School officials, vendors, associations and other organizations should use the term “best practices” carefully when referring to school safety efforts. Inaccurate use of the term can create legal and public relations problems that can be avoided with more thoughtful and defensible terminology.

School Safety Best Practices and Litigation

The term “best practices” is used often in school safety field.   I think the term is sometimes used too loosely. I caution clients to be cautious about referring to any school safety measures they have implemented as a best practice. While there are several reasons for this, one of the most compelling is that school organizations may be required to prove in court that a particular approach was a best practice if they are litigated. Many of the approaches that are described as best practices will not survive this level of scrutiny. Using the term “best practice” to describe a strategy that does not really meet the definition for a best practice can open a literal Pandora’s Box. Used inappropriately, this term could turn a reasonably defensible position into an ordeal for the defendant organization.

Misuse of the term best practices in school safety is common

I have seen numerous vendors, state agencies, and non-profit organizations claim that planning approaches, training, products and services they provide are best practices without a valid basis for the use of this term. I have now seen at least two training programs that have failed badly under actual field conditions described as best practices. In both cases, there is no independent validation that the approaches are effective, reliable or safe let alone the best practice in the field. One of these training programs is about to be tested via a civil action by a school employee who alleges they were seriously injured as a result of the training program.

Sage advice from an old hand

School safety expert Bill Modzeleski first brought this concern to my attention many years ago when he served as the point man for the U.S. Department of Education’s safety efforts. He provided a rational and thoughtful explanation of why school and government officials should take great care in using the term “best practice” to describe school safety strategies. Bill made a good case and I think his sage advice is just as applicable today as it was then.

How to avoid creation of a best practice trap

I advise my clients to ask themselves how they would defend the use of the term “best practice” in front of a jury during a major civil action or in an interview with a major news organization. I tell them to imagine that a child had died in spite of the particular strategy when performing this mental exercise.   If you do not feel that you could easily provide evidence that the strategy meets this definition, it would be a good idea to find a more defensible yet positive way to describe the practice.

ALICE Training Injury Lawsuit Filed by School Employee

I was recently notified that a city in Iowa has now been served with a civil action filed by a school employee who alleges being injured during an ALICE training session. I have no idea if the suit has validity or if it will be successful. I am aware that more than $300,000 in emergency room bills have already been paid out for emergency room medical care for Iowa school employees injured during options-based active shooter training programs. I have also been aware that at least one major school insurance carrier began sending all school system policies to underwriting if this type of training has been implemented in their district. A popular options-based training program in many parts of the country, ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.

Is ALICE Training Safe?

Regular readers of my blogs and our newsletter know that our analysts have reservations about a number of the options-based active shooter training programs. In January, I wrote a blog addressing some concerns about specific aspects of the ALICE approach http://safehavensinternational.org/alice-training-gets-canned/. I also wrote a feature article about additional concerns relating to ALICE and other options-based active shooter training programs in School Safety Monthly http://safehavensinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/School_Safety_Monthly-Jan_2015-Safe_Havens_Intl.pdf. I am not the only school security expert that has concerns about the various options-based active shooter training programs that have become popular since the Sandy Hook School shooting. I have spoken to a number of other school security experts who share these concerns. One school security consultant who is deeply concerned about ALICE is Kenneth Trump.

Though both of us have worked in the same field for many years, I had never met Ken until last month. Over the years, Ken and I have had some differences of opinion. Both of us are very passionate about our work and like many people have some strong feelings about our professional views.  There are also a number of areas where we share common concerns. The shift to options-based active shooter training programs that have still not been validated as safe or effective has been of concern to both Ken and I.

Ken has been recommending that that law enforcement and school officials should vet options-based active shooter training programs with their insurance carrier and legal counsel before implementing them. I think this is sound advice. Ken and I are both concerned that many school and law enforcement agencies will have difficulty defending at least some of these lawsuits.

Even Those with the of Best Intentions can be Litigated

I am also concerned that some instructors teach options-based active shooter programs without incorporation or obtaining liability insurance.   For example, I have met dedicated law enforcement officers who teach options-based active shooter training programs for schools while off-duty. These officers are typically highly motivated and are eager to help make our schools safer.  However, these officers can easily find themselves being named as an individual in litigation regardless of the types of school safety training they provide on a private basis. The cost of defending a civil action relating to even a seemingly minor training injury can be astounding.   The fact that more than 90% of all civil actions in America result in a settlement should also be considered by those who want to help others by providing private school security training without liability insurance and appropriate incorporation.

Seek Qualified Legal Advice

This civil action demonstrates how important it may be for school and law enforcement officials to carefully vet and to test any options-based active shooter training program before implementing it. The case also serves as a reminder of how important it can be to seek advice from a qualified attorney before providing school security training as a private individual. Based on this civil action, I concur with Mr. Trump’s advice to vet ALICE with legal counsel before implementing it.

Fixating on Guns and School Safety is Dangerous

Many American K12 school administrators have asked local police to assist them in conducting security assessments, improving emergency plans, and evaluating lockdown drills. While this type of assistance is valuable, I am deeply concerned that many our school security efforts are tremendously out of balance with reality. This is because the majority of school related deaths do not involve the types of school shootings that dominate discussions of school safety. During our school security assessments for more than 1,000 K12 schools in the past 24 months, our analysts have found that many public and non-public school organizations have been focusing far too much of their staff time, fiscal resources, staff development, drills, and energy on active shooter incidents in relation to the types of events that have claimed more than sixteen times as many lives. This overemphasis on guns in relation to an all-hazards approach to safety is making our schools less safe than they could be.

We are distressed that more than sixty students and school employees have been murdered by active shooters in American K12 schools during the past 15 years. However, we are also distressed by the more than 500 school-related traffic fatalities, 129 on-campus suicides, and the more than 400 homicides that do not involve active shooter events. We are also deeply concerned about the on-campus deaths from medical emergencies that the United States government does not have reliable data for.

We have found that schools have spent considerable amounts of money, time and energy on active shooter planning, drills, and training while cutting evidence-based suicide prevention programs and other life-saving measures. Current options-based active shooter training programs are not evidence-based an individual school is eight times more likely to experience and on-campus suicide than an active shooter incident. As twice as many deaths from suicide have taken place on our nation’s campuses than from active shooter events, we should be at least as concerned about these tragedies.

Many police tactical team personnel have visited area schools to try to help improve occupant survivability in case an active shooter event takes place. This is an excellent approach. However, if the same agency has not asked officers from their traffic division to observe morning arrival and afternoon dismissal to try to find ways to reduce the chances that a child is run over at a crosswalk or in the parking lot, emotion and not data is driving the school safety process. While it is popular and highly profitable for many people to talk non-stop about school shootings and active shooter events, the obsession with this as the primary focus of school safety efforts is resulting in student deaths. I believe that school children are dying because of gaps in our efforts to address emergency medical situations, common safety hazards, and a host of other threats that result in far more deaths in schools as well as we could because of the out of balance diversion of energy to this single threat.

While passion is a powerful asset to school safety programs, logical and fact-based school safety is also extremely important. Deaths that lack media coverage because they involve one victim at a time should concern us just as much as the extremely rare but catastrophic events that shock our conscious. Having worked eight of them, I know that active shooter incidents are deadly and horrific events we must work to prevent. At the same time, we should address all forms of potentially preventable deaths in K12 schools, not just those involving guns. Never in my 34 years in the school safety field have I seen our nation’s school safety efforts so out of balance in this regard.