The most common questions our school security experts get during school security expert assessments involve lockdowns.  When we keynote on school security, the majority of the questions we get also involve lockdown procedures.  This makes it clear that educators are deeply concerned about this issue.  One increasingly popular approach in K12 schools is for teachers to make it a practice to teach with the door locked.  This practice has already proven to be effective with at least one incident in a Louisiana school where a middle school student killed himself in a school restroom after he was unable to kill two teachers because they were both teaching with their doors locked.   While this is one example of the benefits of teaching with the door locked, there are other reasons that show that this school security practice should be considered.

One principal in Bibb County, Georgia instituted the practice of requiring all teachers to teach with their doors locked in the early 1990’s as one means to reduce classroom disruptions and tardy students.  By requiring teachers to lock their classroom doors as soon as the late bell rang and students who had not made to class on time to come to the office, hundreds of tardy students interrupting classes were reduced per day.  When students had to come to the office and to have an administrator escort and admit them to their classes, students quickly learned to make it to class on time.  This increased time on task, improved school security, and improved the learning environment. 

This approach has also been implemented in schools that are aware that there have been many instances where an aggressor has managed to breach school security and then enter a classroom to attack students and/or staff.  From students who have been attacked by another child’s parent in retaliation for alleged bullying activity to more severe situations where teachers have been killed by an ex-spouse in front of their students, serious assaults have occurred in a number of public and non-public schools.  While most of these incidents do not garner intensive national media coverage, they have a tremendous negative impact for those who experience them.

Understandably, some administrators feel that having to use a key to enter a classroom for observations is more disruptive, I suggest that a principal entering the room will distract students and interrupt learning regardless of whether a key is used or not.  A number of educators who have adopted this practice report reduced rather than increased classroom distraction because teachers become more selective in issuing hall passes to students.  Keeping in mind that distraction occurs every time anyone enters or leaves a classroom, the approach may be less disruptive than many people assume if it is implemented thoughtfully.

I had a great time keynoting the Emergency Management Alliance of Indiana conference today.  The emergency managers, law enforcement officers, fire service professionals, and military personnel were an awesome and gracious group.  

The conference organizers, meeting planner, vendor, board members, and officers went out of there WAY to makes sure every detail was seen to and attendees were intensely interested in the topics I was asked to present on.  I had been asked to perform our concealed weapons demonstration, visual weapons screening, and pattern matching and recognition programs.  Due to recent problems with school security experts conducting school security assessments, I was asked to go through the “red flags” they could look for to pick out the overnight media experts hawking services by saying whatever it takes to get an interview with the national news.  We closed with information on free school crisis planning resources that are available to all public and non-public schools in Indiana.  I feel honored by the rousing standing ovation I received from this respectful and kind group of people who protect us each and every day.  At the end, I was overwhelmed with men and woman hugging me and thanking me for our center’s work. 

I have been once again blessed to present to staunch defenders of all we hold dear.  It was truly an amazing day.   

Today, I will have the good pleasure to present three sessions at the 2013 Emergency Management Alliance Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.  I am presenting Weapons Concealment and Detection, Six Senses of School Safety, and When Young Lives are at Stake Emergency Operations Planning for Schools.  I have been honored to keynote several dozen conferences in Indianapolis and always look forward to my next visit.  I have another keynote in Indianapolis next month for the Indiana Department of Education School Safety Specialist’s Academy and am excited about that session as well.

Our dedicated authoring team was able to deliver the 60^th and final version of the manuscript for Staying Alive – How to Act Fast and Survive Deadly Encounters to Barron’s several hours ahead of deadline last week.  We were smack in the middle of finishing the manuscript and completing reports for four different school security assessment projects when we received a short notice request to present as finalists for a major school security assessment proposal we had submitted.

