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.

Genetec Inc., a provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions, debuts AutoVu™ Plate Finder, a new feature that allows parking operators and law enforcement professionals to identify and validate license plate numbers directly from their Apple or Android mobile devices.

AutoVu Plate Finder increases efficiency by reducing the time spent manually checking difficult-to-read or obstructed license plates, the company says. For example, vehicles with rear-facing license plates backed into parking spots can’t easily be read by vehicle-based ALPR systems. Instead of having officers exit their vehicles to input the plate number in the onboard system manually, Plate Finder enables them to take a picture of the license plate from their phone, allowing them to quickly verify parking rights or identify wanted vehicles on local, state, federal, or custom hotlists.

“Validating license plates against parking regulations and law enforcement hotlists in bustling downtown areas or crowded parking garages can pose significant challenges for officers. With the AutoVu Plate Finder, users can now access cutting-edge ALPR technology anytime, from anywhere with a cellular data connection,” said Michael Bradner, AutoVu Product Line Manager at Genetec Inc.

Once the image is captured, the information is encrypted and securely sent to the cloud-based AutoVu Managed Services ALPR system. A neural network, part of the Genetec Machine Learning Core (MLC) engine, reads the license plate and vehicle characteristics. The pertinent information, including zone details, is then displayed on the user’s device, enhancing the effectiveness of field operations.

AutoVu Plate Finder is a new subscription feature offered within AutoVu Managed Services. This feature is available through Genetec™ Mobile. Available immediately to new or existing AutoVu Managed Services (AMS) customers in the US and Canada, it will be showcased at the upcoming IPMI Parking and Mobility Conference and Expo in Columbus, Ohio, in Booth #1424.

For more information, please visit https://resources.genetec.com/en-feature-notes/genetec-mobile-autovu-plate-finder.

The post Genetec Introduces AutoVu ePlate Finder for Mobile Devices appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Schools are struggling to find ways to keep weapons, such as guns, knives, and other dangerous objects off of their campuses, and many of them are hoping that requiring students to carry clear backpacks will do the trick.

On Monday night, the Richmond (Virginia) School Board adopted a clear backpack policy for all of its students, reports WTVR. The mandate goes into effect July 1. Officials at Richmond Public Schools said they could probably provide clear backpacks to all of its elementary school students for $60,000.

The board is also looking at implementing weapons detectors in the district’s elementary schools, although it stopped short of approving the move until more research is done on the possible implementation. Installing weapons detector technology at all of the elementary schools would cost about $4 million. The equipment is already installed in the district’s middle schools and high schools.

Districts in Texas and Georgia Also Adopting Clear Backpack Policies

In Laredo, Texas, the United Independent School District (UISD) will require all of its students, from kindergarten to 12 grade carry clear backpacks. The requirement will go into effect at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, and students will be provided with new backpacks. reports KGNS.

Although the new rule will require students to use clear backpacks while at school, they will also be allowed to carry a small non-clear pouch for personal items like hygiene products, money, and cell phones.

In DeSoto, Texas, the DeSoto Independent School District will also begin requiring students in grades 6 through 12 to carry clear backpacks starting in the 2024-2025 school year, reports Metro News. Additionally, students will continue to be required to wear uniforms so security personnel can more easily identify visitors. At DeSoto High School, students arriving to campus will need to be screened for weapons with metal detectors. Their backpacks will also be searched.

In Crisp County, Ga., primary, elementary, middle and high school students will only be allowed to carry clear backpacks starting next year, reports WMAZ. Bibb County Schools also requires students to carry clear or mesh backpacks.

The post More Schools Adopt Clear Backpack Policies to Prevent Gun Violence appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Editor’s Note: This article originally ran in CS sister publication Security Sales and Integration. Although the article is intended for security systems integrators, the information is also valuable for school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management practitioners. 

Engaging your customers and taking action to solve their pain points and various challenges is an essential step to customer success. With the intention of better serving end users, you need to know as much as possible about them. Including what they most need from you.

