. Being named a finalist is no easy feat. Check out the finalists’ profiles to get a glimpse of some of their accomplishments.

Winners of this year’s Director of the Year awards will be announced at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, taking place July 8-10. To register, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

• Loubert Alexis, Director – OCPS Office of Emergency Management, Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Florida: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Joseph Hough, Assistant Superintendent of Auxiliary Services and School Safety, Buncombe County Public Schools, Asheville, North Carolina: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Ian Lopez, Director of Safety and Security, Cherry Creek School District, Greenwood Village, Colorado: View his profile, photos, and achievements. 
• Kelli Lotito, Safety Director, Regis Jesuit High School, Aurora, Colorado: View her profile, photos, and achievements.
• Byron McCray, Director of School Safety, Chief Emergency Management Officer, Brentwood Union Free School District, Bay Shore, New York: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Rich Payne, Safety Director, Academy District 20 (ASD20), Colorado Springs, Colorado: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Aaron Skrbin, Director of Safety and Security, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Homestead, Pennsylvania: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Levaughn Smart, Executive Director of Security and Disaster Preparedness, Palm Springs Unified School District, Palm Springs, California: View his profile, photos, and achievements.
• Brendan Sullivan, Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Management, Boulder Valley School District, Boulder, Colorado: View his profile, photos, and achievements. 
• Donald Webster, Chief of Campus Safety, Kalamazoo Public Schools, Kalamazoo, Michigan: View his profile, photos, and achievements.

View more Director of the Year content.

February 20, 2024

What’s New at Campus Safety Conference 2024?

Image via Adobe, by Brad Pict

Out with the old and in with the new! This summer’s Campus Safety Conference (CSC24), taking place in Atlanta July 8-10, is changing things up to provide you with even better peer-to-peer learning opportunities and solutions to your school and college public safety, security, emergency management, facilities management, and technology challenges.

New at CSC:

• Scholars Program: Designed for K-12 and higher education safety, security, emergency management, facilities management, and technology leaders who are actively sourcing products and solutions to improve the protection of their campuses
• Group Projects and Workshops: Past CSC attendees have requested more hands-on learning and we listened. At CSC24, we will host our third annual GroupProjects LIVE! session and multiple workshops.
• Product Demonstrations: Are you looking for products or solutions to make your school or university safer? CSC24 will hold dedicated time for select sponsors to demonstrate their products so you can see them in action.

Read more.

February 19, 2024

Announcing the 2024 Campus Safety Director of the Year Higher Education and Healthcare Finalists

Campus Safety is pleased to announce the 2024 higher education and healthcare Director of the Year finalists. Check out the finalists’ profiles and photos to see some of their impressive accomplishments.

Winners of this year’s Director of the Year awards will be announced at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, taking place July 8-10. To register, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

• William Adcox, Vice President, Chief of Police, and Chief Security Officer, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Christopher Buckley, Director of Campus Safety, Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Jerry Connolly, Chief of Police, Florida SouthWestern State College, Fort Myers, Florida: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Ethan Johnson, Chief of Police, Coastal Pines Technical College, Waycross, Georgia: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Thomas Leone, Assistant Vice President of Public Safety/Chief of Police, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• John Marcus, Director of Emergency Management, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Mark Reed, Director of Campus Support Operations, City of Hope, Duarte, California: View his profile, achievements, and photos.
• Linda Stump-Kurnick, Assistant Vice President and Chief of Police, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida: View her profile, achievements, and photos.

View more Director of the Year content.

February 12, 2024

2024 Campus Safety Conference Registration Is Now Open!

For more information on the 2024 Campus Safety Conference, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

Registration is now open for the 2024 Campus Safety Conference (CSC) being held July 8-10 in Atlanta!

The theme for the 2024 Campus Safety Conferences is “Strong Connections, Safer Campuses.” By sharing experiences and leading practices, we are stronger as a campus, community, and world.

CSC 2024 has many new, exciting features, including:

• Scholarship program for guests sourcing new products and solutions
• More hands-on training with additional workshop time blocks
• Relationship-based sponsorship opportunities for added return on investment (ROI)
• Four consecutive breakouts to maximize your time onsite
• Off-hours receptions to enhance your networking experiences

Read more and register by March 29 to get our spring rate!

January 08, 2024

Campus Safety Conference Announces 2024 Dates and Opens Call for Speakers

Image via Adobe, by dizain

In 2023, our events brought together representatives from 40 states and four countries in two summer events and one fall event. As we look towards the next 10 years of CSC, we hope to be a national resource of education, peer relationship building, and connectivity. To align with this mission, we will be hosting one summer event and one fall event for 2024.

CSC allows attendees to meet face-to-face with their peers and share lessons learned and promising practices. Our events are collaborative, innovative, and peer-driven, and offer resources and training needed to increase preparedness, communication, and response before, during, and after a variety of safety and security incidents.

The theme for the 2024 Campus Safety Conferences is “Strong Connections, Safer Campuses.” By sharing experiences and leading practices, we are stronger as a campus, community, and world.

Learn more about the event here.

November 16, 2023

Highlights from the 2023 Campus Safety Conference at EDspaces

Alan Walters, executive director of safety and risk management for the Georgetown County School District, discussed and reviewed actual cases where Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) has helped or hindered physical security.

During a session at last week’s Campus Safety Conference at EDspaces, held Nov. 7-9 at the Charlotte Convention Center, a presenter emphasized the importance of recognizing blind spots within an educational institution.

“I’m so used to seeing the campus and everything in it that I don’t think about what can hurt a child,” said Navigate360’s John White.

White’s statement highlights just one of the many reasons the co-located Campus Safety Conference and EDspaces work well together. School leaders must consider all aspects of student well-being, from whether an unwanted visitor can gain unfettered access to a school to whether equity-driven processes are followed in classroom design.

At this year’s event, CSC attendees had access to emergency prevention, response, and recovery sessions they have come to expect plus free access to all EDspaces sessions. These sessions offered insights into how the physical learning environment can meet the pedagogical needs and technology demands to support an educational institution’s mission of student success and well-being. EDspaces attendees were also welcome to attend any and all CSC sessions — and many did!

Read more about the event.

