Action Plan

As a protector, I would want my students to feel safe, however, they should not be scared. School safety is important, but the well being of the students are also a significant priority in schools. In order to do so, schools need to not only make the outside of their school safe, but schools need to take into account building their safety starting from within their school as well. When the school builds a safe and positive from within, it helps students are in an environment with less fear for the “what if’s”.

            There are several ways in which a school can make their environment safe from the outside. For example, one aspect schools need to take into account contacting the student’s parents to keep updated on the safety standards of the school. This way, parents are informed and can talk to their students if they want to or need to. Other ways to make schools safer include: 

• Installing surveillance cameras that are not as obvious with views from inside  and outside the school
• Monitoring school guests 
• Making the students, faculty, and guests wear name tags
• Having a security staff that are friendly and approachable

            There are also ways to make schools safe through its students, staff, and administrators. One way to help with this is to crisis training with the staff. Once the staff is confident on the safety procedures, they will be more reassuring to students that they are in safe environment. Also, schools should place emphasis on creating a caring school environment for students. This can be accomplished by having teachers make real connections with their students. In every school, each student should have at least one adult in the building they care and trust. This is important because if something were to happen, students have an adult figure to turn to if they need to.  

           Another way to make a school safe is to set up an anonymous reporting system. Some children are too timid to report an incident to an adult; so if they had a place to report something, fewer incidents would go unreported. Schools should also put importance on students to take charge and report incidents they witness. Another way schools can help make students feel safe is to talk with them about incidents. Explain to students that some people do bad things and there are factors that are sometimes outside their control. Students should know about incidents, but not so much information that they are scared. Finally, creating a safety committee between the parents, staff, students, and administrators will help communication between each group. Overall, there are several ways a school can be made safe while also creating a positive environment for the students.