Safe School Planning

Improvement in security will also contribute to a safe environment. High schools should implement the use of metal detectors as well as random searches. Although, it may be tedious to remove all metal and coins from your pockets, it will ensure safety. This security measure can be specific to each school. An example being to make the checks random throughout the week or only require it for students to have a late arrival. Random searches can also be specified such as only searching lockers or classrooms. Motion sensored cameras can also be a very effective with safety. In many school’s cameras are only in the hallways and lunchroom, but what happens when violence occurs in a classroom? All evidence will be based off hearsay. This is not an effective way of assessing the incident considering there are 3 sides to every story. Adding motion cameras to classrooms will make evidence accurate. Not only will student-student altercations be recorded, but teacher-student altercations will be recorded. Security guards themselves should also be improved. Security guards should be posted in hallways upon children arrival, during passing periods, and upon school dismissal. Security guards should also be fit enough for the job. “The results indicated that utilization of multiple security measures reduced the likelihood of exposure to property

School security is one of the world’s biggest issues. In California not many schools have security for their schools and that raises many questions for parents and teachers. All parents want their children to be safe and they don’t want anything bad to happen to them. They don’t know what might happen to them when they go to school. Some schools don’t have security systems because they don’t have government support to afford security for their school. Parents think twice before sending their kids to school with no security because of the crime that’s been happening lately. Department of Education should know that when kids are at school it’s their responsibility to protect kids from any crime. The main problem is the crime that is happening

After the Sandy Hook, there were countless ways for students to be safe at school. In Preparing for the Unthinkable: School Safety after Sandy Hook news article, Vicki Bauman said, “ Instead of gates, guns, and metal detectors, let’s invest in the things we know will make us safer: counselors, health care, teaching positive behavior, and making sure we have services to reach out to disconnected youth and pull them back on track.” Therefore, violence is not the answer to any question or issue. The community and school system should take a stand and get the necessities that the schools need to have a safe environment for the students and faculty and staff. The school can invest in law enforcement. The law enforcement will be able to conduct a consistent search through a metal detector. The law enforcement will help the students to avoid bringing prohibited weapons to school as well as, there to protect the school.

The intention of this paper is to look at and present some issues and strategies that members of a school community think about when trying to create safer schools. Particularly when addressing an active shooter in a school setting. A major issue to consider when trying to keep all schools safe, is the simple fact that no two schools are the same. Understanding this can lead us to the conclusion that it is impossible to have one global plan or program that can be 100% effective in all schools. “Violence prevention programs work best when they incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and

Kenneth Batchelor, superintendent of Radnor Township School District, name one of the year’s safest school districts in America by Niche, states that we credit out strong relationships with local businesses, residents, law enforcement, and other emergency personnel for our ability to maintain safe learning environments (Rosales). Many other school systems as well say this is the best method for the best school safety. Working together outside the classroom also has its effect on inside the classroom and in school.

A school’s Behavior Matrix can create a school climate that reinforces good behavior, a positive and safe environment, encourages responsibility of actions, builds positive relationships, ensues high expectations, and builds community (Muscott, Mann & LeBrun, 2008). The consistency of responses, consequences, and rewards will create an atmosphere that promotes positive behavior and discourages negative behaviors. The strategies set forth by the Behavioral Matrix are set up for the entire school population focusing on the students that do not necessarily have behavioral issues. It is mainly for the purpose of increasing student achievement, discourage problematic behaviors, and increase positive interactions throughout the school environment (Bradshaw & Pas, 2011). Therefore, the goal of a Behavioral Matrix is in fact to strengthen positive behaviors that are already in place and give a consistent disciplinary action guideline to move those individual that commit negative infractions towards positive direction. Positive Behavior Support systems are set up to acknowledge the good that students accomplish, and does not allow infractions to define who they are and allows for them to reinstatement the good

What the school will do to keep all children and young people safe and how it will respond to concerns, stating the procedure for this.

School climate consists of the attitudes, beliefs, values that underlie students’ academic success. School climate helps to shape the communication between and among students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community. The continued promotion of the expectation that diverse groups of students can be successful and the maintenance of a school climate conducive to academic productivity are important initiatives toward improving student achievement. According to Schwartz, the recognition of the many unique cultures within a school and incorporating the characteristics of these cultures into the learning environment contribute positively to the success of students as well as develop the skills for students of these cultures to be social successes in adulthood (Schwartz, 2001). A safe, orderly and healthy school climate also promotes mutual respect between students, teachers and administrators and emphasizes a well-publicized, fair, and uniform code of conduct. Schools must become caring and learning communities. It is important to impress a caring attitude upon students early before they become unreachable. School climate not only impacts students, but teachers and administrators as well. Research indicates that African American students who attend schools that are supportive and caring have significantly higher achievement, as perceived by their teachers, and school administrators. The schools’ characteristics that correlated with higher levels of achievement were cooperation among teachers and administrators, support for students, and clear expectations about the mission of the school. Goddard, Sweetland, and Hoy conducted a study with a population of 60% African American students and concluded that poor and minority students are more likely to excel when there is a school climate promoting academic excellence (Goddard, Sweetland, and Hoy,

The implementation of positive behavior management systems in schools play a vital role in creating and maintaining a safe and supportive school environment. According to (safeschoolshub) “A safe school is one that takes action to promote and recognize positive student behavior, ensure student safety and minimize risk.”