The post 2024 Campus Safety Conference Resource Center appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

It’s no secret that a key ingredient to having an effective campus public safety department is ensuring officers are paid a competitive wage. However, since the pandemic, keeping officer salaries competitive has become a significant challenge with the inflation rate skyrocketing to 7% in 2021 and 6.5% the following year. Although inflation dropped quite a bit in 2023 and this year, it’s still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, campus public safety departments have historically struggled to keep their officer salaries competitive with other local law enforcement departments, security agencies, and businesses. The problem of effectively recruiting and then retaining campus public safety officers has only grown over the past several years with the U.S. economy as a whole experiencing a labor shortage.

This was the challenge facing Keene State College Director of Campus Safety Chris Buckley when he started his position at the school in July 2020. At that time, the starting pay rate for officers ranged from $14.69 to $17 per hour.

Low Pay Resulted in Low Campus Officer Retention and Morale

“We were well within COVID, and as you know, everyone had struggles with hiring and retention at that time,” says Buckley. “Looking at our pay in comparison to other employers, including a main competitor of ours, which was a local medical center, we were struggling. During COVID, local restaurants and other businesses had signs advertising as much as $650 to $750 per week. Some of our officers left for small pay raises like 50 cents up to a dollar [per hour] after serving approximately one year with us.”

The low pay rate impacted Buckley’s ability to attract new recruits. In one four-month period, his department had four vacancies but no applicants.

To address this issue, he embarked on a multi-pronged approach that monetized the fiscal impacts that his department and Keene State experienced as a result of the low rate of officer hiring and retention. He also addressed the need for a culture change in the department so that it would be more student-centered.

Although the process took more than a year, Buckley’s efforts paid off. The starting pay rate for officers is now $20 per hour, and campus sergeants are paid more than $24 per hour.

The salary increases have resulted in Buckley’s department more easily recruiting and then retaining officers. Scheduling is also easier and more flexible, officers are more available for training, the amount of overtime paid has gone down, and department morale has greatly improved.

It’s for this and many other reasons that Buckley has been named as one of this year’s Campus Safety Director of the Year Higher Education finalists. The 2024 Campus Safety Director of the Year winners will be announced at this summer’s Campus Safety Conference being held in Atlanta, July 8-10.

The 2024 Campus Safety Director of the Year winners will be announced on July 10 at the Campus Safety Conference in Atlanta. All finalists will also be honored during the breakfast and award ceremony.

To register or see the full agenda, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

The interview transcript is below.

Watch the full interview here or listen on the go on Apple or Spotify.

Transcription of Chris Buckley’s interview:

(AI transcription)

Robin Hattersley: Now first we need to know a little bit about your department. So if you can describe it, how many sworn or non-sworn officers you have, are they contracted or in-house and how many employees do you actually have?

Chris Buckly: Great. So before we start, I’d like to just tell you a little bit about our department and how we operate. So our department is committed to supporting the educational mission of Keen State College. It’s our goal to create and maintain a safe and secure environment through effective, efficient, and consistent service to every member of our college community. Our campus safety department might be different than others that you might have seen around before. Our department responsibilities include but are not limited to protection of life and property, responding to calls for assistance, documenting activity, preventing and deterring crime, reviewing an extensive CCTV that we have system on campus mitigating risks, providing educational programming to students, faculty and staff, ensuring compliance with the policies and regulations of the college. Also of the ordinances of the city of Keene and the laws of the state of New Hampshire. Campus safety is an integral part of our campus and our officers are on duty 24 hours a day, year round.

RH: Are they sworn or non-sworn?

CB: So our offices are non-sworn. We do have a very close working relationship with the Keen New Hampshire Police Department. There is actually a liaison officer who was assigned to the campus and we work with them very closely. The Keen State College Department of Campus Safety currently has nine officers, two sergeants, an administrative assistant who also serves as our parking coordinator, an assistant director of campus safety, a director of campus safety, one part-time officer, and one part-time dispatcher.

RH: Now, before you got your officers their pay increase, how much were they actually being paid and how did that compare to the pay rate in your community?

CB: Well, when I started with the Department of Campus Safety in July of 2020, the starting hourly rate for our campus safety officers ranged from $14.69 to $17 per hour. Officers that came in with related experience to campus safety or security experience were paid slightly higher, but they did not exceed $17. They were part of the university system of New Hampshire PayScale and at that time it was a pay grade eight. The salary range was from $14.69 to the high end of around $24. At that same time, our campus safety sergeants were ranging from $16.05 to approximately $26 and again, that was also part of the SNH Pay grade 10 with regard to pay and compensation in the area. At that time when I embarked on this mission, we were well within covid and as you know, everyone had struggles with hiring and retention at that time. Looking at our pay in comparison to other employees, including a main competitor of ours, which was a local medical center, we were struggling. We were not competing, as you probably know, during covid local restaurants and other businesses had signs advertising as much as $650 to $750 per week. There were other local employers that were offering similar pay rates and many of our officers were looking for an increase in pay. Some of our officers left for small rate pay raises like 50 cents up to a dollar after serving approximately one year with us.

RH: Wow. So how did that rate affect your ability to attract and retain good officers? I think it must have made it really difficult.

CB: It was extremely challenging. There were times where approximately a four month window, we didn’t actually have a single applicant, and at that time we had four vacancies. Not only did the low pay rate impact our ability to hire and retain, it also caused us a difficult time attracting qualified people. Unfortunately, a number of the folks that did apply had very little or no experience, and this low pay rate impacted the morale of our officers. There were frequently rumors of the officers on the team that were seeking other employment. The other big piece for us was the low pay rate and our hiring complications. It caused collateral damage within our department. What I mean by collateral damage is we were unable to create different shifts that many of the officers were looking for. Anytime that we had a sick call out or someone requested a day off or training or a vacation time, other officers were required to fill in because we have a minimum of two officers working shift. At that time, all of our officers were dual trained. We have a 24 hour dispatch center that’s staffed by a campus safety officer at all times and then one officer on patrol. The other piece that was really challenging for us was the limited staffing that we had really limited our ability to send officers to any training and enhancing their professional development was very challenging during that time.

