August, 2022

As we start the new school year, the atmosphere is energized and focused. The teachers have finished back-to-school training, students have been reviewing rules and drills, and safety procedures are fresh in everyone’s minds. What we know from years past is that this energy will eventually wane, and routine will override awareness. So how do we overcome complacency and maintain an environment of safety around our schools? 

One common mistake school districts make is putting too much emphasis on response to, rather than prevention of crisis situations. Lockdown drills, fire drills, tornado drills- all of these are excellent practice for response to crises, but what does our practice for prevention look like?

In their article “School Safety: What Really Works,” school psychology experts Katherine Cowan and Cathy Paine suggest that the key to reinforcing school safety is a balance of emphasis on physical safety and psychological safety. Psychological safety is a vital component to crisis prevention – an element often overlooked in emergency planning in schools. “Reasonable physical security—such as locked doors; lighted and monitored hallways; and visitor check-in, checkout systems—must be combined with violence prevention and positive behavior supports,” says Cowan and Paine. 

A few of their recommendations for creating this balance are listed below:

• Create a safe, supportive school climate (e.g., school-wide behavioral expectations, caring school climate programs, positive interventions and supports, and psychological and counseling services).
  • School climate is a complicated concept that goes beyond staying positive and encouraging teachers to be warm and nurturing. Remember that teachers also need to feel safe and supported in order to do their jobs effectively.
  • This means staying consistent with school-wide expectations and consequences, providing quick and efficient response to escalation in the classroom, and encouraging mental healthcare for all involved in the educational environment.
  • De-stigmatizing mental health issues and counseling may also be a way to help boost school climate. Have counselors visit classrooms for mental health awareness activities. Make counselors and psychologists visible and approachable for all students. A big part of school climate is not just making mental healthcare available, but encouraging all students to take part and find ways to cope with the stress of everyday life.

• Put violence prevention programs (e.g., bully-proofing, social skill development, conflict mediation) in place.
  • This can be done at the classroom level and as a school-wide initiative. Allowing teachers time to address social skills and helping students understand the causes and consequences of bullying is essential to violence prevention.
  • Addressing conflict at its roots instead of simply disciplining students in the aftermath is also vital. Involving school counselors in disciplinary issues, rather than just issuing punishment, can be extremely helpful in preventing future violence.

• Encourage students to take responsibility for their part in maintaining safe school environments, including student participation in safety planning.   
  • Insisting that students take ownership of their safety and providing a way for students to report on suspicious activities are essential parts of a safe environment  that can be reinforced universally. Students must be involved in their own safety, as highlighted in our previous blog. 

• Reiterate school rules and request that students report potential problems to school officials.
  • Again, trust is crucial to student reporting. Explaining the reasoning behind school rules and helping students take ownership of the rules can help with building trust and accountability.
  • Dictating rules and demanding compliance is not the way to build trust or promote a positive school climate. Get students involved in making rules and setting boundaries within the classroom. The more ownership they take, the more likely they will be to hold their peers to those standards.

• Create anonymous reporting systems (e.g., student hot lines, suggestion boxes, and “tell an adult” campaigns).
  • Remember, however, that the foundation of an anonymous reporting system is an environment of trust between students and adults in the school. If students do not trust the adults in charge, they will not report, regardless of anonymity.
  • It takes a tremendous amount of courage for students to report their peers or even adults who are engaging in suspicious or dangerous behavior. Taking students seriously when they report is crucial to building trust and ensuring that students know action will be taken if they take the risk to report.

• Develop threat assessment and risk-assessment procedures and teams for conducting the assessments.
  • Many schools have threat assessment procedures, but the process is often long and cumbersome, and can cause confusion if not well-organized.
  • Organize the threat assessment process and train those involved thoroughly. These procedures should never be treated as mere formalities. Threat assessment is a foundational element of preventing violence in schools.

The nSide platform was designed to make maintaining an environment of safety easier and more practical for teachers, administration, and districts. From anonymous tip submission to online behavioral assessment, the nSide platform digitally integrates multiple tools for maintaining an environment of safety in your school or district. Contact us today at help@nside.io so that we can help you make your school as safe as possible.  

Sources:

https://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Resources%20and%20Publications/Handouts/Families%20and%20Educators/March_13_School_Safety.pdf

Back-to-School Safety Series, Part 2: Helping Students Feel Safe at School

When it comes to school safety planning, the responsibility is usually placed solely in the hands of the adults. Re-evaluation of safety protocols and retraining of faculty and staff in emergency operations plans is standard practice at the beginning of a school year. Most schools even review emergency procedures with their students at the beginning of each semester. However, this transfer of knowledge is often one-way, and rarely are students asked how they feel about their own safety. In order to raise safety awareness among students, we first need to get them involved in their own safety. 

A recent survey completed by Safe and Sound Schools showed that there is a significant gap between what adults and students perceive as safety concerns. For example, most students surveyed expressed a greater concern for emotional health. Students also reported having lower confidence than their parents and teachers in the way their schools handle bullying and cyberbullying.¹ 

Findings from the survey include: 

• All groups are extremely concerned about mental health crises, bullying/peer- on-peer abuse, substance abuse as well as neglect/abuse at home and even basic needs.
• Only 60% of students felt their school or district was prepared to support students who are being bullied at school or online.
• 79% of students perceived an increase in depression, compared to parents at 60%.²

This survey illustrates an important point about school safety awareness: What adults are emphasizing and what students are most concerned about simply do not match up. 