In that spirit, SSI delivers the second annual Commercial Security End-User Forum, where we tap the perspectives of four security directors as well as an expert in corporate security risk mitigation solutions.

Hailing from the K-12, higher education, healthcare and entertainment industries, the participants weigh in on organizational safety and security challenges, what makes for a successful integrator partnership, COVID-19 impacts and more. 

Vetting Security Systems Integrators

Ask an end user for their thoughts on how they go about selecting the right integrator partner and the responses might seem analogous to choosing a significant other. Finding just the right match boils down to aligning various compatibilities and attributes that ensure the relationship is built to last. Trust. Honesty. Commitment. These are not just slogans but bedrock elements to a fulfilling, successful business alliance.

“One of the reasons I believe that I’ve been successful in my career as a security director is having great relationships with integrators in a good, constructive way where we learn from each other,” says Guy Grace, who retired from Littleton (Colorado) Public Schools in August after more than 30 years and now works as a security consultant for K-12 schools in Wyoming.

Grace, a 2020 Director of the Year recipient awarded by SSI sister publication Campus Safety, emphasizes patience and the ability to evolve with an end user as necessary virtues, especially in the business of campus security. Money is tight for most school districts and significant expenditures may only come around every five to 10 years as bond measures are approved or other funding is appropriated.

“You need an integrator that is going to help you to constantly evolve, but you have to evolve based on, No. 1, financial resources. But you also need to be able to evolve based on the school district’s culture and what they want from you based on processes and procedures and things that you have to do before you implement these things.”

Scrutinizing an integrator’s core competencies is, of course, a key exercise for end users. CoxHealth System Director of Public Safety Eric Clay explains the level of qualifications of a potential integrator partner is often an unknown quantity. Before he commits to an integrator, Clay works to raise his comfort level by verifying their experience on projects with a similar scope. This necessarily includes a demonstrated ability to cyber-secure healthcare networks, which are a favorite target of criminal hackers.

“What I am hoping is they have a deep understanding, and as I talk with them I might have a vision for a solution. I’m also hoping they’re going to draw out information that perhaps I hadn’t even thought about,” says Clay, also a 2020 Director of the Year recipient. “They may ask, ‘Have you considered this? What is your long-term goal? You’re looking for an immediate solution, but you might be able to integrate this particular solution that will address these other issues.’” (Update: since contacted for this article, Clay now serves as vice president of security at Memorial Hermann, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas.)

Robert Carotenuto is director of security at The Shed, a new $475 million, 200,000-square-foot cultural arts center located in New York City’s Hudson Yards. As a nonprofit facility, Carotenuto looks for integrators who are willing to create a symbiotic collaboration based on the venue’s best interests. Sure, it’s a monetary relationship as well, but that should be secondary to the partnership, explains Carotenuto, an ASIS Professional Standards Board member.

“For me, it’s not about getting the very best product out there, but that I get the very best product out there for my institution. If I have top-of-the-line equipment that’s going to cost me a lot of overhead over the years, it’s hard for me to sustain that in terms of my budget,” he says. “Maybe that’s the best solution for a Fortune 500 company, but I don’t need their solution. I need a solution that fits The Shed.”

Top Safety and Security Challenges

Large end users may have generally similar safety and security missions in protecting buildings and occupants, but there can also be perils unique to the size and scope of any given facility and the nature of its purpose. A sobering example, the healthcare industry.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), serious workplace violence incidents are four times more likely to occur in healthcare environments than in private industry. In fact, healthcare accounts for nearly as many serious violent injuries as all other industries combined. Healthcare professionals in certain sectors of the industry are even more vulnerable to workplace violence than law enforcement officers and security guards, according to OSHA.

“Workplace violence is probably the thing that we work to address more than anything else,” says Clay. “We rely on a number of technologies to help protect our staffs.”

