Introduction

How secure should a public school building be? A small neighborhood school in a farming community might be wide open for parents to drop in anytime. In parts of Israel, razor-wire fencing and concrete barriers surround schools while military personnel maintain machine gun emplacements near the main entrance. I think we can likely agree that for most schools in the United States, somewhere between these two extremes is ideal.

Property Perimeter

Like any sensitive facility, physical security and access control for schools can best be examined in concentric rings, from the outside working in. Access control starts at the extreme perimeter of the school property. Do we need a 7-feet-tall chain link fence with three strands of barbed wire angled out at the top? That gives the appearance of overkill, and in this circumstance, it is ineffective. Using the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), it is important to delineate the property lines and show territoriality. CPTED also encourages natural access control. We can easily accomplish that with a relatively low, attractive fence or landscaping that guides people to the designated entrance. That avoids a prison-like appearance and the subliminal messaging “this place is unsafe” that a “security” fence suggests. There may be places, such as athletic fields where admission needs to be highly regulated, where a more secure fence might be appropriate.

As the pedestrian traffic gets channeled to the selected entrance, vehicle traffic should be the next concern addressed. From a safety viewpoint, pedestrian traffic should not cross vehicle travel lanes if at all possible. There are five primary considerations: buses, staff, students, visitors/vendors, and student drop-offs/pickups. In an ideal design, these five should be separated. Buses should have their own entrance/exit and be routed so that there is direct access between a bus and school entrance. Staff and students (in high schools) should have a regulated parking section.

There are different ideas about segregating staff and students, reserved or named parking spots, and numbering spaces. I suggest the following as a best practice:

• Staff and students need to register their vehicles with the school.

• A condition of registration is that vehicles parked on school property are subject to search.

• They receive a mirror hang tag permit that is numbered and recognizable to staff, but does not identify the school to an outsider.

• Staff and student parking is integrated and there are no assigned spots.

• This incorporates the CPTED principle of natural surveillance—mixing cars ensures that everyone in the school has an interest in keeping an eye on the parking area.

• Signage warns that parking on school property is assumed to be consent to search and that vehicles without a valid permit are subject to towing at the owner’s expense.

• Contract with a local towing company to check the lot and tow unpermitted vehicles.

• Encourage staff who plan to work late to move their cars closer to the entrance after dismissal.

Visitor and vendor parking should be well marked and segregated from other areas. The area should be checked periodically for nonvisitors and those cars should be ticketed or removed. Student drop-off/pickup might be collocated with the visitor parking or, if space allows, at a separate location.

Building Perimeter

It is generally accepted that all building doors should be locked, with the possible exception of the main entrance, but that does not always work. There are doors leading to playgrounds, remote trailer classrooms, open campus buildings, or satellite buildings such as gyms. Depending on the grade levels, there may be need for student access to and from other buildings. Some points to consider are:

• Any door that is not used on a regular basis should be locked and have the exterior handle hardware removed.

• At the main entrance, there may be several doors—only one should be used during the day.

• There are several ways to control the main entrance:

- Have it visible to natural surveillance from the main office

- Have it visible to a digital recording camera system that is monitored in the main office

- Have it monitored by a staff member or parent volunteer who directs visitors or vendors to the main office

- A buzzer/intercom/remote unlock device (many include a camera)

• Other doors that get used periodically throughout the day also need to be controlled by locking them.

• Proximity cards or key scan cards:

- These can be combined with student or staff ID cards.

- The card access can be disabled if:

• An employee is terminated or transferred

• A student loses privileges

• A card is lost

- Other factors include:

• The times and days that a card will work can be programmed for individual or class needs.

• It is imperative to deactivate cards when they are no longer needed and to ensure lost cards are immediately reported.

• Cipher/Combination Locks

- Students (and therefore their families) will learn the combinations

- Need to be changed immediately if compromised

- Should be changed on a regular basis

- Best if used on a door that has access to the area restricted such as entering the school from a fenced in trailer classroom group

• Police/Fire Access

- In an emergency, police or fire/EMS may be more effective when not using the main entrance.

- A Knox box is a locked case secured to an exterior wall near a door—responders have master keys to all Knox boxes and can retrieve a door key from the box.

- Some jurisdictions are now installing proximity card readers on doors that are programmed to the local police or fire department ID card readers or giving all police and fire access to the school district’s card readers.

• Windows must also be controlled, primarily to limit the ability of students to pass contraband in but also to minimize the risk of after-hours access.

• Using the CPTED principle of natural surveillance, prune bushes to a height of 3 ft, and trees from the ground up the first branch must be 8 ft off the ground.

• Make teachers responsible for locking classroom windows at the end of the day.