RH: So how did you go about getting the pay raise, what steps did you actually take and how long did it take?

CB: This mission that I will call that I went on during this time, it took approximately 12 to 14 months. In order to do this, I used a multi-prong approach in my goal to obtain a pay increase for the officers. Our first approach, my first approach really started with a change in culture within our department. When I first arrived, our department had an okay reputation on campus. Some of our officers worked well with campus community members. Some of our officers worked well with students while others were more reserved. It quickly learned that we needed to retool our approach and I needed to move towards a more student-centered approach. Now, someone may ask is what do I mean by a more student-centered approach? And I can provide two short examples of what I mean by a more student centered approach as most campuses do. We have parking policies that are enforced by our campus safety officers and student parking enforcement officers, and as many colleges probably face, we have a higher demand for parking than we have parking spots.

At that time, our policy allowed for us to ticket a vehicle multiple times a day that was parked illegally. I learned that officers were competing against each other to see how many tickets could be issued on a single vehicle before a student took action to remedy the problem. And as a result of that, I had two interactions with students. That happened over a very short period of time that really illustrated to me that the culture needed to change swiftly. The first interaction was a student who came to my office to discuss a stack of tickets that he accumulated on his vehicle while he was away due to a death in the family. It was one of those situations that happened suddenly the parents of the student had picked him up on their way through town. It should be noted though the student was parked illegally.

Over the course of five days, several tickets were issued to the vehicle. Upon the student’s return who was still grieving the passing of his family member, he discovered that he had numerous tickets on his car. This added a real unnecessary amount of stress to the student. Upon his return quickly became evident to me how detrimental this situation was to the student. It was damaging the reputation of our campus safety department and some of the officers who issued the violations. The second one was a very similar situation related to parking with a student who lost his keys. Again, it started off with a student who was parked illegally. He acknowledged that he was being lazy and was only going to park there for a minute, and then discovered that his keys were lost after having a conversation with the student. As a result of both of the interactions, I really felt that it was time for a change.

And so shortly after those interactions, we had a team meeting. I discussed at length with my officers about problem solving. I explained that our first interaction, which was the case for both of these students, needed to be positive whenever possible. I stressed the importance of problem solving within the boundaries of our policies and gave officers flexibility to meet students in the middle find middle ground. I also challenged ’em to come up with solutions to problems and just not pass the buck or kick the can down the road. One of the other steps that I took was really involved, improved and increased collaboration between the departments that we worked with most often. One of those departments was our Department of Community Living, which is residential life on many other campuses. I worked very hard with them to improve and enhance our collaboration. That partnership and the increased collaboration had immediate impact on our reputation as a department, and I’m happy to say at this point that the relationship between our two departments has never been stronger.

There is a mutual trust and respect between our two departments. We have a great team atmosphere and we work together and not only do we collaborate, but we collaborate daily and if not multiple times. One of the keys is that their team is led by a compassionate, strong leader and we were able to come to common ground very quickly. The third approach involved reviewing student feedback from climate surveys. These climate surveys provided valuable information in areas where my officers needed to improve or areas where we as a department could improve. We utilized the use of a newly founded student advisory panel to seek real time input from students. It also allowed the students to interact with the campus safety leadership and that helped us build trust with the students. The fourth piece, and this was probably by far one of the most challenging, was to document the cost and or cause and effect associated with hiring, training, and retention.

Through the course of research. I discovered that over seven years prior to this project, we had a significant number of officers who come who came to us, and I would describe those stays as short stays as the number was approaching 50 officers who left the college of a variety of reasons, I decided that I needed to take a deeper dive. Now, in the time that I had been there, we had lost three or four officers and that had something to do with the change in the culture and the change in leadership. I also discovered during exit interviews with these employees, main reasons why they left were pay and schedule and the time of some of the folks that left ranged from weeks to just a couple years. As we know when we train people up and they become effective, the departures dramatically impacted our effectiveness.

They impacted our schedule. It impacted the morale in all aspects of our efficiency and effectiveness. So what I did was I embarked on a mission to monetize the costs that were associated with the departure of these officers. The costs went from the up, which was the hiring process for our campus safety leadership team, our human resources field training stipends, equipment that we purchased and quickly hung it up back up on a rack hours. We spent training and other costs association with associated with retention, and I quickly came to realize that these costs were staggering and the monetized amount that I had was close to a half a million dollars in training and lost revenue.

The fifth approach was in a time of covid where we were embarking on new policies and procedures as it related to social distancing and testing. We did not have additional staff to help facilitate these events, and so I reached into the campus safety team and asked them and encouraged them to help us step up and answer the call. And this went from setting up and breakdown of covid testing. We worked in very less than ideal conditions in January in New Hampshire with drive-up testing so that we could successfully return our students to the campus and the efforts, many of the efforts that I’ve mentioned above were recognized and were acknowledged by both the campus community and the campus administration.

RH: And I’m assuming all that information, what you presented to the administrators and all that data basically helps prove your point that you guys are a really valuable asset to the organization. Right?

CB: Yes. I mean, that was a big part of it. It was my boss who had come into her role as a vice president was new to overseeing the campus safety department, and so it took time for me to really explain to her what our role is. I know you asked what steps did I take. My boss is amazing. I had a great opportunity to voice my concerns early with my direct supervisor who’s the vice president for enrollment and student engagement. Additionally, I had communicated my concerns with our human resources department and asked initially for assistance with recruiting new candidates. I also asked our human resources department for a salary analysis of the existing campus safety team based on what I was seeing for their salary range and as it compared to other salaries for similar type work in the area. I’ve also prepared a presentation, a spreadsheet, and a presentation which really monetized the financial impacts that our department and the institution was having with the lack of retention, hiring and salary range. And did some projections about how if we had taken and paid an office or a dollar extra an hour, there was a cost savings associated with having to backfill that spot for on an overtime

RH: Do you remember what that is? Just what that the cost difference when if you raise the pay rate of an officer by a dollar, do you remember what that was?

CB: The exact cost?

RH: Yeah, or the difference in cost. The cost savings you would’ve achieved if you had raised the salary by a dollar.

