There have been 32 school shootings this year, 24 since August 1. A shooting on November 30, in which a student killed four people and injured seven at an Oxford, Michigan high school, was the deadliest school shooting since May 2018. There have been 90 school shootings since 2018. One thing to note with so many other school shootings, investigators determined that there had been many warning signs that an eruption of violence was imminent.
The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have interrupted the trend line. The 2020 figure, with 10 shootings, was significantly lower than 2019 and 2018, in which each had 24. That fallout in numbers is probably due to the shift to remote learning for nearly all schools for part or all of 2020. However, this data should not suggest that our schools are safer.
On Friday, December 17, 2021, schools across the nation were on high alert because of a vague and viral TikTok trend warning of nationwide school violence, which authorities have dismissed as not credible. Nevertheless, that prompted widespread school closures, stretched law enforcement resources, and put families on edge ahead of a critical holiday travel season.
The importance of having a proper risk assessment conducted on schools is that a school risk assessment is a systematic inspection that the assessor should identify and control hazards within school premises. Beyond complying with legislative requirements, school risk assessments are conducted by school management teams to ensure a healthy and safe environment for students, teachers, administrators, and other staff. However, schools must look at using outside security consultants because security consulting services build a long-term, mature security roadmap that accelerates your security return on investment. A security consultant will help analyze and assess all the possible risks that your school may face. This will not only enable you to determine which part of your school needs high-security measures but also identify any current or potential threats for your operations.
Overall, security risk assessments can help schools strengthen their security. They can help schools identify security vulnerabilities, create new security requirements, conduct due diligence, and improve communication and decision-making. A security risk assessment can improve a school’s security posture, which is essential in today’s increasingly insecure world.