CoxHealth is a six-hospital, 1,050 bed not-for-profit healthcare system headquartered in Springfield, Mo. Clay’s security operations manage more than 900 security cameras across the facilities, plus robust visitor management and analytical software to ensure resources are deployed efficiently. Security personnel are equipped with body-worn cameras, handheld metal detectors and more.

“Portable duress alarms are a big thing for us right now. We’re testing those alarms in some of our more high-risk areas, such as emergency rooms and psych units, which allow us to triangulate exactly where someone is in the space and respond directly to that location,” Clay explains.

As with many commercial and public venues, Carotenuto contends with the challenge of deploying security and life-safety technologies while maintaining a sense of openness and welcoming aesthetics. Cultural institutions, he says, should maintain spaces where people can feel free to express themselves, unencumbered by intrusive electronics or personnel.

“People are understanding that there is technology, including video surveillance and screening. But that is to keep everybody safe. The challenge is to be present, but sort of in the background so we can keep that open environment,” he says. “The Shed is not about security, it’s about artwork and performances and that always must shine through. The security has to become an afterthought for visitors and even sometimes for the staff.”

In his years as a school safety professional, Grace says the biggest challenges have always centered around the balancing act between good technology and emergency preparedness. You can also add to that mental health processes and procedures that school districts have implemented in more recent time.

“So the major challenge was bringing in programs that holistically work together, and work together in a multihazard facet,” he says. “[In the context of] school safety, if you put one bad apple in the cart — one bad piece of technology or one bad mental health practice or one bad emergency preparedness practice — it could upset the holistic processes of school safety.”

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for any school district in the United States, thereby complicating the balancing act, Grace adds. One common goal that must be established, he believes, is to avoid turning schools into prison-like environments in a pursuit to deploy all-encompassing security and emergency preparedness measures.

“Security can be very complicated, but it can also be in the background. And I think that that’s very important in K-12,” he says. “It is very important for us to work together with our integrators and for all sides to be open minded. And that’s not just our integrators, but our school district, our community and our manufacturers.”

Security in the Age of COVID-19

You would be hard pressed to conjure a more impactful event to have instantaneously altered workplace and campus environments than the coronavirus pandemic. As the new normal continues to form in the months ahead and beyond, end users — with assistance from reseller partners — are hastily trialing thermal skin temperature cameras, frictionless access control, among other tech-based COVID-19 mitigations.

Yet some end users are taking a pass on these tools and relying on other mitigations. The University of Florida is scheduled to welcome students back to the campus in Gainesville for the fall semester beginning Aug. 31. Joseph Souza, director of security at the University of Florida, explains the decision was made not to deploy additional technologies as part of the campus’s COVID-19 reopening plan. Thermal temperature detection was considered and evaluated; however, the devices were deemed cost prohibitive due the quantity needed. It’s also a new technology that isn’t fully proven to its successfulness, Souza says.

“UF has done a great job as a university bringing our emergency operations team together to address all aspects of COVID-19 response. We also have a comprehensive screen, test and protect program which all staff, faculty and students are going through as they have returned to campus,” he says.

That doesn’t mean the university won’t be leveraging technology as part of its coronavirus response. Existing electronic security systems are being called into action.

“We will have more use of line crossing-people counting to limit the number of occupants in buildings. Also, robust access control reports will track unique accesses, time of access to help look for unauthorized activity or to tailor cleaning activities based on pedestrian traffic,” he says.

Souza adds, “In a university setting, public safety is paramount. It’s a little more challenging to keep an open campus secure, so we rely more on technology to augment and enhance security, like during the COVID-19 crisis.”

The pandemic has created a corporate imperative to reimagine risk and security, as well as strengthen collaboration across the business, explains Bob Hayes, managing director of the Security Executive Council, a research and advisory firm that specializes in corporate security risk mitigation solutions. What worked pre-COVID — or what may have been in planning and design stages — is irrelevant in a post-COVID word, he says.

