We Aren’t Just Teachers Anymore…

It’s a very sad state of affairs when every time you turn around, problems at schools make the headlines. While our district continues to evolve to fashion regulations and plans to keep us safe, school safety is still a constant worry. And it’s even more of a concern for those of us who stay late on campus with students. Not only are all the internal safeguards loosened after school ends, but we are having kids walking off campus alone, as opposed to when the masses are released at the bell.

Further, as any high school teacher can tell you, things are just more relaxed and looser after school— dress code, language, PDA— just everything is less structured. Unfortunately, that is the prime time for problems to arise. 

It is a huge concern. It is a career-ending problem. Plus, I just couldn’t live with myself if something happened. So, how can we ensure kids safety in our organization? Let’s talk about it.

Understand, Follow And Share School Safety Policies

At the beginning of the school year, we have an Activities meeting with our supervising administrator to review all of the school policies related to after school meetings. It is quite an informative meeting, with an opportunity to ask questions. If your school does not do this, I suggest you create your own appointment to speak to administration to protect yourself and your students.

However, it is not enough that I have this information—the kids need this information. We tell our students exactly where they can “hang out” after school (the library), and who will be supervising them (the Campus Security Monitor). They know which doors are open after school and exactly where they should be picked up. We leave nothing to chance. 

Who Is At Our Meeting?

It is pretty hard to keep track of everyone coming into my classroom for a meeting. I only have about a third of the students in class, so I don’t recognize entire groups of kids. How can we ensure that they are active students who are there for the meeting, and not to cause trouble?

Check badges

The door is our first line of defense in school safety. I stay at the doorway as students are entering the room and look for their lanyard and badge. I predict every school is doing this common form of identification, so you can adopt this practice. No badge equals no entry into the meeting, even if a few of your friends can “vouch for you”. 

Keeping a running sign-in record

Also at the door is the QR code for that meeting. We track who comes in, and at what time, just in case. Years ago I did have an occasion when someone tried to “hide” by coming to our meeting after vandalizing a bathroom, and the sign in sheet helped track him down. 

Be aware of times people come and go

If someone comes late to a meeting, they need to account for where they have been, including producing a pass, so we can be sure they haven’t been up to no good. We also log when they leave if they exit before the end of the meeting. This way we know exactly who is where at all times. 

Where do they go next?

This is an important one for you, because not everyone can get picked up by their parents exactly when the meeting ends. You need to be aware of, and reinforce, whatever plan your school has in place. For example, our library is open until 4 pm every day, and that is where we shuttle kids to if they are waiting for a ride. We don’t want them standing around outside, or worse leaving the campus itself.

Home Or School Online Safety

Digital citizenship is not required to be taught in my district, and I think we are doing a grave disservice to students with this policy. If we are handing kindergarteners this potentially explosive piece of technology, they absolutely are old enough to know how to protect themselves from unknown influences and predators

Privacy issues

This is a big issue, particularly in the middle school it seems, with oversharing and believing in the “anonymity” of the internet. Students need to be taught that nothing is anonymous and absolutely nothing stays private anymore. In our meetings, we try to minimize the use of technology for several reasons. While building relationships and connections is our primary purpose, it is reassuring to us that nobody is on their phones during our meeting posting or viewing inappropriate things.

Providing resources to students

Part of the lessons on digital citizenship must include a review of all resources available to students who find themselves having a problem. In our meetings, we minimize the number of websites we use, and rarely do any open research, so that we are aware of what all of the kids are doing online. 

Cyberbullying

This is a huge problem for this generation that we never had to deal with. Young people believe not only in the anonymity of the internet, they seem to believe that posting something shields them from the consequences of that action. 

Consider Your Room

We meet in my classroom for all of my clubs and organizations. However, after school, I would not have the advanced warning of a problem on campus that I would during school hours. While school is in session, we have security at the doors and the front desk, all exterior doors are locked, and everyone is monitoring for badges and unannounced visitors. Most of these procedures break down after school, so it’s up to you to be vigilant with your physical location. 

View From Outside

I don’t have eye level outside windows, so I have no idea what’s happening on or off campus. I do, however, have a wall of windows into my classroom. That is where my eyes scan on a regular basis. If there is someone unauthorized in the hallway, I want to see them coming so I can go outside to see if I can direct them somewhere else. 

Alternate exits

I’ve got three doors into the hallway, but that won’t help any of us if the hallway is the problem. Make sure you consider all of the different options you might have if you needed to shelter in place or evacuate due to a physical or an organic situation that might occur. For example, I have a back office that could fit a dozen or so kids if necessary, plus I’ve got a locked doorway to the enclosed closet next door. 

Unrecognized dangers

Here is the biggest danger and concern—when something totally blindsides you by coming at you. How would I react if a kid became volatile and physically attacked someone else—or me? The only defense I have for something like this is my presence and vigilance. I remain in the room during meetings, and circulate from time to time, just to remind everyone that there is a security presence in the room: Me.

School /Student Safety When We Travel

So to really add an extra layer of stress and anxiety, we travel with our CTSOs. It’s totally worth all of the effort and I’ll never stop taking them to overnight trips, but, man, is it stressful!!!

Where is this hotel?

I trust our state and national organizations to put us in safe hotels in a good part of the city where our kids can find fast food, and walk around outside during the day without any concerns. But, sometimes, I control the travel. We are currently planning a Disneyland trip, and my kids came up with three hotels that looked great online. I happen to know that one of them is quite isolated in a negligible part of town, so I immediately threw that one out. If I am in control of the choice of hotel, I will do a lot of research—maybe even a recon trip—to make sure I’m choosing something suitable. 

Minimizing students’ contact with tourists

We tend to travel in a larger than normal sized group, so we avoid other tourists. This is because we are loud and big, so we don’t want to impinge on the experience of tourists in the area. It also has the added effect of avoiding people in larger cities who prey on tourists. By staying together and moving in a group, no one will approach any of my students to start up a conversation that might be inappropriate and is certainly unwelcome. We had this happen outside a major league baseball game last summer, when three teens tried to isolate and surround one of our young girls “just to talk to her”. Within seconds, they were surrounded by twenty teens and four adults telling them to move on. No harm done.

Using the “buddy system”

When you travel with me, the only privacy you have is in the bathroom. Anytime you step outside of your hotel room, you must be accompanied by at least one other person. Even during competition, your “buddy” has to stand outside and wait for you to finish. This has been especially helpful with regard to contacting them by cell phone: Maybe one kid won’t check their texts, but with two or three kids, at least one of them will see the text immediately and respond.

Creating a series of “check-ins”

As much as I preach against the reliance on technology, it is a lifesaver when traveling with kids. We have the kids do a series of check-ins that can’t be faked, so they are in contact with us every two hours. For Grad Night at Disneyland, one picture had to be you in front of a store in the park, one had to show you standing in front of a ride, etc. When we travel, every night we have a Team Meeting in my hotel room late in the evening, and then we walk each group to their rooms for bed check right away, to ensure they are in on time. 

Nothing Matters More Than Safety And Security At School

I don’t need to tell you that the safety of our students is paramount to our success as an organization, and so we can sleep at night. I am a very strong believer in giving kids as many different opportunities and experiences as possible, so we can’t let our fears and concerns stop us from activities with students. Our responsibility is to prepare them as well as we possibly can so they don’t have any misstep that could cause them harm or distress. 

These kids trust us to take care of them.

We need to be trustworthy. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS FAR

Wow, thank you for reading about school safety!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out the “wh-” questions I have for advisors, here, and learn how to celebrate with students, here! Check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

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