Even with violence in schools on the rise over the past few years, school security in California remains generally high.
However, it’s still important for schools to take steps to ensure the safety of students and staff on campus, especially when it comes to preventing violence and physical harm to those inside the property.
The more secure students, teachers, and other personnel feel on school property, the more positive the learning environment will be.
As security industry experts based out of California, we wanted to take a moment to put together this list of tips on how California schools can improve security.
10 California School Security Tips from Industry Leaders
Provide anonymous tip reporting tools
Limit entry points
Use access control systems
Employ security personnel
Monitor visitors
Ensure all classroom doors lock from the inside
Set up a two-way emergency communication system
Practice lockdown procedures
Secure the perimeter
Reinforce glass with polycarbonate security glazing
1. Provide anonymous tip reporting tools
One of the best ways to prevent violence in schools is to make it easy for students or anyone else to report tips about a potential violent act, with the option to do so anonymously.
To do so, you might consider setting up a website or creating a simple app that people can log into to report worrisome behavior or comments made by students or staff.
2. Limit entry points
For optimal security, establish one entryway for all students and staff to use to go in and out of the school, and keep all secondary entry points closed and locked.
This makes it far easier to control and monitor who comes and goes on the property, and makes it more difficult for a would-be intruder to gain access to the school.
3. Use access control systems
To make your school’s main entryway even more secure, install some type of access control system to restrict who can open the door.
For example, you could provide students and teachers with key cards that they have to use to unlock the front door.
These key cards could even be integrated with student IDs, which can be checked by a security guard or staff member to verify identities as people enter the school and make sure nobody who shouldn’t be there is trying to get in.
4. Employ security personnel
Professional security guards on school grounds can go a long way towards discouraging violence and crime.
It’s ideal to have someone dedicated to looking out for suspicious behavior and ready to respond to it, so teachers can focus on teaching and creating a positive learning environment.
5. Monitor visitors
To further help ensure that no unauthorized individuals are on school property, establish a visitor check-in process to register any visitors with the front desk when they first arrive.
It’s also a good idea to require guests to wear some type of temporary visitor badge or other identification, so that school staff can quickly see whether or not any unrecognized individuals have been authorized to be there.
6. Ensure all classroom doors lock from the inside
In the unfortunate event of an active threat scenario unfolding on your school’s campus, classroom doors are often the last line of defense between an attacker and the students and teachers inside classrooms.
This is why it’s so important to ensure that all classrooms are fitted with working locks that can be easily locked from the inside.
For the best school security, make it a policy for teachers to close and lock their doors whenever class is in session.
7. Set up a two-way emergency communication system
In a school emergency scenario, people may not always have access to their phones to communicate with one another, or something may happen to disrupt phone service.
A two-way communication system, such as radios or an intercom system, is a great way to ensure there’s always a way for people to communicate from anywhere within the school.
Make sure to inform your local law enforcement and emergency responders about this system, in case they ever need to use it.
It can also be a good idea to incorporate panic buttons into the system that automatically contact emergency services, so they can get there as soon as possible.
8. Practice lockdown procedures
Lockdown procedures are an important part of school security, as they help secure the property and protect people from harm during different types of emergencies.
But a lockdown procedure is only really effective if people know how to carry it out smoothly. So, make sure to hold regular lockdown drills for students and staff.
Ideally, you should practice lockdowns at the beginning of every semester, or at least twice per school year.
9. Secure the perimeter
Even with limited entry points and access control systems, it’s still possible for intruders to force entry into a school through other doors and windows, especially if they have free range of the school grounds.
To help limit potential entry points, surround school property with tall fences and gates and limit where vehicles are able to drive in and out of the grounds.
10. Reinforce glass with polycarbonate security glazing
As we touched on above, intruders often force entry into school through a vulnerable window or door. It’s very easy to break standard annealed window glass or even tempered safety glass to open a door from the inside or climb in through a window.
Therefore, we highly recommend that all educational facilities reinforce vulnerable glass doors and windows with virtually unbreakable polycarbonate security glazing.
This type of school security glazing can be retrofitted on top of the existing glass, creating an incredibly impact-resistant barrier to forced entry that will keep the bad guys out.
Polycarbonate glazing fortifies doors and windows without making the school look fortified or detracting from the learning experience by blocking out natural light or reducing visibility, as some other types of security screens do.
Wrapping Up
We hope you’ve found these California school security tips useful and will be implementing some of them to improve the safety and security of your students and staff.
Campbell Glass and Films can help with all things security glass related. Contact us today for a free consultation.
