Some Experts Believe Schools to Turn Their Focus Inward to Help Prevent School Shootings

Monday, December 23rd, 2024 -- 12:00 PM

(Nadia Scharf and Alec Johnson, USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin) After Monday’s shooting in Madison, parents may feel better dropping their students off if they’re walking through a metal detector and a secure entrance.

But, according to Nadia Scharf and Alec Johnson with USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin, that may not be the best way to keep schools safe. Some experts say schools need to turn their focus inward, improving trust, training and student involvement.

They believe a more communicative school climate would make schools safer than any metal detector or security camera could. “Oftentimes, the best school security is less visible or even invisible, but most impactful,” said Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services.

"And that's the intangibles, the climate, culture, relationships, the connectedness.” Trump believes there’s too great a focus on physical safety measures. Pressure on school administrators from parents and the public means they’re more likely to lean toward visible, tangible security measures.

"You're giving people that emotional security blanket to make people feel safer, but it's not necessarily going to give them that 'guarantee of safety’ that they actually are looking for and believe that they're getting when those things pop up overnight,” Trump said.

Instead, Trump points to school faculty and staff training and increased connectedness with students as a much more valuable security system. That training often isn’t prioritized, Trump, who sometimes speaks at safety trainings, remembers he asked for a day of teachers’ time, was initially promised half a day and ultimately ended up with an hour and a half. 

In Wisconsin, the Office of School Safety provides multiple free safety training opportunities annually. Making sure students have at least one adult they can trust can be key to hearing about potential threats.

A 2019 study on school violence by the U.S. Secret Service stated that 89% of attackers had displayed concerning or prohibited behaviors, such as threats to cause harm, violent acts or suicidal statements.

In two-thirds of those cases, that behavior was seen by classmates or adults in the school but not reported. “The first and best line of defense is a well-trained, highly alert staff and student body,” Trump said.

“The No. 1 way we find out about weapons, plots and kids who are going to cause harm to themselves and others, is when a kid comes forward and tells an adult that they trust.”

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