CB: There are a number of variables which make that number a moving target because it’s hard to project the number of overtime shifts that they’re going to work based on because that number is compounded, but realistically, it was like a three to $5,000 change as an expense to pay that person an extra dollar. And then as you project the number of overtime hours for that officer, having an officer come and work for a year and then leaving with the salary that we had, we were to be able to quickly regain that balance. The other part that was one of the more important pieces for me was having an experienced officer who is familiar with our policies and procedures and familiar with our campus and familiar with the student body, we only really get one chance to get it right on a mental health call or a student in crisis. We really only get one chance to get that right. And so having an inexperienced officer who’s coming in and responding to those calls certainly increases the risk of that incident not going well. And so the more experienced officers that we had was increasing our likelihood that we would be successful in these interactions.

RH: And of course, how do you put a dollar amount on that? You really can’t,

CB: Can’t put a dollar amount on it. But when I was talking earlier about increasing and improving collaboration, the more experienced officers had built an established reputations, had developed friendships and professional relationships with other professional staff on the campus and community directors and community assistants, and provides a certain level of comfort to those folks when there is an emergency situation that they need to respond.

RH: So what are the offices being paid now and what have been the results of the pay raise?

CB: Well, the pay raises were dramatically impacted where we are staffing wise. Currently, our starting pay was increased from what was the $14.69 to $17 was increased to $20. The human resources department has a policy that they use to calculate related work experience, education and internal equity. And so many of the officers received upwards of a $3 raise or close to a $3 raise in that, which was great for morale. Our campus safety sergeants are also now starting above $24 per hour. With this increase, it has been dramatically easier for us to recruit new employees with the higher starting rate. We have attracted more qualified officers, we’ve had more candidates in our hiring pools, and I’m very happy to say at this time we are fully staffed. This full staffing has really created a situation where we’re able to focus more energies on professional development. We’re actually able to build a much better schedule. We have several officers now that are working a four 10 hour shift, which gives them three days off. It’s also is providing us with an opportunity to be more creative with future scheduling, and it has really changed the morale of the officers. Additionally, as we’ve gotten to full staffing and our officers are getting off field training, it has provided us on some shifts with a third officer so that if someone calls out sick or someone takes a day off, it’s not triggering us having to pay overtime to fill the shift.

RH: Do you have any advice to your peers who are going through the same thing? What did you do right and what maybe could you have done a little bit better?

CB: Well, I would like to stress upon the importance of collaboration with the community partners. The collaboration that we did really enhance the value of our department. It’s so important when you’re collaborating to demonstrate flexibility and compassion, which is what we did. Second, it took a lot of research to understand what local groups were paying their folks. A relationship that I had with other campus safety directors and other local institutions was able to provide me some understanding in the difference in roles. And the difference in roles was able to help me advocate for my personnel and my staff. And what I mean by that is some of the campus safety officers merely are eyes and provide a key service. Our campus safety officers are not just a security force. They do provide assistance with lockouts at times. But our officers were conducting investigations on a variety of situations on the campus. We were working collaboratively with the Keen Police Department. We were providing thoughtful and thorough comprehensive reviews of our CCTV on the campus and card access reports, and we were able to provide law enforcement tools to aid in their successful prosecution. I think the other big part was ensuring that my officers were more approachable and really embracing the student centered approach. In the feedback surveys that we’ve received since we started this initiative, we’ve received compliments frequently about how much more approachable the officers are. And the other piece I would say is empower officers to problem solve, and that really was the difference.

RH: Great. Chris, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you.

The post How to Get Pay Raises for Your Campus Public Safety Department Officers appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

I’ve learned a lot about school public address systems during years of trial and error conducting lockdown drills around the country and providing K-12 clients with comprehensive intruder/active lethal threat site assessments of their campuses. In the late nineties, I started recognizing a pattern where most shooters chose to begin their massacres during passing periods. These times include before and after school, lunch times and other times when students pass through hallways, providing the shooter with a large target group with density of population becoming an advantage for them.

Back then, this prompted my partner, Dave Redding and me to run an active shooter drill during a passing period given that it was more likely that a shooter would pick this time to initiate an attack. Before the drill started with the lockdown announcement, Dave and I decided to stand in the hallways near the cafeteria of the school within a few feet of an overhead public address (PA) system speaker.

The drill was initiated, and we were shocked to discover that we could not hear the lockdown announcement given the volume of the students talking and laughing in the hallways during this passing period. It was only one of many “Ahas” that we learned, but for the sake of this article, I want to focus on PAs.

PAs Are the Best Mass Immediate Notification Systems in Emergencies

A PA system is what I refer to as a mass immediate notification system. When you say something over the PA system, everyone else in the school should hear it at exactly the same time as you are saying it. This is why the PA system is the most important technical component of your lockdown plan. The sooner we can implement a lockdown and students, staff and visitors can hear a lockdown announcement, the greater the chance of survival of those who are both near and not near the threat.

Article author Jesus Villahermosa Jr. will be presenting "Situational Awareness: Personal Safety Is Thinking at the Speed of Life!" at this summer's Campus Safety Conference in Atlanta, July 8-10. Register today at CampusSafetyConference.com. 

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDHS) Public Safety Commission’s report noted that some students and staff didn’t know what to do or did the wrong thing because they couldn’t hear the Code Red announcement during the school’s Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting. (By the way, if you are a school administrator reading this article, please stop using color codes for life and death situations!)

I point this out to demonstrate why implementing an expeditious lockdown plan with the help of an effective PA system is critical in mitigating the number of deaths and injuries sustained in these types of incidents given that no shooter has breached a locked interior door to date.

Emergency PA Announcements Must Be Audible and Intelligible

I’m sure that many of you can remember when you were students having to be quiet during the morning announcements during your first period class. The PA would buzz, ding or have a short tone, and an administrator’s voice would start with a cheery “Good Morning!” The Pledge of Allegiance would soon follow, and once students were seated, the morning announcements would begin. If any students were talking during this time, there was a quick “shhhh” from the teacher or other students to be quiet.

The school PA system was never designed to be louder than the volume of the students talking and playing around with each other in the hallways. Despite this, campuses rely on PA systems to communicate emergency information — information that can’t be heard during passing periods when most shootings occur.  As you might guess, this epiphany helped us to realize that we needed to increase the volume and clarity of the PA announcement during a lockdown.

