How safe is your school? Following a number of school shootings, educators and politicians recommend safety policies.

The recent school shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were yet another wake-up call for school administrators that violence can happen anywhere at any time and that schools must develop violence prevention and emergency plans.

Although no security plan is perfect, it can offer clear direction during a crisis when confusion and fear take over. For instance, just weeks before a student was killed on September 27 during a hostage standoff at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colo., the school conducted an emergency evacuation drill as part of its safety plan. So when the shooting did occur, students and teachers didn't panic and evacuated the building in an orderly fashion, potentially avoiding further chaos and injuries.

In an effort to increase school safety, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales hosted the Conference on School Safety in October at the request of President Bush. Spellings and Gonzalez led three panel discussions with speakers including Columbine survivor Craig Scott and Delbert Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence in Boulder, Colo.

No new policies were introduced. Neither were any funding changes made. Some educators believed the conference was a good starting point while others viewed it as nothing more than political rhetoric during an election season.

"Whether it's a congressman or governor or state legislator, somehow [politicians] are supposed to show action," says Paul Houston, executive director at the American Association of School Administrators in Arlington, Va. "The reality is there's not a lot they can do [besides] looking at the issue of funding."

He says federal funds for school safety have steadily declined over the past five years. According to CNN, funding was reduced from $439.2 million in 2001 to $346.5 million this year and will drop again in 2007 to $310 million.

Priorities Questioned

While school safety ranks among educators' top issues, Houston says it moves up and down their list of priorities depending upon their district's challenges and national events. Before the Columbine shootings in 1999 that left 15 people dead, he says some educators believed that violence couldn't happen at their school. Columbine single-handedly changed their perception, creating a flurry of prevention activities ranging from training staff to using metal detectors.

But school safety was knocked down a few steps after the No Child Left Behind act became law in 2002. "It has sucked the oxygen out of the system," says Houston. "There is no room left for thinking about much of anything other than test scores. There's the lack of focus on school safety that we had after Columbine. We've got to refocus people back on school safety."

Besides developing safety and emergency plans--which some schools still lack--he says educators also need to follow the ABCs of school safety:

* Awareness: All staff need to be trained on how to recognize and handle potentially dangerous situations at their school, whether it's a stranger roaming the halls or a strange truck parked in the school's lot.

* Balance: Educators need to develop a balanced perspective and approach to school safety. Overreacting by building a prison like environment in schools can create even bigger safety issues.

* Control and Connection: School administrators need to control their campuses by connecting with students through staff or school resource officers who work in collaboration with local police.

"Schools should be a place of some joy and of a sense of openness," Houston says. "Yon want kids not to feel so repressed and beaten down. So you have to have the view of there are some things you can do to marginally make them safer but is the price worth it? I'm not sure it is."

Proof in the Pudding

Since 1992, the earliest year that data is available, there have been 418 school-related deaths, according to the National School Safety Center's Report on School Associated Violent Deaths. The vast majority--323--were caused by shootings. Yet the violent crime rate, including rapes and fights, dropped from 48 per 1,000 students in 1992 to 28 in 2003.

One way to ensure that those numbers keep declining is to educate school staff and parents on bullying prevention, according to many bully experts. William Lassiter, manager of the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, N.C., which offers such workshops, points to a nearly 30-year study conducted by sociologist Dan Olweus of over 100,000 children at 100 different elementary schools in Norway and the U.S. It tracked third-graders who were identified as bullies as well as their targets. By the time the bullies were 24 years old, 40 percent had been arrested. By the time their targets reached age 27, they were seven times more likely to be involved in an abusive domestic relationship than those that were not targets.

In a Secret Service study of over 250 school shootings, 75 percent of the shooters said they were tired of being bullied. The same report revealed that in 81 percent of these cases, students told someone about their violent crime before taking action.

Lassiter says the purpose of this workshop is to raise awareness of parents, staff and students that bullying is not a natural part of growing up and should never be tolerated.

No Magic

Schools can be one of the safest places in a community, but it won't happen magically, adds Kenneth S. Trump, president at National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland. But the White House conference confirmed what Trump says he already knew: Many schools still have not mastered the basics of school violence prevention and security or emergency planning. Many of those who attended--including Trump--believe there should be a call to action.

"Congress needs to take some emergency action in restructuring and retooling the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program," he says, adding that Bush, the program's director, and the Office of Management and Budget have labeled the program ineffective. "Congress has been taking the approach over the last couple of years of allowing it to bleed a slow death while our children are bleeding a fast death in our schoolhouses. [Congress needs to] get on top of it, retool it, restructure it and relocate the responsibility for school security, school policing and school emergency planning out of the education department and over in the Justice Department."

Meanwhile, school districts must get more involved. For example, he says they need to evaluate and refine their security measures, including the physical aspects such as lighting, and update and implement existing emergency plans. He points to one school's crisis plan that assigned responsibility to a teacher who had since retired.

Likewise, he says a fourth "R"--relationships-has been added to the three "Rs" of education. All school employees must develop stronger relationships with students, public safety officials and others beyond their schoolhouse borders. He says the first time school officials meet their local police should not be in the school parking lot during a bomb threat evacuation.

"We know what needs to be done," says Trump, explaining that Congress must restore funding that has been cut and give it directly to schools. "When the next incident happens, we're not going to have a second White House conference on school safety. Somebody is going to have to do something."

Safety Checklist

Compare your district's policies and practices against this checklist offered by the Center for the Prevention of School Violence.

[] Review access control. Monitor entranceways, lock doors and windows where possible and inform staff about all access control policies. Make sure that your policies match actual practices.

[] Train staff on emergency preparedness and how to approach strangers on campus. Develop a way that strangers can be reported to proper school or law enforcement authorities.

[] Use visitor ID cards. Issue badges to all visitors.

[] Organize and maintain a crisis team. Train members and update your plan as needed.

[] Involve students. Provide a forum where they can share concerns. Develop a standard process where they can report suspicious activity to an adult.

[] Communicate with parents. Encourage them to become more involved in school safety, and inform them of safety procedures through mailings or newsletters.

[] Use security equipment that monitors school grounds. Conduct routine maintenance checks.

Paul Houston, executive director, AASA 

Carol Patton is a contributing editor.