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Guide to Safe Schools: Characteristics of a Safe Physical Environment
Prevention starts by making sure the school campus is a safe and caring place. Effective and safe schools communicate a strong sense of security. Experts
suggest that school officials can enhance physical safety by:
- Supervising access to the building and grounds.
- Reducing class size and school size.
- Adjusting scheduling to minimize time in the hallways or in potentially dangerous locations. Traffic flow patterns can be modified to limit potential for
conflicts or altercations.
- Conducting a building safety audit in consultation with school security personnel and/or law enforcement experts. Effective schools adhere to federal,
state, and local nondiscrimination and public safety laws, and use guidelines set by the state department of education.
- Closing school campuses during lunch periods.
- Adopting a school policy on uniforms.
- Arranging supervision at critical times (for example, in hallways between classes) and having a plan to deploy supervisory staff to areas where incidents
are likely to occur.
- Prohibiting students from congregating in areas where they are likely to engage in rule-breaking or intimidating and aggressive behaviors.
- Having adults visibly present throughout the school building. This includes encouraging parents to visit the school.
- Staggering dismissal times and lunch periods.
- Monitoring the surrounding school grounds-including landscaping, parking lots, and bus stops.
- Coordinating with local police to ensure that there are safe routes to and from school.
In addition to targeting areas for increased safety measures, schools also should identify safe areas where staff and children should go in the event of a crisis.
The physical condition of the school building also has an impact on student attitude, behavior, and motivation to achieve. Typically, there tend to be more
incidents of fighting and violence in school buildings that are dirty, too cold or too hot, filled with graffiti, in need of repair, or unsanitary.
Characteristics of Schoolwide Policies that Support Responsible Behavior
The opportunities for inappropriate behaviors that precipitate violence are greater in a disorderly and undisciplined school climate. A growing number of
schools are discovering that the most effective way to reduce suspensions, expulsions, office referrals, and other similar actions--strategies that do not result in
making schools safer--is to emphasize a proactive approach to discipline.
Effective schools are implementing schoolwide campaigns that establish high expectations and provide support for socially appropriate behavior. They
reinforce positive behavior and highlight sanctions against aggressive behavior. All staff, parents, students, and community members are informed about
problem behavior, what they can do to counteract it, and how they can reinforce and reward positive behavior. In turn, the entire school community makes a
commitment to behaving responsibly.
Effective and safe schools develop and consistently enforce schoolwide rules that are clear, broad-based, and fair. Rules and disciplinary procedures are
developed collaboratively by representatives of the total educational community. They are communicated clearly to all parties-but most important, they are
followed consistently by everyone.
School communities that have undertaken schoolwide approaches do the following things:
- Develop a schoolwide disciplinary policy that includes a code of conduct, specific rules and consequences that can accommodate student differences
on a case-by-case basis when necessary. (If one already exists, review and modify it if necessary.) Be sure to include a description of school
anti-harassment and anti-violence policies and due process rights.
- Ensure that the cultural values and educational goals of the community are reflected in the rules. These values should be expressed in a statement that
precedes the schoolwide disciplinary policy.
- Include school staff, students, and families in the development, discussion, and implementation of fair rules. Provide schoolwide and classroom support
to implement these rules. Strategies that have been found to support students include class discussions, schoolwide assemblies, student government,
and participation on discipline teams. In addition, peer mediation and conflict resolution have been implemented widely in schools to promote a climate
of nonviolence.
- Be sure consequences are commensurate with the offense, and that rules are written and applied in a nondiscriminatory manner and accommodate
cultural diversity.
- Make sure that if a negative consequence (such as withdrawing privileges) is used, it is combined with positive strategies for teaching socially
appropriate behaviors and with strategies that address any external factors that might have caused the behavior.
- Include a zero tolerance statement for illegal possession of weapons, alcohol, or drugs. Provide services and support for students who have been
suspended and/or expelled.
Recognizing the warning signs and responding with comprehensive interventions allows us to help children eliminate negative behaviors and replace them with
positive ones. Active sharing of information and a quick, effective response by the school community will ensure that the school is safer and the child is less
troubled and can learn.
"Partnerships with local community agencies have created a safer school and community." Sally Baas, Educator, Coon Rapids, MN
"Students should feel a sense of responsibility to inform someone if they're made aware of an individual who may perform a violent
act. They should not feel like they are tattle telling, but more in the sense of saving someone's life. Students should have a role on the
school's violence prevention and response team because they know what points of student life and school to target." Elsa Quiroga,
Graduate of Mount Eden High School and Student, University of California at Berkeley
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Copyright © Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice of the American Institutes for Research in collaboration with the National Association of School Psychologists. Reprinted with permission.
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