So how does this apply to you, and what can you do about it?  My company has been providing intruder/active lethal threat site assessments for schools, government facilities, private companies, courthouse, etc., for years now. As part of our review, we provide a lockdown observation drill where volunteers observe in real time your lockdown drill (the number of volunteers are determined by the size of all of the buildings on a campus and how many acres the campus sits on). Given that they are stationed throughout every hallway, gymnasium, floor and all exterior locations where a student or staff member could be during the school day, one of the main areas observers are told to evaluate during the lockdown announcement is the audibility and intelligibility of the school’s PA lockdown announcement.

Audibility simply refers to the volume of the message. Is the volume so low given the ambient sounds of students and staff socializing and talking during passing periods that you can’t tell that someone is making an announcement?

Intelligibility refers to the clarity of the message. Can the message easily be understood? If you can tell someone is making an announcement but you can’t understand what they are saying, then the message is unintelligible.

Some PA systems have great audibility but no intelligibility while others have great intelligibility but no audibility.

Recently, we were assessing a high school with a student population of about 2,800 students. This particular high school was only the second client of the dozens of site assessments that we have conducted that took us up on our challenge to run a lockdown during a passing period. We took a decibel reading before the lockdown began, and the reading for ambient noise level in the hallways was 90. We then took a decibel reading of the looping lockdown VoIP announcement while the school was in lockdown, and it registered as 87. In other words, the volume of their students during passing periods was higher than the volume of their PA/VoIP system announcement, so most people couldn’t hear or understand the announcement, especially in areas where large groups of students were gathered, like in the student commons, gymnasium and automotive classrooms.

Any K-12 campus that uses its PA system for emergency notifications must ensure that these messages are loud enough and intelligible enough during passing periods.

VoIP Phones Have Their Benefits

Many schools in America have implemented voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone systems as they allow you to use your phone base as an intercom. They also provide the function of allowing anyone at any phone in the school to initiate a lockdown announcement (although I wonder who is really ready or wants to do this during an actual active lethal threat event). At the school district mentioned above, any employee of the school can pick up a phone and hit a pre-set lockdown button, one time, and after confirming that you want the lockdown activated, it initiates a pre-recorded, automated lockdown announcement.

If you aren’t currently considering pre-recorded lockdown activation, you should. This ability to activate a lockdown from wherever you are is a breakthrough in implementing a faster lockdown, and we have been teaching it for more than 18 years. Not only is the voice on the pre-recorded message calm during the event, but it also frees up staff to do what they are supposed to do… save student, staff and visitor lives. This type of lockdown can also be cleared the same way or manually.

Some of these systems provide this function as part of the vendor’s contract with the school, but many schools don’t realize they have this function available. Additionally, some of these VoIP systems allow you to integrate your phone system into your PA system thereby providing you additional speaker coverage for purposes of audibility and intelligibility.

VoIP System Activation Poses Challenges

There are, however, some challenges to this type of system that schools don’t often consider. Staff must also be trained to become proficient with the system so that during a high stress situation, they can actually activate it without delay.

The biggest issue we have seen with our clients while conducting their site assessment lockdown observation drills is the activation of the system. Let me provide you with a few scenarios we have observed as school administrators attempted to use these systems during our observation drill. Remember that any delay in activating your lockdown announcement, manually or pre-recorded, may cost you more injuries and loss of life.

• At one school we asked the administrator how many phones had the functionality to allow anyone to activate the lockdown. He replied three phones had this ability. I then asked him where those phones were located, and he grimaced as he embarrassingly replied, “In the main office.” As you might guess, very few school shootings occur at the main office, so having all of the phones that have this capability there is not realistic or useful to other staff where the shooting might actually occur.
• The principal picked up the phone to initiate the pre-recorded lockdown and started to enter what he thought was the activation code. When nothing happened, he looked over at his administrative support staff and asked them what the code was. They were not sure, so they then had to look it up in their procedures manual, and they eventually activated the pre-recorded lockdown.
• Another school district went to activate their system but nothing happened. It took them approximately 100 seconds to correct what went wrong before they were able to activate their pre-recorded lockdown.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. These pre-recorded systems are a great improvement to lockdown implementation and will save lives when used properly. However, they will increase your liability if staff don’t know how to initiate them quickly.

Address Your Public Address Problems Now

Schools and their safety departments must examine the empirical evidence related to these active lethal threat events and prepare their plans based on the evidence and survivor stories rather than on what they think their PA systems can do. Please don’t wait for an incident to occur on your campus before you address this issue.

Jesus M. Villahermosa Jr. is the president and owner of Crisis Reality Training Inc. and has 33 years of experience in law enforcement, site assessment and school safety.

This article was originally published in 2019.

The post School Public Address Systems Are Critical During an Active Lethal Threat Event appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

With the increase in school shootings and other safety incidents, it’s important to consider all aspects of classroom security to help ensure the safety of students, teachers, and staff. In this article, we’ll discuss various ways to improve classroom security beyond just the door.

Classroom locks come in different types, and it’s essential to choose the right lock for your classroom security needs. Understanding the different recommended applications for each scenario is important for classroom safety.

The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools‘ (PASS) guidelines recommend that classrooms be locked from the inside and should not require a keyholder to step into the hallway to lock the door from the outside. When secured with a key, there is less risk of unauthorized people locking the door, but the keyholder must be present.

Doors that can be secured by a push button or thumb turn are versatile and important for emergency lockdowns. They can be locked from inside by anyone while the inside lever always permits free egress. This solution allows for quicker actions in lockdown emergencies, but students may take advantage of it, creating opportunities for violence and unauthorized activities.

Classroom doors that are secured electronically require a more significant financial investment but provide numerous benefits. They allow for a streamlined lockdown procedure within seconds, are controlled remotely and always permit free egress. Additionally, they can help manage who may access each door and when, prevent unauthorized access and eliminate the need for keys. Access monitoring and history provide added visibility to events happening at the opening.