While four of our team members handled the presentation, my son Chris worked diligently to cover our workload.  Chris came through and finished the final round of edits of the 89,000 word manuscript for Staying Alive.  This week, Chris will be sending the final graphics and photographs to Barron’s and the book will be released in bookstores this April.  This powerful book is among the most extensively researched and comprehensive work in a field of many extremely well written titles such as the Gift of Fear by Gavin deBecker, On Combat by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Unthinkable Amanda Ripley and Sources of Power by Dr. Gary Klein.

Though much work remains to be done for the final edits and companion video, the heavy lifting of the last eleven months has been completed.  Dr. Sonayia Shepherd, Chris, Steve Satterly and content developer Phuong Nguyen have all worked past midnight on many occasions to research, write and rewrite version after version of each chapter in this incredible book.  Feedback from a diverse team of seven experienced subject matter experts has been that it is hard to put the book down and that every reviewer learned important things even though they have more than an average of two decades of experience each.

The book will not only be available in bookstores, but Wal-Mart is already listing the book as available on a pre-order basis at a heavily discounted price from the anticipated retail cost.  I am relieved and most grateful that my amazing co-authoring team has been able to finish this true labor of love.

When is the last time you took stock of the amazing people who help to make your schools safer?  More importantly, when is the last time you took a moment to express your gratitude for the many things that they do exceptionally well every day?  Meeting constant deadlines and “putting out fires” can make it easy to lose site of why practitioners are typically immensely busy people.

This thought has hit me from time-to-time throughout my school security career.  It once again smacked me between the eyes unexpectedly during this past incredibly hectic week.  I along with four of my colleagues had to deliver a short notice presentation last week. Safe Havens was one of four finalists for a school security assessment project for more than 200 schools and the client is on a tight deadline.  The project will require twenty-one Safe Havens personnel to be on the ground and several more staff supporting them off-site.  This reminded me how Safe Havens has grown steadily from a small team of only four school security experts over the past thirteen years.  I thought about how I would describe the extensive and varied backgrounds of our diverse team members to the panel in a relatively short presentation.  I realized that our team included five school security directors, three school district police chiefs, two team members with full-time state government emergency management and homeland security experience, two analysts who have completed advanced anti-terrorism training in Israel, an attorney and authors of more than two dozen books on school safety.  Members of our team are currently assisting in our sixth statewide school security assessment project and were trusted to work on the 2013 White House School Safety Initiative.  The experience the analysts have working in more than twenty countries is unmatched in the private sector.  The analysts on this team have assisted with school security assessments for more than 5,000 K12 schools and are the only school safety team in the nation to have worked on multiple statewide school security assessment projects.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how easy it can be to take your own people for granted.  While I periodically take the time to express my gratitude for their work, the sheer volume of our work this past year has been staggering, even for the world’s largest school security assessment team.  Our personnel have been conducting school security assessments, delivering school security keynotes at conferences and providing training to school and public safety officials almost every week since that fateful day last December.

While it has been a heavy load, our school security assessment team has been up to the challenge meeting demanding deadlines and delivering work that consistently exceeds the expectations of our clients.   I am truly impressed with the dedication of our analysts, video crew and support staff.  They have performed to incredible levels this year and have truly achieved results that are nothing short of remarkable during this challenging time.

I found it easy to describe what I truly believe to be the world’s most experienced, dedicated, and talented school security experts to the committee. When combined with vast expertise of two internationally experienced partner firms who have worked extensively for clients including the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other large organizations, it was easy for me to confidently state that our team could perform exceptional school security assessments for the client in a manner unmatched by any school security firm in the world.

While the competition for this project is tough, I am proud of my team regardless of which firm the district selects.   As I have articulated before in this column, I am continually inspired by the dedication of what I feel is the most skilled and unparalleled school security assessment team in the world.  While we can always find something to be upset about if we try, there is so much good in the world if we just take the time to look for it.  Take the time to consider who is on your dedicated school security team, how hard they work and what they have done to make school a safer place for all.  Most importantly, take the time to thank them for their important contributions.

Thank you team!