• Ensure custodians check behind teachers and lock common area windows.

• Roof access may or may not be a concern, depending on construction.

• Exterior-installed ladders should have locking cages blocking them.

• Roof access from inside must have locked hatches or doors.

Visitor and Vendor Management

It behooves a school administrator to know who is in his or her building at all times. If a fire or other disaster happens, we need to be able to say with certainty who was inside and whether or not they are accounted for. We also need to know that the people who are in the building are supposed to be in the building.

Permanent staff seem like they would be the easiest to account for, but with human resource regulations and union rules, they may actually be more difficult to document. The best practice is for all the staff to check in and out of the building in some manner. In a small elementary school, it might be at the main office. A large building might use an electronic time and attendance system. Consider the problem if a teacher left during a planning period to run an errand and did not let anyone know that she was gone. The building catches fire or a tornado strikes, and she is unaccounted for. The lives of others would be at risk trying to rescue someone who does not need rescuing because they are not even there. Staff should wear school or district ID at all times.

Volunteers should be background checked through human resources, the same as any other employee. Once cleared to work with children, they should check in and out at the main office. They should be issued ID that indicates that they are a volunteer.

Contractors or vendors should only be in the school if approved or arranged through district policy. They should check in and out at the main office. They should receive a temporary ID that designates where they should be working. If calling on an employee, that employee should meet the vendor at the office and escort them at all times.

Parents can be a tremendous asset or a headache to a school. Some will happily abide by all access rules while others will treat the rules as if they do not apply to them. Still others may test the rules to try and compromise or embarrass the school. It is important to establish ground rules and expectations at the start of the school year and that the expectations are the same for all parents.

The first step is to ensure that only people allowed to visit a child, classroom, or activity are those who are on a list provided by the parents or guardian. School staff cannot be expected to interpret custody papers or restraining orders. Whoever registers the child for school must list the only people who are allowed to see the child. To ensure that the list is effective, office staff must check the identification of all visitors and confirm that they are on the approved list. To be consistent, they must check every visitor, every visit. Some schools have adopted an automated system of logging visitors, checking sex offender or approved visitor records, and printing visitor passes. These systems are fine, but they do not take the place of an employee physically checking a visitor’s ID card and confirming that it identifies the person who is presenting it. After confirming that a parent or visitor is approved for a visit, the office staff (or an automated kiosk) should issue the visitor a temporary ID card or sticker, ideally one that self-expires.

Some typical restrictions a parent visit include:

• Silent classroom observation—when a parent may observe a classroom but not take part in or distract from instruction—should be limited to one class period and no more than two to three times per week

• Teacher conferences—parents must make appointments to meet with teachers outside of instruction time. Teachers will not stop instruction to discuss anything with a parent

• Lunch or breakfast—because mealtime is very social for students, parents should be discouraged from eating with a child unless it is a special circumstance, such as:

• Child’s birthday

• Some sort of appreciation day

• Veteran’s Day (if the parent or relative is a veteran)

• As a special reward for the child

Parents eating with a child may be assigned to a separate table or area depending on the circumstances.

Hallways and Classrooms

It is the responsibility of all staff in a school to assist in access control and to monitor visitors or report those who may not be approved. Teachers should keep their classroom doors locked at all times. The door can be open, but the knob should be locked. In a crisis, fine motor skills deteriorate and it is difficult to manipulate a key to lock a door under stress. With the door open, but locked, all a teacher needs to do in a crisis is slam the door.

If a parent or other visitor comes to a classroom or encounters a staff member in the hall, he should have visitor or other appropriate ID displayed. If not, the staff must be trained and responsible to direct or escort the person to the office and to notify the office that the person is en route. Administrators should reprimand staff who allow undocumented visitors or who take measures to negate access control.

Conclusions

Staff must take ownership of their building and their safety responsibilities. If outside at recess and a teacher sees a trespasser, she should know that she is empowered and trusted to take action without asking permission. If a school board member complains because a custodian made him walk “all the way around” the building to the main entrance rather than letting him in a side door, the custodian should be thanked for his consistency and the board member reminded of the school’s access control policies. When a parent gets frustrated and yells at the secretary who made her go back to the car to get her ID, the secretary should be recognized for doing the right thing and the parent counseled about behavior expectations.

There are places where it is extremely difficult to gain access in or out. They are called prisons. We cannot ensure 100% control of a school while still keeping it a positive learning environment. No matter the level and type of access controls in place at a school, consistency is the key to safety. The steps outlined in this chapter can make a school safer and more secure, but it is up to the staff, parents, and yes, even the students to be alert, report suspicious or inappropriate contact, and abide by the rules. Prevention is the responsibility of everyone.