Summer break is a good time for school administrators to take the opportunity to think about the upcoming school year and what their school priorities need to be. Hopefully while considering staffing, curriculum, learning objectives and all the things that make a school successful they will also take a few minutes to think about school safety.
A great way to start that review is to simply ask "are we walkin' the walk?" In other words is school safety and security really part of our school culture or is it just something we talk about but never quite get around to doing as well as we should?
For many administrators if they are honest with themselves they would have to admit that school safety has not always received the priority it should...and that is very understandable. After all critical incidents and severe situations don't h appen with great frequency. Since they don't happen with great frequency the training and attention they need can often by delayed or placed on the "B" list of priorities.
Take some time this summer to think about how to make school safety and security a priority while not consuming a disproportionate amount of time, energy and resources. Some of these ideas could take less than five minutes per month for you school and make a real difference to both your staff and students. If you want to discuss how you can increase your safety and security for the upcoming year and start "walkin' the walk" give us a call or email. We would love to talk with you. You can reach us at 717.201.2257 or johnr_baker@iu13.org. This is John Baker for safetysolutions4schools.com. Image courtesy of www.youtube.com.