Additional Safety Measures to Consider When Bolstering Classroom Security

In addition to door hardware, there are other ways administrators and teachers may consider securing classrooms. For example, protocols matter. Schools may adopt a practice of keeping classroom doors closed and locked at all times. Regular discussion, reviews and practice of these protocols can also make a difference.

One way that is not recommended to reinforce classroom doors is the use of barricade devices. While some marketing efforts point to the affordability and added security of these devices, they can actually introduce new risks and potential liability issues.

Barricade devices violate fire codes and, at minimum, section 309.4 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): “Operable parts shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist.” Some devices prohibit egress in emergencies and access to classrooms by emergency responders. Barricade devices may also be used to carry out bullying, violence or vandalism and lock out teachers or staff members. In perhaps a worst-case scenario, if someone knows how and where to access a barricade device, it can potentially allow a shooter to barricade themselves in a classroom with the intention of injuring others or taking hostages.

Don’t Forget Your Tempered Glass Windows and Sidelites

One part of the door that is often overlooked is tempered glass windows and sidelites. The classroom door window permits natural surveillance. However, a door is only as strong as its weakest point. If tempered glass is not reinforced to prevent forced access, breaking that window and reaching the inside lever can negate the purpose of the door’s lock.

As we’ve seen in some high-profile school tragedies, even though exterior doors may be closed and locked during the school day, perpetrators may be able to enter facilities by shooting and breaking the glass. If the glass is reinforced, the outcome could be different.

Paul Timm will be presenting "School Security Vulnerabilities & Solutions" at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference being held in Atlanta, July 8-10. For more information and to register, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

While this has encouraged schools to reinforce their exterior doors’ glass, interior doors cannot be overlooked. According to the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), in the 2019-2020 school year, about 939,000 violent incidents and 487,000 nonviolent incidents occurred in U.S. public schools, including incidents caused by students on school property. If a perpetrator is already in the building, it’s important that they are not able to access classrooms to carry out violence by breaking through glass windows or sidelites.

Connected Classrooms Must Also Be Protected

Classroom entrances aren’t the only openings schools should consider. Classrooms connected by passage doors between two rooms should also be secured. Classrooms 111 and 112 in the Uvalde school shooting were connected and unlocked, which allowed the attacker to enter both classrooms without going into the hallway.

Previously, connected classrooms used passage sets without a locking function to allow people to move freely between the rooms. However, since most classrooms don’t require two means of egress, the connecting doors are allowed to be locked at all times and opened only during specific circumstances. It is usually recommended that connected classroom doors have a locking function and are kept locked unless access to the adjacent classroom is necessary. Be sure to consult your local code requirements.

Look Beyond the Lock

School safety goes beyond just door locks and hardware. It’s important for schools to have adequate training, practices, and emergency preparedness to help ensure a safe environment for all students and staff in every situation, every day.

Classroom Safety Training

There are several simple ways to incorporate safety materials and training into classrooms for any grade level, age and ability. First, it is recommended that each classroom have adequate emergency supplies (e.g., trauma kits, wind-up flashlights) and that teachers receive instruction in how to use them. Next, ensure that all communications devices (e.g., telephone, intercom call button) are functional and readily accessible. Telephone speed dial locations should be programmed with emergency extensions (e.g., main desk, nurse’s office) and/or labeled with emergency dialing instructions. Evacuation maps should be up-to-date and accessible.

Provide both teachers and students with sound, age-appropriate instruction in classroom emergency preparedness. Comply with state emergency drill requirements and vary the times of day in which the drills are conducted. Solicit input. Welcome feedback. Make adjustments.

Visitor Management

Having a formal visitor management system in place is important to help protect students and staff from external threats. Classroom locks can only go so far—according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a significant majority of child abductions are carried out by family members or people they know.

Schools are encouraged to limit visitor access to a single access point, like a secured vestibule, to deter unauthorized student pickups or abductions, confirm visitor identity and help prevent dangerous individuals from entering the facility/campus.

Keeping an updated registry of approved visitors can also help prevent abductions or unauthorized pickups. Schools can issue visitor badges on colored, break-away lanyards once entry is authorized and ensure that visitors are accompanied by staff at all times.

Emergency Operations Plans

Having a current and comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) makes a major difference when disaster strikes. Emergencies can happen at any time, so it’s important that staff and students have a thorough understanding of the plan in place.

EOPs dictate what students, teachers and staff should do before, during and after an emergency. Drills and training are key elements to carrying out a successful EOP.

In order to develop an EOP, it’s imperative to know what external and internal threats your school faces. This can include severe weather or natural disasters, bullying and school violence, intruders, fires and more. This guide from SchoolSafety.gov can aid in the steps to take to develop an EOP.

Staff and Student Training

Providing emergency training to staff and students can help increase awareness of threats, improve understanding of their roles within the plan and build a culture of safety. Implementing standardized training at a district level with security professionals and local emergency responders provides an excellent way to involve the community and increase general knowledge of emergency planning.

Involving staff, including teachers, office personnel, custodians and other support staff, can bring empowerment to the school community. Also involving students in such discussions, including student leaders and organizations, brings a new and very important level of awareness both to the students and staff. For example, if students know that violence happens in a certain location on the campus, or they see a potential threat on social media, they can notify staff who may not have otherwise known.

By implementing standardized training that is both clear and actionable, students and staff can feel empowered to prevent and respond to incidents. Individuals who make this kind of personal investment play vital roles in keeping schools safe.

Be Comprehensive with Your Approach

Remember to consider all aspects of classroom security. Undertake a comprehensive approach to protecting students, staff, and visitors. Providing a safe learning environment involves more than just the classroom door.

Paul Timm, PSP, is director of education safety for Allegion. This article was originally published in November 2023. 

The post Classroom Safety: More Than Just the Door appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Emergency Number Association (NENA), also known as the 9-1-1 Association, recently announced the findings of its second annual Pulse of 9-1-1 State of the Industry Survey.

The survey, conducted by NENA in partnership with cloud-native emergency call management provider Carbyne provides insights into the ongoing challenges faced by emergency communications centers (ECCs) and 9-1-1 professionals across North America.

This year’s survey delves into the “domino effects” of staffing shortages, technological gaps and wellness and mental health impacts, according to the association announcement.