I recommend including students, faculty, parents, and community representatives in the process of developing the school safety plan. The plan should be responsible for providing advice and making decisions about critically important cases of violence and crime, evaluating the state of school safety, and proposing revisions to the school discipline code and school safety plan as deemed necessary. A safety assessment should be conducted to determine the state of school order and safety. A survey of staff, parents, and students could help to determine their views and recommendations regarding school crime and violence. The survey data should be analyzed so the leadership team and community can address the issues. The school is gated off from the community and ringing a bell is required before the gate is

During the past decade, school safety has been at the forefront of many school districts safety polices and plans. With recent high profile school shootings, the question school districts continue to ask is how do we keep our schools safe? Administrators face heavy scrutiny when weighing approaches to school safety and student discipline. Likewise, school employees have the right to work in safe environments devoid of life-threatening behaviors (Fenning and Bohanon, 2006; Skiba and Rausch, 2006). America’s founding fathers understood the importance of a public school education. They believed educating its citizens would allow them the opportunity to learn new skills while becoming successful and productive people in society. However, our founding fathers did not predict the severe behavior changes our schools face in educating disruptive and dangerous students. America’s school districts are charged with providing solutions for disruptive and dangerous students (Fenning and Bohanon, 2006; Skiba and Rausch, 2006). School officials must address these issues with research-based interventions and collaborative resources that provide a safe learning environment for all stakeholders (Elliott and Mihalic, 2004; Schoenwald and Hoagwood, 2001). Boards of education continue to support school efforts to rethink best practices for disciplinary alternative middle schools (DAMS). Many school districts focus on research-based interventions and resources that manage aggression and

Adversely an effect of public schools to students’ is the culture of drugs and violence. "No matter where you are, parents want their students to be safe and secure… that might even precede a quality education…With drugs, gangs, and guns on the rise in many communities the threat of violence weighs heavily on most principals minds these days …Anyone who thinks they are not vulnerable is really naïve" (Durso). When parents send their children off to school they do not know who their child associates with. Those people may introduce them into drugs and violence of any kind. Later Durso states “More than half of U.S. public schools reported experiencing at least one crime incident during a given school year, and 1 in 10 schools reported at least one serious violent crime during that school year’’. It is very evident that the issue with violence is a major problem. Furthermore, an article from the National Institute of Drug Abuse states “the use of marijuana, alcohol, cigarette, and prescription drugs have significantly increased”. Along with the increase of drug and violence, there comes a large amount of students who have witnessed these crimes. “Eighty percent of high school students and 44% of middle school students reported that they personally had witnessed one or more of the following on the grounds of their school: 1) illegal drugs used; 2) illegal drugs sold; 3) illegal drugs in the possession of students (either on them or in their

School violence has become of the most pressing educational problems in the United States. Gang violence and high profile shootings across the nation cause concern within schools. Communities struggle to understand why these events take place and how they can be prevented. The overwhelming response to solve the issue of violence in schools is the increasing societal pressure to execute zero tolerance. Zero tolerance is driven by the educational philosophy, policies, and practices of school communities. Stakeholders expect schools to be a safe place for staff and for students. Stakeholders assume that a positive classroom environment, safe students, and school enjoyment are conditions necessary to create a positive climate where learning takes place. This assumption can be backed with research. A calm classroom environment, teachers’ management of disruptive behavior, and students’ view of school safety are factors that have been found to directly correlate with student achievement in the classroom (Ma & Willms, 2004). Safety and a feeling of not being threatened during school hours have been found to be important to students’ achievement. Failure to remove a disruptive or an unruly student from school has been found to have a negative impact on achievement and creates a great risk to school staff and students (Garbarino et al., 1992). Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in an

The Safe Schools program is all about promoting inclusivity - and I think that at this time in Australia, such a program is exactly what is needed. We need to teach our children the importance of treating each other respectfully, of knowing that diversity is what makes us stronger. Every student should feel safe at school and should know that all of us has the right to be safe.

Violence in our schools is an issue that has become more prominent in the last few years. News articles about violent deeds within the school setting are on the increase. Our society demands that schools are safe for our children. In order to maintain a peaceful environment for all, we must address and inform our schools, children, and parents as well as the neighboring communities about the issue of school violence. As David W. Johnson, the author of Reducing School Violence states, “To eliminate violence and resolve destructive conflicts, schools must first admit that such conflicts are out of control.” (Johnson 7) Schools in general must identify with these issues in order to deal with them.