“People ask, ‘Why do I have to reimagine it?’ Because all your conditions just changed. Your culture changed. Your circumstances have changed. You absolutely have to rethink what you are doing and why,” Hayes stresses. “If you had a physical security installation at a big headquarters getting ready to go in, I would say put it on hold. Too much has changed. That project might not be relevant in three months.”

To Hayes’s point: Consider a facility that was forced to permanently close 50% of its offices following the lockdown; managers are now going to have very different risks and issues than they did prior to the closures. Moving forward a seamless alignment between security practitioners and security vendors will be imperative in the new normal, he says.

“At the end of the day you have got to go back and you start with a new reality assessment. What is the new normal going to look like? Define the risks and the desired outcomes,” Hayes advises. “Combine that with research and look at the collective knowledge and examine and align for unified risks, and make sure that you are in line with your executives and their sponsorship and everybody understands what you are doing.”

Rodney Bosch is Security Sales & Integration’s senior editor. This article was originally published in 2020 and still is applicable today.

The post How to Get What You Need from Your Security Systems Integrator appeared first on Campus Safety Magazine.

Communication failures have played a significant role in many school tragedies. During the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, officers with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Coral Springs Police Department were unable to communicate with each other when attempts to merge radio traffic from the two agencies into a common radio channel failed. The emergency radio system froze from excessive traffic, forcing police officers to communicate with hand signals.

Surveillance footage from the attack was also on a 26-minute delay, leading police to believe the gunman was still in the building long after he had fled the scene.

During the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, alerts sent out to teachers and faculty using a smartphone app were impeded by several factors, including low-quality internet service. Emergency calls placed inside the school were sent to the Uvalde Police Department, which operates separately from the district police, delaying the exchange of vital information.

While we can’t fully prevent human and technological errors, there are ways to improve emergency response without breaking the bank.

Donald Webster, Chief of Campus Safety at Kalamazoo Public Schools and a 2024 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, turned to several available grants to help improve communication technology throughout his district.

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.

Michigan State Police Competitive School Safety Grant

Writing the proposals himself, one of the grants Webster successfully applied for was the Michigan State Police Competitive School Safety Grant (1:44). Webster used the grant money to upgrade the district’s two-way radio system from analog to digital.

“I think one of the most important things when we talk about school safety, the number one thing is communication in a crisis,” he said. “This change allowed us to replace our obsolete system. It provided us with the opportunity to designate multiple channels in a crisis, and allowed us to communicate more smoothly and eliminate that congestive flow of traffic that we were having on an analog system.”

Award money was also used to replace some of the district’s old public address (PA) systems and install flush-mount speakers. Most importantly, says Webster, the grant allowed for the implementation of a campus-wide paging system.

“When we talk about the campus-wide paging system, prior to having that grant, we didn’t have anything out at our events, at our football fields, baseball field, basketball courts, parking lots, our bus loops,” Webster described. “Now we’re able to communicate in a crisis situation. If we had to do a lockdown, we are able to move folks.”

U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office Grant

The second grant Webster successfully applied for was the COPS Office Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice (4:35). Before winning this grant, two of the district’s largest high schools did not meet the minimum radio coverage requirements.

“Most police agencies across the country operate on a 700-800 megahertz radio system. The way schools are designed with so much glass and brick around it, it was hard for our school resources officers to communicate to law enforcement,” said Webster. “To enhance that coverage, we applied for the grant and I was able to put in some bi-directional amplifiers that boost the radio frequencies.”

Grant Writing Challenges and Tips

Webster’s biggest tip regarding writing technology grant applications is ensuring it articulates the problems the school or district is trying to solve and how those problems would be solved with technology (5:43).

“Kalamazoo Public Schools is a large school district, and trying to find time to craft a thorough grant is hard to do sometimes. I’ve got 25 K-12 buildings, and so it is finding that time to actually gather the information from the different buildings, trying to understand what technology they need in those buildings,” he said. “When you’re writing a grant, you run into problems because trying to figure out is it a technology thing you need or is it staffing that you need? And just always determining what buildings need what. Things that are occurring across the country are driving technology, so finding the right technology for your buildings and finding out the best-fit technology that you need for your building [is key]. Those are kind of the problems that you run into when you’re looking at preparing a grant document.”

