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Phillip L. Jacobs Jr., vice-president of the Mt. Zion CUSD 3 board of education, is president and CEO of Jacobs & Associates, a private detective and security firm that consults with school districts and universities in matters of threat assessments, covert cameras, background investigations, hand writing analysis, bomb threats and strategic security planning.
Norm Crosby once said, "My school was so tough the school newspaper had an obituary section."
Is this what your students say or think about their school? Are parents concerned about the safety, security and protection of their children while attending your schools? How safe are your schools? Do you know? When was the last time your schools addressed security issues from the perspective of someone wishing to do harm to the staff, students or the building?
If you are uncertain of the answers to these questions, maybe it is time to focus some attention on school security so your district doesn't end up like the three little pigs with the big, bad wolf huffing and puffing at the door … or with an obituary section in your school newspaper.
The third little pig …
Bricks and mortar, while great for the third pig's safety, are not infallible. We found this out in a very real way on September 11, 2001. School administrators should make a commitment to conduct a security assessment of their school buildings to see if they are made of straw, sticks, or bricks and mortar, and to identify factors that put the building, students and staff at risk of "a big, bad wolf blowing the house down."
Luckily, school buildings only have two "sides": outside and inside. But each "side" has many places that should undergo a security check. Locations to check on the exterior may include:
When assessing these areas for school districts, I look for clearly defined perimeters for schools through the use of fences, gates, environmental design, signs or professional security measures. I also suggest that districts use designated parking areas for visitors, but issue a clearly visible authorization emblem for staff and student vehicles through a registration process. Even if registered and separately located, the staff and administration still should provide supervision and monitoring of all the parking lots and other outside areas.
When asked to assess a school district's security, I often suggest that school administrators establish routine inspections of the building and grounds. It is not critical who conducts the inspections, only that they are completed consistently and diligently. I include items like securing roof hatches and eliminating items that allow easy access to school roofs and simply making sure windows are secured at the end of each day. These two measures, by themselves, reduce or eliminate the ability of bad people to enter the school building easily.
More and more, school districts are using security technology and devices to monitor and control facility exteriors. This includes everything from video cameras with night-vision and motion sensing capabilities that record onto DVDs to specially designed devices that emit a high frequency sound that is irritating to the human ear that is under the age of 20. This device keeps young people from congregating around school buildings and playgrounds. As technology continues to evolve, so do the devices that schools can use to enhance their security.
On the inside, safety concerns include risks associated with common areas, libraries, laboratories, hallways, stairwells, entrances/exits, cafeterias and restrooms — areas that are often desolate and hard to monitor. For these areas, make sure your district has reviewed and even sketched-out escape and evacuation routes, maintain exit, entrance and emergency lighting units, and make sure all exits and entrances are compliant with the Life Safety Code.
I think it is in a school district's best interest to ensure that the local law enforcement agency and emergency first responders have blueprints of the school buildings for those times when the knowledge of certain building locations, such as the boiler room, is important. Many school districts now are using computer software that creates a virtual 360-degree view of a school's interior rooms and hallways. The proper security and safekeeping of such information is critical, so these agencies must safeguard this information.
As for interior security devices, numerous laws restrict the use of video and audio recording in certain areas of a public building. When consulting with a district, I always let the school administration and board of education know that they must be very careful of individual's rights when deciding to use cameras inside the schools. It can be done, but many laws must be followed.
Little pig, let me in
In Illinois, school districts are required to monitor visitor access to their school buildings and most schools do this task well. Some districts, however, are too loose in their methods for controlling outsiders entering their buildings. Positive measures schools can take include:
When visitors are in the buildings, administrators must ensure that faculty and staff understand the importance of confronting strangers and reporting suspicious individuals. Monitoring and controlling the interior access visitors have is critical in school buildings.
School districts must take these activities seriously to make sure that only those authorized are allowed in the school. The most secure way is not to admit suspicious individuals into the building. One way to accomplish this is for everyone coming into the building to be recorded on video prior to being allowed to enter. Having such a record will allow school and law enforcement officials to review the images taken, if something would occur.
Moreover, when a visitor does enter the building, the school staff should make the individual show photo identification and sign his or her name legibly on the visitors' log. Another suggestion to ensure security is to occasionally enter the names of unknown visitors through the Illinois Sex Offender Database website at www.isp.state.il.us/sor/. This would ensure that if a visitor who was in the database did get in the school, it would not happen again. I caution school districts regarding this practice and tell them to contact their attorney to discuss the legal implications.
Schools also must verify the identity of service personnel and vendors visiting the school, including those seeking access to utilities, alarm systems, communication systems, maintenance areas and related locations. Once verified, the district should maintain the detailed visitor and vendor logs including names, company, truck information, reason for their presence in the building and other identification information. This will show that the district was diligent in its dealings with outsiders and provide a way to track individuals if problems occur.
When the wolf comes down the chimney
No matter how good the system, or how hard the school district tries, there may come a time when the worst will happen. To provide for this, school boards should create a "shelter-in-place" policy and direct the administration to develop and train the staff and students on an evacuation plan. When developing a policy, the school board should confer with local law and public safety departments for specific advice regarding their needs during a crisis. Working with local agencies during the policy development stage will help to ensure that everyone is aware of the policy and plan, and help ensure coordination between the agencies and the school district.
A shelter-in-place plan allows school personnel to keep students and staff safe during a crisis on the school campus or in the school building, which precludes exiting the building. Such plans should require building administrators to identify safe areas in buildings for relocating students during a crisis; to make sure that all doors and windows are closed and secure; and to ensure that no one may enter or exit the building until authorized by the senior fire or police department officials.
The plan also should require teachers to have copies of class lists and attendance sheets readily available to account for all students and make sure that teachers and staff bring classroom and building emergency kits to the designated safe areas.
What else is there?
A school district needs to be aware of the potential school and community risks that surround individual buildings. Those risks could include high-risk facilities, organizations and potential terrorist targets in the community, such as military facilities, government offices, nuclear power plants, airports and airport flight paths, railroads and chemical companies.
This is also important in case of the need for an evacuation. School officials will not want students to encounter hazardous materials or areas near the building when being evacuated.
School districts should work with nearby businesses and factories to coordinate plans to avoid chaos in the case of an emergency. Districts should review traffic patterns around the schools and where possible, keep excess cars, trucks and buses away from the building during these times.
These are but a few of the possible risks that schools may face as they are individual to each community. The main idea is to plan ahead and be prepared for when a crisis does arise.