Mark Williams, Board Chairman at Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), and Guy Grace Director of Security and Emergency Planning joined together on the second day of DHI conNextions to present their presentation on the best practices for safety in the education environment.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), the 2017/ 2018 school year reports indicate:
- 962,300 violent incidents
- 54,400 serious violent incidents
- 476,100 non-violent incidents
- Includes possession of firearms, explosives, or other weapons.
- 3600 incidents involving firearms or explosive devices
School Safety Needs: what are the best practices?
There is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution to fit the needs of every school. There are at least three components that can be used as a foundation to effective security approaches. These components include policies and procedures, access control, video surveillance and more to serve a purpose to deter, detect, and delay.
District Wide Layer
- Zone emergency response system
- Rapid access credential vault-align with NFPA 3000
- Door numbering system
- Conducting lockdown drills- PASS recommendations
- Enhanced visitor management practices
- Graphical operator interfaces
Property Perimeter Layer
- Annual grounds assessment
- Grounds facility use policies
- Install audio/video call boxes at key locations
Parking Lot Perimeter Layer
- Install audio/video call boxes at key locations
- Speeding car violation analytics
Building Perimeter Layer
- Monitoring door position and latch bolt position
- Integrating audio monitoring into video surveillance systems
- Facial recognition
- Intrusion detection at roof access points
Classroom/interior perimeter Layer
- Security film installation recommendations
- Delineation of hard corner in classrooms and interior space
- Door design considerations
- Lock functions description enhancement
With the current climate, the Coronavirus has become one of the main threats in schools however, the threat is also the potential school budget deficits as well as defunding the police and SRO programs. This results in schools hiring private safety officers. “School districts are tremendously impacted by this across the country but its varying state to state,” says Grace. “A lot of the funding that was going to go into door locks or cameras was probably diverted in many districts to fill the COVID response,” says Grace.
