How Can Administrators Keep Students Safe in the Classroom?
Your Back to School Preparations Should Include Security as Well
How are you preparing for the upcoming school year? Educators spend all summer making their curriculums, creating back-to-school shopping lists and decorating their classrooms. Safety and security need to be top of mind as well. When students come to your school, parents are trusting you to keep them safe while they're there.
School security systems and protocols will help nurture a better learning environment. With the school year weeks away, below we highlight some safety tips and measures you should incorporate in your Waco, TX school.
SEE MORE: Why Your Grade School Security is So Important
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Employ a Clear Entry Protocol for Visitors
The best way to protect your students and employees is to ensure only authorized personnel enter your property. All employees should be wearing an official ID badge, and any visitors need to report to your main office before entering any other building. Enforce this with an access control solution that locks downs all but your main entryways, which should be actively monitored by guards and surveillance cameras.
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Actively Monitor Your Entire Property
Not only should you keep track of the main entryways, there should also be personnel tasked with monitoring your entire property. During the day, they should patrol your hallways, cafeterias, playgrounds, sports field and parking lots. There should be a central monitoring station where security guards monitor surveillance footage for any suspicious or illicit activity.
Do you have a plan in place for educators and administrators to report suspicious activity as well? It should be easy for them to reach out to your security officers when needed and immediately trigger a lockdown in more extreme cases.
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Be Prepared for a Property-Wide Lockdown
Lockdowns are vital in case of an intruder or school shooting. Each window and door on your property needs to have correctly working locks, and there should be an easy way to trigger a lockdown when required.
School security systems can include distress buttons or gunshot detection features that automatically lock all doors, send an emergency alert to all personnel, and notify the authorities. Educators also need to receive thorough training on crisis planning, preparedness and prevention.
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Set Guidelines Against Bullying and Violence
Guidelines need to be established quickly for students letting them know there is no tolerance for violence or bullying in your school. Usually, a general assembly is recommended, but in larger schools, you can use a PA system on the first day of school to stress the rules and consequences.
In case of an incident, it should be simple for educators to call for help in dealing with a problem student through your school security system. Let students know surveillance cameras will hold them accountable for their actions even when administrators are not present.
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Regularly Practice Emergency Drills
Students, educators, and administrators need to know how to respond in case of an emergency. Drills are a great way to stress safety measures and protocols and to test your school security systems as well. All safety protocols should make it clear to students where they should go in case of a fire, inclement weather, intruder, or shooting.
Emergency drills should also allow administrators to implement lockdowns and mass notification systems that will be vital in a real crisis. These drills should include authorities and your security company, which can do more in-depth testing of your sensors, cameras, locks and alarms.
Are you interested in implementing additional security measures for the upcoming school year? A purposeful security implementation will give everyone on your property added peace of mind.
Have a one-on-one consultation with our team so we can gauge your most significant vulnerabilities and address them directly. All you have to do is give us a call at (877) 418-ASAP or fill out our contact form to schedule one today.