Last fall I was involved with a Zogby International survey, in which 400 K-12 teachers answered all manner of campus security questions. There were some interesting findings. Nearly a third of the teachers said their campus is vulnerable to…
More than 10 percent of America’s K-12 teachers feel unprepared to protect their students in the classroom. That’s scary, because it means that teachers of more than five million students aren’t sure they can be kept safe on campus.
This is information from a Zogby International survey that I was involved with last fall. Zogby interviewed 400 K-12 teachers from across the country. There were some other interesting findings.
Nearly a third of the teachers said their campus is vulnerable to an attack by an outside predator. About one in four worried about students bringing weapons on campus. Twelve percent are concerned about gang activity.
When asked what security measures their campus employs, the teachers most frequently mentioned:
• Visitor check-in–90 percent
• Visitor identification badges–80 percent
• Video cameras–57 percent
• Police officers on campus–32 percent
• Alarmed doors–32 percent
• Security guards on campus–28 percent
• Computerized visitor identification systems–12 percent
When I travel around the country and talk with teachers, they consistently tell me about how much they welcome additional security planning and technology. Over my next few blogs, I’ll take a look at some of the security measures listed above and give my opinion on how useful they are in protecting our kids.
Patrick Fiel is public safety advisor for ADT Security Services and a former executive director of school security for Washington, D.C. Public School System. He also served 22 years in the Army Military Police Corps, where his responsibilities included day-to-day security operations at the West Point Military Academy. During his time with ADT, Fiel has conducted more than 100 television, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews as a public and school safety expert.
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