Safe Schools Forty Items
by Laura Uribe-Center
March 09, 2007
LISD Disaster Plan
Forty Items to Consider
It means the school principal must have a strong commitment to ensuring the safety of all individuals within the domain of the school.
- It means continuing to recognize that the school has the primary responsibility to create a safe environment that addresses the psychological, social and physical well being of school personnel and students.
- It means identifying and sharing current research findings on school safety and youth violence.
- It means keeping up with technology advances regarding school safety devices and systems.
- It means having a current school safety plan including defined roles for school personnel, students, parents, law enforcement individuals, etc., wherein every individual must contribute to fostering a sense of safety and well-being within the school.
- It means prompting parents to play a key role in violence prevention by encouraging them to communicate openly with their children about school incidents, events and unsafe practices that may jeopardize their safety and/or contribute to school violence.
- It means promoting a mindset that the school must be, first and foremost, a safe place if meaningful learning is to take place, and if teachers are to be able to focus on the teaching/learning process.
- It means talking and writing to students, parents, faculty, staff, community and vendors about the importance of personal safety and the perception of personal safety to the implementation of the academic program.
- It means that all school personnel are trained to observe and make mental notes of unusual and/or potentially harmful behaviors, relationships, circumstances and remarks.
- It means that we love and enjoy our students, but that we are also always "heads up" and vigilant just as a parent would be and as they would expect us to be.
- It means constantly probing and reviewing to make sure the school., its students, its parents and its personnel are as prepared as possible for any emergency.
- It means teaching all students a curriculum of sexual harassment, bullying and personal safety: how to feel it, how to recognize it and what to do about it.
- It means remembering that the school day does not start when the bell rings, but when students leave home in the morning.
- It means remembering that the school day does not end when the bell rings in the afternoon, but when students arrive home safely.
- It means re-teaching faculty and staff definitions and examples of harassment, bullying, personal safety and the importance of protecting all the rights of their students.
- It means training all transportation personnel with same sensitivity and safety skills as other staff in the building.
- It means a principal's leadership team that is tight, focused and no-nonsense about safety on the school campus and around the community. It means the principal's team members must project that "alpha dog" persona to dissuade anyone contemplating inappropriate behavior.
- It means school officials have reviewed safety and cooperation plans with the School Resource Officer, sector sergeant, and local fire department.
- It means that school personnel have reviewed the building emergency plan with all employees and that personnel have checked the associated equipment and supplies to be sure all is secure and functional.
- It means school personnel have validated that communications gear and protocols are in place and functioning.
- It means the school has conducted at least one drill to prepare for "active shooter" events.
- It means school personnel have conducted a safety and security survey of the campus and the building, and that actions have been taken on the findings to make sure there are no physical barriers such as lighting, door adjustment, hideaways or other issues that inhibit safety.
- It means that the campus' surveillance cameras are focused, functioning, have clear lenses and are communicating with the system.
- It means that the surveillance are still communicating with server.
- It means that several police officers have been trained in and about the school building and know it so well that they could use the surveillance camera images on a computer at the police department to dispatch and coach officers on the scene of any event at the school.
- It means school personnel have reviewed the building emergency plan with all employees and that appropriate components of that plan have been communicated to students and to parents.
- It means that the school's phone/radios are tested, programmed and functioning, and that all necessary personnel are familiar with their operation.
- It means that the school's secretaries, clerks, custodians, cooks and other staff personnel know their roles in the event of various contingencies.
- It means getting to know each member of the school community to eliminate anonymity, alienation, disenfranchisement, etc.
- It means communicating to individuals who affiliate with gangs and other negative organizations so that they understand that their business and behaviors will not be tolerated.
- It means the school has set dates to rehearse fire drills, building evacuations and other steps necessary to respond to various contingencies.
- It means that all building employees know their role in the event of various emergencies.
- It means reviewing and updating all demographic and health data on every student and employee to allow rapid response to emergencies that are unique to specific individuals.
- It means distributing information on health problems that specific individuals may have.
- It means downloading all demographic, health and emergency data on students to the Personal Digital Assistants of each principal, school nurse and, School Resource Officer for use in emergencies.
- It means updating all the emergency contact numbers of the local police department on the Personal Digital Assistants of each principal, school nurse, and School Resource Officer for use in emergencies.
- It means that capable faculty members decided on how to address, and if necessary, respond violent students until law enforcement arrives.
- It means that the school is ready and equipped to fully discipline and prosecute violent offenders of any kind, and that the attitude that "it's just schoolboys fighting" does not prevail.
- It means setting times to meet with key personnel to review the emergency procedures at least three times during the school year.
