School Security Task Force

What Makes Schools Safe?

On December 14, 2012, a gunman blasted through a glass entryway at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and within minutes murdered 20 children and six adults. Since the day of the tragedy, local boards of education throughout our nation have faced the question: What else must be done to ensure the safety and security of schoolchildren?

The New Jersey School Boards Association’s Safe and Secure Schools Project was an immediate response to that question and involved a major statewide forum on school security at The College of New Jersey in January 2013. As a continuation of that effort, NJSBA President John Bulina appointed a School Security Task Force in March 2013 to provide the Association’s membership with additional guidance and direction on school safety issues.

What Makes Schools Safe?, the final report of the NJSBA School Security Task Force, is the culmination of a year’s work to inform the discussion of school safety and security. The report and its 45 recommendations should be viewed as a resource to help determine further federal, state and local action to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of our students.

What Makes Schools Safe? (Print the entire report including Appendices A and B)

• Table of Contents
• Letter of Transmittal
• Introduction
• Task Force Membership
• Summary of Recommendations
• I – Security Personnel
• II – School Climate
• III – Policy & Planning
• IV – Communications
• V – Training in School Security
• VI – Physical Security (architecture, equipment)
• VII – Financing School Security

Appendices

• A – Summary of Recommendations
• B – Works Cited/Resources
• C – Survey of Local School Officials
• D – Presentations to the Task Force
  • – Fostering sense of community in high schools (Anne Gregory, Ph.D., Rutgers University)
  • – Keeping New Jersey’s Schools Safe (Anthony Bland, NJDOE)
  • – Proven and Practical Approaches to Understanding and Improving Your School Climate and Culture for School Safety and Achievement (Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., Rutgers University)
  • – Safe and Secure Schools: A Parents’ Forum (Raymond R. Wiss, NJSBA)
  • – School Safety and Security Plans (NJSBA Policy Unit)
  • – School Security: 2013 and Beyond (Brian Klimakowski, Chief of Police, Manchester Township)
  • – Security Challenges on the Educational Campus (William D. “Ted” Hopkins, AIA)
  • – What is an SRO? (James Hyslop, SSC Security, Inc.)
• E – Correspondence to Task Force
  • – Memorandum Re: Memorandum of Agreement Between Education and Law Enforcement Officials
  • – Letter to the Task Force from Glenn A. Grant, J.A.D. (Administrative Office of the Courts)
• F – NJSBA School Policy Service Documents
  • – Emergencies and Disaster Preparedness – Sample Policy
  • – Emergencies and Disaster Preparedness – Legal References
  • – Sample Building Access Regulation
  • – Sample Security Policy
  • – Transportation Safety Policy – Sample