Every school has a duty of care to provide a safe environment for students and educators. School is more than just a place to prepare you for a job, it’s a place for students to grow, interact with others, develop their skills, and get a real education. It’s for this reason schools must provide a safe working and learning environment for students, to help them achieve their best academically and develop socially. One of the many responsibilities of schools is to take the necessary preventative measures and protocols to protect students from intruders by implementing an efficient safety plan. Here are some ways your school can protect students and educators from potential dangers like intruders.
Video Surveillance
To protect your school from intruders, it’s crucial to have effective security measures in place to maintain the safety of students, educators, and school facilities. Having elevated video surveillance solutions can help security monitor school activities 24/7. You can ask educators to monitor for potential intruders and when an unknown person enters the premises, you can immediately ask them for identification and direct them to the office to sign in. It’s important to monitor the video surveillance daily and act fast when intruders are detected to protect the school.
Protect the Perimeter
During sporting events or other outdoor activities, teachers can conduct a comprehensive audit of the school perimeter to search for potential intruders and guarantee the safety of students. Having teachers guard the perimeter allows the school to build a safe outdoor environment for students. Schools can protect the perimeter by installing (or upgrading) tall fences around the perimeter for an additional safeguard over waist high chain-link fencing.
Safety Locks
You can control the access for school facilities with locks to avoid intruders. Equipping your entry points with strong safety locks shouldn’t be overlooked and is a common practice in many schools across America. By locking every access point at the end of each day, your school can deter intruders after school hours. During school hours, you can invest in more high-tech access control systems with lockable doors in school classrooms to keep intruders out of sensitive areas while allowing building occupants to escape in an emergency quickly and easily.
Safety Plan
Every school should have an effective safety plan in place to protect the school from intruders. A school safety plan prevents hazards and contains a strict set of guidelines, responses and recovery processes and procedures to deliver a safe school environment for everyone. According to SchoolSafety.Gov a safety plan must include school climate, reporting systems, threat assessment, emergency operations plan, site assessment, employee training and student training. By having an effective safety plan for when an intruder enters a school premises, the necessary actions can quickly be taken to protect the school, faculty and most importantly, your students.
Educate Students
It’s vital for schools to successfully educate students on the rules during a lockdown and how to act if and when intruders enter your school. Students should abide by the school rules, alert educators when there are intruders and follow all instructions and precautions as outlined in the school’s safety plan. Schools must have regular emergency practice drills to guarantee students are familiar with the emergency procedures. By educating students, your school can provide a safe environment and safeguard students from intruders.
Lockdown and Emergency Notification System (LENS)
To provide maximum security and protect your school from intruders, you can implement the LENS solution, which fully addresses a school district or municipality’s communication needs during a lockdown and emergency event. LENS is an automated communication system that can quickly relay the correct information to the proper authorities to protect the school from intruders. This integrated technology solution provides schools with proper lockdown protocols to protect school facilities, students, and educators from intruders.
When schools are prepared to prevent intruders from entering the school ground, and students and educators are educated on the correct procedures to follow, your school can provide a secure, safe environment for everyone. If you feel that your school is not adequately organized and prepared, you can contact Eastern Datacomm for a consultation and solutions designed to protect your facilities, educators and most importantly, your students.