“There is an undeniable strain on the people who are the first first responders in public safety, the human voice on the line in a time of crisis,” said Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA, in the announcement. “Severe staffing challenges are continuing in 9-1-1, from difficulties in hiring new personnel to problems with employee retention and a mature workforce that shows signs of stress and burnout.

“We can and must do better for the people of 9-1-1, who do so much for us,” he added.

Despite the high stress and staffing challenges, an overwhelming 87% of respondents said they “love” or “like” their jobs.

More 2024 NENA Pulse of 9-1-1 Survey Key Findings

Other key findings from the second annual Pulse of 9-1-1 Survey include:

• Staffing: 75% of ECCs lack the necessary budget to expand their workforce, exacerbating the strain on existing staff. Eighty-two percent of centers with the means to hire are encountering difficulties in filling vacancies, and 50% of trainees fail to complete the probationary period.
• Technology: Outdated technology remains a significant challenge. More than three-quarters of ECCs have experienced service outages that impeded calls. Fewer than 27% can communicate over text messaging services. Only 24% can accept incident imagery, such as live video.
• Mental Health and Wellness: ECC personnel continue to grapple with stress and burnout, with various coping mechanisms employed to manage the pressures of the job. The survey underscores the importance of prioritizing mental health support for emergency telecommunicators.

“The overwhelming response to the Pulse Survey reveals the critical state of the 9-1-1 industry,” said Amir Elichai, CEO of Carbyne, in the announcement. “We can and must do better. This invaluable data paints a clear picture of the key challenges in 9-1-1 and the areas needing immediate attention to ensure the resilience and efficiency of emergency communications.”

Carbyne conducted the second annual survey in February 2024. With a 36% increase in participation from the 2023 survey, totaling 1,335 responses, this year’s survey “delved deeper into staffing, technology, training, mental health, and diversity within emergency communications centers across North America,” the announcement said.

The 52-question survey coincided with National 9-1-1 Education Month and National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Respondents included telecommunicators, dispatchers, supervisors, IT managers, and leaders from across the United States.

This article originally appeared in CS’ sister publication Security Sales & Integration and has been edited.

The post Survey Finds 9-1-1 Call Centers Experiencing Staffing Shortages, Technology Gaps appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Editor’s Note: This article provides tips on how colleges can prepare for planned political actions and demonstrations. Although these practices also apply to presidential campaigns, campuses hosting candidates will need to work with the Secret Service and adopt additional measures that are outlined here and here. 

1. Be familiar with state and college freedom of speech policies and procedures. In Virginia, unless a protester is impeding college operations, the right to free speech must be protected.  Review your state’s and college’s freedom of speech policies. You may find your institution doesn’t have an explicit policy. Whether you have a policy or not, it would be wise to explore various “what-if” scenarios with your institution’s legal department.

Article author John Weinstein will be presenting on two topics at the 2024 Campus Safety Conference July 8-10 in Atlanta: "Armed Staff: Security Enhancement or Liability?" and "The Intersection of Campus & Municipal Policing." For more information and to register, visit CampusSafetyMagazine.com.

2. Request intelligence from your state fusion center. State fusion centers are valuable sources of intelligence. If you ask for intelligence a few weeks before the event, they can help your planning by telling you what to expect.

3. Have your department trained on how to properly respond to civil disturbances. Most college police departments do not have civil disturbance training; a protest, even with only passive resistance, will overwhelm normal response capabilities. If a protest becomes large and unruly, you will wish your department had civil disturbance training and equipment. If you lack this important capability, you are likely to find you lack adequate numbers of officers to cover the event without spiking overtime costs and reducing coverage at other locations. Even if you mobilize all your officers, you may not have enough manpower to cover a large protest, let alone the rest of your campus. Without civil disturbance training, you may need to rely on neighboring jurisdictions.

4. Review mutual aid agreements with local jurisdictions. Plan with local agencies for the support you may need, whether it is civil disturbance personnel, transport of arrestees, traffic control, etc.

5. Review your agency’s use of force policies and procedures. Events and contingencies on the street are never as clear cut as they seem in your General Orders, especially for officers who do not work such events on a regular basis. Discussions in roll call about the minimum threshold for using force, the escalation ladder, etc. will give officers confidence they are prepared and hopefully avoid litigation. Also, leaders need to consider how much force will trigger a use-of-force report and whether the plethora of reports will overwhelm your report adjudication process.

6. Remind officers they can be recorded. Despite Supreme Court rulings allowing officers to be recorded and photographed during the normal course of their operations (as long as officer safety, crime scene integrity and several other limited exceptions are not jeopardized), it is surprising how many officers react badly, even illegally, when confronted by someone who wants to record them. Review the law with your officers to minimize embarrassment and the threat of litigation. Also, remember, officers may photograph protestors on campus, who have no expectation of privacy. You never know who you will capture on film. If arrests are made, photos will help you identify suspects and support your case against them.

7. Review disorderly conduct and related codes. Make sure your officers review all laws, college policies, and municipal ordinances pertaining to disorderly conduct, illegal assembly, etc. 

The post Preparing for Presidential Campaigns and Protests on Campus appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Out with the old and in with the new! This summer’s Campus Safety Conference (CSC24), taking place in Atlanta July 8-10, is changing things up to provide you with even better peer-to-peer learning opportunities and solutions to your school and college public safety, security, emergency management, facilities management, and technology challenges.

Here’s what is new at CSC24:

Scholars Program

The Scholars Program is designed for K-12 and higher education safety, security, emergency management, facilities management, and technology leaders who are actively sourcing products and solutions to improve the protection of their campuses. This program includes exclusive networking and tailored education. Qualified scholars will receive a comped full attendee pass as well as one-night hotel stay. Limited spots are available.

If you plan on purchasing safety and/or security products and/or services in the next 18-24 months, you might qualify. Click here for more information.

Georgia Tech Campus Tour

Join us for a tour of the prestigious Georgia Tech campus and the Georgia Tech Police Department! The campus currently consists of 400+ acres and 200+ academic, residential, and recreational buildings. With more than 36,000 students and nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, the campus attracts people from all over the world and can exceed 50,000 people on any given day.

