Is Your School District Doing Enough? Answer These 7 Questions To Find Out
With Uvalde haunting school district board members and administrators daily, it’s challenging to respond when people ask if their kids are safe at school. You want to say yes. You believe the answer is yes. But you also hope your district is doing enough.
To answer that question, I’d urge school officials, including principals, to see how well they would do on answering yes to these seven test questions. Be honest and don’t answer yes if what you have is just window dressing.
1. Does your school and district have a comprehensive, and written plan on what school safety is means, including physical security aspects and changes that need to be made?
2. Do you know what a threat assessment team is, and do you have a functioning one?
3. Do your students, parents, faculty, and staff, know who to report concerns to, including access to an anonymous reporting system? Is it properly and repeatedly advertised in school and in the community?
4. Do you regularly share with students and your community signs to report of individuals who may be under duress, on a pathway to commit suicide, or worse?
5. Do you invite law enforcement and other agencies from the federal, state, and local departments to evaluate your school safety plan, so they know what to do in case of an emergency?
6. Do you have a critical response team who will work with first responders no matter the emergency to ensure they access to utility cut offs, school diagrams, keys, and information on staff and students.
7. Do you training and run drills several times a year to give faculty, staff and students confidence to respond immediately during an emergency?
Test taking is hard, even for adults. Chances are you can’t answer yes to each of these questions. After all, it is a large undertaking. But I’d suggest this way to improve your test score.
Divide these efforts up among others, asking who can take the lead. Maybe the school resource officer can oversee running non-scary but informative drills three times a year for the students and staff. Your parent organization may be able to help with messaging for parent, students, and staff through newsletters, email blasts, and a school web site.
Many resources are available, including my newsletter and podcast, to help understand what behaviors of concern should be reported to the school, law enforcement, and anonymous reporting systems. Your school counselor or county mental health providers might be able shed light on good information to share.
Remember, every step taken to enhance safety at school is something you can talk about with nervous parents and report on at school board meetings.
And finally, the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, brought to light the horror or what happens when someone is injured and bleeding but medical help can't get to them. For more than an hour, many shot in the school were alone with their injuries. In a violent attack or even an accident on the road or at home, the most preventable death is one that can be stopped by controlling bleeding.