Relationship-Based Security Takes Precedent at Kalamazoo Public Schools

While technology is critical in emergency response, Webster prides himself on what he calls “relationship-based security” (9:17).

“It is about building relationships with our students, our staff, our community partners, and our families because that’s who we get our information from,” said Webster. “I have utilized over 30 years of connections to the community and my relationship building to support my long-term and short-term goals at KPS about building relationships with our students, staff, and our community.”

Hear more about his part of the conversation starting at 9:39.

The interview transcript is below.

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

TRANSCRIPT

Amy Rock (00:55): Hi everyone. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Campus Safety Voices podcast. I’m Amy Rock, Campus Safety’s executive editor, and joining me today is Donald Webster, chief of campus safety at Kalamazoo Public Schools and one of this year’s K-12 Director of the Year finalist. We all know anyone in your role, Donald, or similar is more than busy. So thank you for being with me today. I really appreciate it.

Donald Webster (01:18): Thank you for having me.

Amy Rock (01:20): Now let’s get right into the questions that I wanted to ask. We’ve seen in so many major school incidents that communication issues played a role in emergency response and in some situations significantly delayed response time. In your role, you recently applied and received two grants that helped you improve communication in your district. Can you discuss the two grants that you applied for, what you chose to use the money for and why?

Donald Webster (01:44): Yes. So Kalamazoo Public Schools applied and received two grants. One was the Michigan State Police Competitive School Safety Grant, and the other one was from the U.S. Department of Justice, their COPS division. And so the Michigan State Competitive Safety Grant allowed us to upgrade our two-way radio system from analog to digital, which is very important. I think one of the most important things when we talk about school safety, the number one thing is communication in a crisis situation. This change allowed us to replace our obsolete system, it provided us with the opportunity to designate multiple channels in a crisis situation, and allowed us to communicate more smoothly and eliminate that congestive flow of traffic that we were having on an analog system. Analog system only allow us to have two channels and we have 25 K-12 buildings and trying to communicate on two channels during a crisis situation, which was almost impossible.

Now moving from analog to digital allows our schools to move off of being — basically we’re no longer on the island. It allowed us to communicate districtwide and throughout the county. We can talk anywhere, we can communicate anywhere within the district, but one of the most unique things that grant also allowed us to replace some of our old public announcement systems and extend our public address systems throughout all of our K-12 buildings. That allowed us to include flush mount speakers that we didn’t have.

But one of the biggest things the grant allowed us to do was to create a campus-wide paging system. And so when we talk about the campus-wide paging system, prior to having that grant, we didn’t have anything out at our events, at our football fields, baseball field, basketball field, parking lots, our bus loops. Now we’re able to communicate in a crisis situation. If we had to do a lockdown, we are able to move folks in it.

The second grant that we applied through the U.S. Department of Justice, the COPS division, my current two largest high schools did not meet the minimum coverage as it relate to first responders. And so most police agencies across the country operate on a 700-800 megahertz radio system. The way schools are designed with so much glass and brick around it, it was hard for our school resource officers to communicate to local law enforcement. So in order to enhance that coverage, we applied for the grant and I was able to put in some bi-directional amplifiers that boosts the radio frequencies so now our school resource officer and law enforcement who come into the building can communicate safely and effective when needed.

Amy Rock (05:43): That’s great. I feel like grant writing is so tricky. So many districts don’t have their own grant writers, so sometimes the campus safety director or someone in that department is leading it. Do you guys have grant writers or do you do it?