When raising awareness of school safety, crisis response training is vital; thorough evaluation of emergency operations plans is the bare minimum. While there are certain things that adults must emphasize, regardless of how students feel, it is important to open up the conversation about student concerns. If students do not feel safe, whether physically or emotionally, it is the adults’ responsibility to find the gaps and assess ways to fill them.

In her article, “The Safety and Security Side of Teacher Preparation,” Emily Sallee (Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Montana and the Executive Director of the Montana Safe Schools Center) says the following:

“When students feel safer, when they perceive their environment to be secure, they are neurologically more readily able to learn and retain new information. This phenomenon applies to their educators as well; when teachers feel safer, they are more readily able to teach and support their students’ learning. The key component of this is not the actual safety, whether or not related to acts of school violence. Rather, it is the perception of safety in the school environment that must be addressed and prioritized.”³

In other words, no matter how many physical security measures are taken by teachers and administration, if students do not perceive their school as a safe place, their learning will inevitably be negatively affected. The abstract feeling of safety is sometimes more difficult to address than something as concrete as gates and locks. 

“When students feel safer, when they perceive their environment to be secure, they are neurologically more readily able to learn and retain new information. This phenomenon applies to their educators as well; when teachers feel safer, they are more readily able to teach and support their students’ learning. The key component of this is not the actual safety, whether or not related to acts of school violence. Rather, it is the perception of safety in the school environment that must be addressed and prioritized.”³

-Emily Sallee, Inside Higher Ed (July 2022)

So how do we help students feel safe? 

1. LISTEN.

The first step must be to make sure students feel heard. They have their own valid concerns about safety, and not being able to express those concerns can increase anxiety. Find a way to involve students in the discussion about safety. Send out anonymous surveys and leave some questions open-ended to allow students to express concerns in their own words. Have open discussions in the classroom about safety issues and ask students for their input on ways to increase awareness of safety in their school.

2. SHOW, DON’T TELL.

Go beyond reviewing the handbook with students on the first day. Show students that your faculty and staff are serious about their safety. Post safety awareness reminders around the school. Allow students to create safety awareness posters about issues that matter to them, and then display them in the hallways. Encourage students to visit the counselor by providing them with passes or implementing a no-questions-asked policy when they express a need to visit a counselor or nurse.

3. ACTIVELY PROMOTE MENTAL HEALTHCARE AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.

 Incorporate social and emotional learning activities in classes. Allow students to take mental breaks in class. When students are feeling overwhelmed, take a few minutes to address coping mechanisms for stress and confusion before launching into a re-teaching of material. 

4. PRIORITIZE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OVER BELL-TO-BELL INSTRUCTION.

This one may sting for educational leaders. Bell-to-bell instruction has often been touted as both an academic and a disciplinary measure to help students stay focused and minimize disciplinary problems within the class period. However, it can also be a way for students struggling with mental health to feel more overwhelmed and less able to cope with the unrelenting pressure to perform. Taking 5-10 minutes at the beginning or end of class to provide students time to relax and relieve stress may actually increase their productivity – and more importantly, their mental well-being – in the long run.

5. PRIORITIZE TEACHER MENTAL HEALTH AS MUCH AS STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH.

Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs there is, and it can take a serious mental toll. From Day One, teachers have it drilled into their heads that everything they do should be for students. However, no one can pour from an empty cup, and teachers need just as much help sometimes taking care of their own mental health. Keep planning periods sacred; Allow teachers that full time to make plans and decompress. This is not free time which can be commandeered by meetings and training sessions; it is a vital part of a teacher’s work day and crucial to their mental wellbeing and effectiveness as a professional educator. Not only is it important to help teachers feel mentally and emotionally safe, it is also a good example to set for students. When teachers and other leaders are allowed (and encouraged) to take time to decompress and have breaks within their day, it can create a ripple effect of calm across campus. 

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There are many ways to enhance student mental well-being, but a good place to start is to simply open up the conversation. Students can be very insightful about where safety issues lie, especially when it comes to conflict and emotional wellness. Safety awareness begins with open, honest, and often difficult conversations about what is really going on with our students and how we can make them feel as safe as possible. 

The nSide platform is here to help schools organize their emergency operations plans, monitor physical safety, as well as provide a more efficient way to conduct behavioral assessments that evaluate students’ circumstances, well-being, and get them the adequate care they require. Contact us today at help@nside.io and let us help you get started with an evaluation of your school’s safety needs. 

Sources:

1. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220726005066/en/State-of-School-Safety-Report-Reveals-Students-Want-More-Social-and-Emotional-Support-and-Increased-Safety

2. https://safeandsoundschools.org/2022/07/25/state-of-school-safety-report-reveals-students-want-more-social-and-emotional-support-and-increased-safety/

3. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/07/08/school-safety-skills-and-self-awareness-future-teachers-opinion