If a parent unexpectedly asked your school’s principal, superintendent, or school board member the following two questions, could they immediately answer each one with specific responses?
- Will you name 10 specific strategies your schools are using to prevent crime and violence in your schools?
- Will you list 10 specific measures your schools have taken to prepare for, and to manage, an unpreventable school crisis incident?
School leaders should be prepared to provide concrete, specific examples for each question without having to stammer, stutter, research, or delay a response.
Most schools have measures in place for each of these two areas. But are your school’s leaders aware of them? Can they intelligently discuss them on a moment’s notice if asked in a school office, central office hallway, by the media, or when stopped by a parent for a casual conversation at a local shopping mall?
If not, now is a good time to better prepare. These are things parents, and potentially the media, want to know. Better to prepare up-front than get caught unprepared following a high-profile school safety incident.
Ken Trump
Visit School Security Blog at: http://www.schoolsecurityblog.com