Donald Webster (05:58): Well, we do have grant writers in the district, but when it came down to applying for the safety grants, I wrote the safety grants for the organization. And so some of the challenges that we came across, first thing is to understand what problems you’re trying to solve with technology, and then being able to clearly articulate in the grant what you need. Most safety grants, as we all know, are very competitive. They’re competitive grants. So you really need to be able to explain the problem that you’re trying to solve. And then how are you going to use those funds to solve that problem?

Amy Rock (07:00): Did you find certain things that you were able to do to help overcome those challenges or any tips that you have for writing technology-based solutions for grants?

Donald Webster (07:13): Well, I think the number one thing we need to know when you’re writing a grant is technology is needed in today’s world because it keeps us engaged and all the changes and threats that are going out there. I think again, the first thing when you got to understand what the problems are that you’re trying to address and how are you going to solve that with technology.

So I look at Kalamazoo Public Schools, it is a large school district, and trying to find time to craft a thorough grant is hard to do sometimes in the school district is big. I mean, just finding the time, I got 25 K-12 buildings, and so it is finding that time to actually being able to gather the information from the different buildings, trying to understand what technology they need in those buildings. When you’re writing a grant, you run into problems because trying to figure out is it a technology thing you need or is it staffing that you need? And just always determining what buildings need what. Things that are occurring across the country are driving technology, so finding the right technology that you need for your buildings and finding out what is the best fit technology that you need for your building. Those are kind of the problems that you run into when you’re looking at writing, preparing a grant document.

Amy Rock (09:17): There’s obviously security technology, but technology is also important when tracking threats or tracking students’ progress, if there are any students who have any behavioral issues or there behavioral threat assessment technology as well. Which kind of leads me into my next question, which is technology and physical security is well and good obviously, but you pride yourself on what you call relationship-based security. How do you implement that throughout the district on a daily basis?

Donald Webster (09:46): Well, I talk about Kalamazoo schools having 25 K-12 buildings that sits in three different law enforcement jurisdiction – the city, the township, and the county. Our building sits on over 500 acres of land so we’re pretty spread out, pretty big. And so over the years, I talk about relationship-based training because when we talk about school safety, the number one thing, one of the top two things is you have to have a relationship, not just with your students, your staff, our community partners, but you have to have relationships with your local law enforcement agencies. And so relationship-based training is just another word that we use for as the same thing that we use for as community policing. It is about building relationship with our students and our staff and our community partners and our families because that’s how we get our information from. I have utilized over 30 years of connections to the community and my relationship building to support my long-term and short goals at KPS about building relationships with our students, staff, and our community.

What we do to do that is we try to meet our students in a non-traditional way. We try to meet them where there’s not a crisis situation. We try to build our relationships in before we have a conflict in our building. And it has proven to be very effective at our schools because that helps us keep our schools safe. And one of the things is when we talk about relationship-based training, over the years with that relationships that we have built with our local law enforcement agencies, I mean, it has saved us. It’s a cost saving to the district because of those relationships. The police department is able to provide things that we needed within our district. We have 24 hour, seven days a week access to our local law enforcement agencies, our chiefs, and our sheriff department. And so I think when we talk about relationship-based training, I think that needs to be almost at the top of the line when we talk about school safety. Technology is good, but it’s only as good with the relationship that you have with individuals that are willing to report things to you, feel comfortable talking to you at school. And so that’s what we do. We try to pride ourselves on that relationship-based training.

Amy Rock (13:14): And it’s also good for law enforcement in the area to be aware of what’s going on in the schools because sometimes some issues that are happening in the schools may flow over into the home and into their jurisdictions and out of the school’s hands, so they can kind of be aware of if there’s any issues going on with the families that you might be concerned about. And so it’s just good for everyone to be in the know.

Donald Webster (13:40): Those relationships you have to have it. I mean, like I say, you got 25 K-12 schools that sit in three different law enforcement agencies. And based on that relationship, it helps to get that information that you need in a timely manner. We have access to those local law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day.

The post How Kalamazoo Public Schools Used Grant Funding to Improve Communication Technology 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. 

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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.

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.