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Executive Insights

The board and school safety

Kentucky School Advocate

May 2018

By Kerri Schelling
KSBA Executive Director

Are our schools safe? It’s a question parents, educators and lawmakers have been asking more frequently. The shootings that occurred on K-12 campuses in Kentucky, Florida, Maryland, California and Tennessee since 2018 began, give the issue a higher profile and can make it seem as if gun violence in schools is a common occurrence. But, thankfully, it’s not. While even one incident is one too many, it is important that board teams and staff don’t let the general safety practices that keep students safe every day take a back seat.

According to the most recent numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 50.7 million students attend public elementary and secondary schools, and research shows that the things that keep them safe in our schools today are, for the most part, the very same things that have always kept them safe. For example, high-quality supervision by a responsible adult in the immediate vicinity; vigilance of both students and adults for anything out of place or unusual; closing and locking doors without making exceptions for the sake of convenience; controlling visitor access to buildings; diligently working to prevent bullying; practicing emergency drills; and building relationships with students to help them feel connected and supported.

However, the conversations in recent years seem to focus on more extreme solutions. Difficult discussions about metal detectors, student bag searches and arming school personnel often take center stage and can lead to turmoil within the district. During these times, board members are faced with pressures from all sides. They must balance their own beliefs about how to best advocate for the students entrusted to their care with data and resources while addressing the fear and/or anger from parents and community members who need to be reassured that their children are safe.

So what is a board to do during these challenging times? What effective boards have always done – provide steady, well-informed leadership and work together for a common goal.

School boards are uniquely positioned to provide effective leadership because each board can work directly with its community to identify their unique circumstances, needs and wants while at the same time having access to information, data and experts. All of this together helps the board create plans that accurately reflect the district.

No single response or solution fits all situations, so local decision making is critical. However, these are a few of the activities that all boards should engage in:

• Reviewing the district emergency management plan and all safety-related policies annually to make sure they are current.

• Ensuring the district has a clear communication plan so it can be the first official source for timely, factual and clear information.

• Confirming that construction projects are scrutinized from a safety perspective as well as an academic one.

• Seeking input and coordinating all of the above, as appropriate, with local law enforcement agencies, and consulting experts at the Kentucky Center for School Safety as needed.

Board members can also use their position as liaisons between the community and the district to help build trust and understanding. For example, helping parents and other adults understand that while some protocols can be mildly inconvenient (signing in at the office, having to present identification to pick up a child, not allowing doors to be propped open when carrying in multiple items), they are important safety measures that cannot be bypassed.

Schools are uniquely designed with the academic and physical needs of children in mind and when they are well-maintained, filled with skilled, caring educators and staff, and governed by a school board committed to creating the conditions for success, they are among the safest places a child can be.