“What can I do about school safety as a parent?” 

This is one of the most common questions I get as a Law Enforcement Officer when asked about school safety by parents.  As a parent myself of two school age children, I ask myself the same question.  Believe it or not, if a critical incident were to happen at my kid’s school, I would most likely be responding as a parent not an operational element.

We are all looking for a concrete answer to these events.  Prevention and preparation are the key, but when a critical incident occurs in a school setting, it is usually over in a few minutes.  I have personally been a participant, instructor and evaluator of the Police response and tactics specifically targeting these types of scenarios.  In Law Enforcement, we continue to learn, train, and improve our response, but the preparation and training of the school staff will likely determine the overall outcome of the emergency.

So, what can I do?

1. Get Involved – Be a part of the solution at your school before there is ever a crisis. Every school needs volunteer parents.  Creating a relationship with your teachers and administrators will pay dividends in many ways, and if there is an incident you will likely have a better understanding of everything happening in real time, which is critical as a parent.
2. Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO’s) – Becoming a contributing member of these organizations can provide tremendous support to the training and resources needed to ensure schools are operating the safest way possible. I have seen countless examples of PTO’s securing funding for School Resource Officers, facility improvements, faculty training, etc. These organizations are much nimbler to fulfil critical needs than the traditional school funding processes.
3. Have a Plan – Most schools are starting to adopt Parent Reunification plans into their policy and procedures as well as emergency notification apps. Contact your administrator about these plans and apps and be sure you are familiar with the “schools “plan” before you make one of your own.  This allows you to be in concert with resources on reunification, and “your” plan can use this to help you and the school.  Also, the plan for your child should be age appropriate.

If your school does not have a comprehensive training program, contact Wendy Davidson at Rocky Mountain Consulting for a full analysis of your schools safety measures (School Safety Consultant – Rocky Mountain Consulting (rocky-mountain-consulting.com).  I have worked with Wendy personally with many schools and found her to be the absolute best the industry has to offer.

After training the school staff, early notification is the most critical element.  The sooner a school can identify a problem and start to implement solutions, the more effective the resources and training become.  Early notification apps have become one of the best communication tools available.  These apps generally have both staff and parent capabilities to help ensure real time communication, assist in 911 contact and even parent communication.  I have worked with Eric Endress with Share911 and found it to be one of the most robust mobile applications available (The social network for safety. (getshare911.com))

Click here for an Online Class from Scott on School Safety