Guest article by Chuck Hibbert

The American Society for Industrial Security – ASIS International – has developed an in-depth position paper presented as an ASIS School Security Standard for what they describe as K-12 schools. While we can assume most of the ASIS standard contributors have good intentions for school safety, the paper shows a lack of understanding of how both public and independent schools work.

A skewed emphasis on physical security with less recognition of mental health: While the ASIS School Security Standard addresses physical security in depth, it fails to address the number one concern in all schools today, which is mental health issues. ASIS mentions behavior management but pales in comparison with the amount of wording devoted to physical security.  This may be understandable as the ASIS origins and overall focus speaks to industrial security with a heavy physical security influence, and not from a PreK-12 school safety understanding of school children and staff.

A lack of understanding via an omission of Pre-K children: If one simply looks at schools across the country, schools are not all the same size and serve children of various ages. For example, ASIS uses the phrase “K-12” in its standard, yet many (perhaps most) schools serve children starting at age three.  Many schools also house children much younger in day care centers. PreK-12, not K-12, is more applicable — even that usage may not be all encompassing.

The potential liability of “shall” in the standard: The standard document is peppered with the word “shall” repeated throughout the document, potentially positioning schools to have the ASIS School Security Standard used against schools in school safety litigation. For those who have testified or worked in the civil litigation arena, the word “shall” is generally understood to leave no room for discretion such as that which the word “should” may provide. Once again, ASIS fails to understand that schools are individually unique and cannot operate under a “one size fits all” mentality.

Let’s see ASIS fund it: ASIS makes numerous recommendations, and too often uses “shall” specifically concerning physical security.  One could ask ASIS to show one school in America today that currently meets all criteria in the 100+ pages of their “standard.”

ASIS fails to understand schools are managed differently and their funding is different.  For example, funding is different in public schools than in independent schools. Maybe ASIS should fully fund three schools to meet their standards and show the education field how much it would cost. They could equip one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school to meet every element of their “standard,” and then report back to the education field and school communities how much it would cost to meet their standard.

Bold but misses the mark: While security professionals outside of PreK-12 schools may commend ASIS for taking a bold step, it is unfortunate that they failed to address the number of one need of children (mental health) and failed to take a more comprehensive approach.

ASIS certainly can contribute to this area but may better serve PreK-12 schools by framing their document as “best practices” instead of as a “standard.” Perhaps even better, their local chapters could reach out to schools and offer their members’ expertise as a service to their local community. ASIS International may then be better informed to understand local school governance, school settings, PreK-12 school needs, and school funding realities.

Chuck Hibbert has served close to four decades in the PreK-12 school security field. He works nationally on school security assessments and emergency preparedness evaluations and has served as an expert witness for school safety civil litigation cases. Prior to retiring after 21 years as a district school safety coordinator, Chuck served as a 12-year member of the Indiana State Police. He co-designed the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy and served as a consultant for the Indiana Department of Education. In the earlier part of his school safety career, Chuck served as the chair of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and served on the ASIS national level Educational Institutions Council.

Copyright and Disclaimer:  The above comments were NOT submitted as part of the ASIS consensus process. The author chooses not to be a part of that process. The author’s name and the content of this post are not authorized for use including by ASIS or with its standard creation processes.