School Safety
As October comes to an end we are happy to be part of one of the most important weeks of the year: School Safety Week! The safety of students in schools is our number one priority. This week is one in which we take very seriously. Established in 1984, The National School Safety Center is working to ensure that schools across the nation are safe, secure, and utilizing resources to the best of their ability. Monitoring safety policies periodically will allow for schools to change what is necessary to make schools better. Like the NSSC, we work to educate and motivate school boards on the most effective ways to keep their students safe. Safety programs at schools often need to be refined. Just as policies and procedures change and evolve, so should the safety of our students. Preparedness and attention to detail are keys when developing a safety plan. Safety plans should be efficient, effective, and enhance the overall well being of the students at risk. If we work together to improve our schools we can make every week a safe week, as it should be.
Here are some strategies to help inform on safety:
- Stress to superintendents the importance of having a safe school plan and emphasize that a school is only peaceful and disciplined when safe.
- Establish an incident reporting system to keep record of when an unsafe event occurred and in order to ensure it does not happen twice.
- Enact definite safety policies to be used school-wide.
- Keep up with current technologies and policies in order develop the best plan.
- Provide a safety brochure to parents and teachers to keep them up to date with the changes.
- Create a school safety board from the community to represent the school and its safety policies.