Chief Robert Connolly and team will give a tour of the campus, focusing on access control, traffic flow, how technology keeps the campus running and more areas that keep Georgia Tech secure. This tour has limited availability and will fill up fast. Secure your spot at registration!

1-on-1 Grant Writing Consultations

These 20-minute 1-on-1 consultations, led by the Grants Office LLC, are available with limited availability and require registration in advance.

Product Demonstrations

Are you looking for products or solutions to make your school or university safer? CSC24 will hold dedicated time for select sponsors to demonstrate their products so you can see them in action. Click here to learn more.

Group discounts are also available, so bring your entire team! For more information and to register, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.

GroupProjects and Workshops

Past CSC attendees have requested more hands-on learning. At CSC24, we will host our third annual GroupProjects LIVE! session and multiple workshops. This portion of CSC24, which is included with your registration, will provide you with the opportunity to work through common challenges and find new strategies to take back to your campus community. Click here to view the schedule.

This year’s GroupProjects will focus on lessons learned from nationwide protests.

CSC24 Sponsorship Opportunities Still Available

Visit our website to download the prospectus for more information on NEW packages and contact our sales team: Keri Whoriskey at Keri.Whoriskey@EmeraldX.com or (508) 294-3321 or Dan Wilkins at Dan.Wilkins@EmeraldX.com or (617) 462-2940.

Looking for a one-stop shop for everything Campus Safety Conference 2024? Visit our CSC Resource Center which is regularly updated with registration deadlines, session info, networking opportunities, and more.

The post What’s New at Campus Safety Conference 2024? appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Many organizations are rightly concerned about the threat of violent intruders, but environmental hazards can be just as dangerous, disruptive and costly, especially when they are overlooked.

Part of that issue stems from a lack of resources. Organizations only have so many people and sets of eyeballs to monitor hazards. With many organizations being primarily worried about weapons, fights, and other direct threats, indirect perils may go unnoticed.

While many organizations have video surveillance throughout their facilities and grounds, few have the requisite staffing to monitor every feed in real time. This often results in video footage being useful only after an incident has taken place as people look for answers as to how events unfolded.

Organizations can use this information to make changes for the future, but it doesn’t help address issues in real-time as they arise.

Campuses can adopt a platform that improves the critical workflows of existing surveillance systems by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) threat detection software with mass notification and incident management solutions.

AI Video Surveillance Is Emerging

Recent advancements in AI video surveillance have made it possible for organizations to actively monitor for any hazard, be it environmental or otherwise. Software can overlay with existing video camera feeds, meaning organizations can take advantage of threat detection capabilities without needing to rip and replace hardware that’s already in place.

This can provide organizations with the ability to detect spilled liquids, smoke, and weather-related hazards like water and snow the moment they appear within a camera’s view. AI threat detection can also identify people in restricted areas or buildings after hours who may be deliberately trying to create an environmental hazard or maybe in an area where an environmental hazard is more likely to occur.

This enables security and facilities personnel to intervene quickly, mitigating the potential negative impact of the detected threat.

However, while AI video surveillance is a powerful security tool, its notification capabilities can be limited, often only being able to send text and email alerts, both of which can be easy for recipients to ignore.

Organizations may need more extensive alerting capabilities, so they should look for AI video surveillance that is compatible with mass notification systems that can extend the message reach and help manage whatever incident has been detected.

Mass Notification Can Bolster AI Video’s Alerts

Mass notification systems offer robust alerting capabilities that can be more intrusive and wide-reaching than AI video surveillance on its own. Messages can be delivered as text, audio, and visual alerts to a wide range of integrated devices, including desk phones, mobile phones, desktop computers, digital signage, and overhead speakers simultaneously.

These alerts can be customized with prewritten text that corresponds with specific hazards, and include an image taken from the camera to show what the hazard looks like. Recipients can then verify an issue has presented itself and respond.

Messages can also be targeted to specific groups and areas in a building. Environmental hazards can be directed at specific facility maintenance personnel who can investigate and deal with the issue. Or, notifications can be restricted to alert specific areas, like the floor or wing of a building, minimizing disruptions while still getting information out to those who need to know.

This helps ensure the right people get the right message as quickly as possible so they can begin to act.

Environmental hazard detection can extend beyond video surveillance though. Mass notification systems can also integrate with environmental sensors, which can provide an additional layer of detection to stay ahead of potential issues.

Sensors can be particularly useful in areas with low camera visibility. Air quality sensors, water sensors, and more can connect with certain mass notification systems to initiate alerts when certain criteria are met.

Manufacturers can use this to understand when volatile chemicals are present so they can evacuate an area, and businesses can use this to understand when data centers might be under threat from leaking water.

Being able to detect environmental hazards helps organizations keep their people safe, and it helps protect business continuity, so operations continue to run as smoothly as possible even when issues are present.

Proper Implementation Helps to Quickly Resolve Issues

Mass notification isn’t just about sending out an alert. Robust mass notification systems also offer robust incident management capabilities to help actively resolve an issue. Organizations can plan multiple messages for different types of events, being able to have an initial alert, follow-ups, and all clear messages lined up and ready for use.

Key stakeholders can be invited to join virtual collaboration spaces or conference calls to share information, assess the situation, and determine the best course of action. Notifications can also be sent directly to recipients and ask for a response, helping organization leaders understand who is safe and who still needs assistance.

Whether it’s a personal injury caused by a slip and fall, structural damage caused to a building, or something else, environmental hazards pose costly risks to campuses.

Time, money, and resources can all be wasted if issues are not dealt with promptly, but to do so, organizations must find the right tools to help identify hazards, communicate with their people and respond accordingly. The quicker this can be done, the less likely it is that someone will encounter a dangerous situation.

Integrators that can help organizations add powerful software like AI threat detection and mass notification to existing hardware investments can provide a cost-effective and valuable solution to stay on top of potential issues and create a safe environment for all.

Terry Swanson is the president and CEO of Singlewire Software. This article was originally published in CS sister publication Security Sales & Integration and has been edited.

Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety.

The post Leveraging Mass Notification and AI to Detect Environmental Hazards appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.