School Safety and Security

A top concern for any school district is the safety of its people: students, teachers, staff, and administrators.

School safety and security has always been a priority, but schools are now faced with deeper and more critical challenges.

A comprehensive school policy on school safety is included as part of the PRESS policy service. IASB has been very involved with the issue of school safety and security for a number of years. The Association has authored legislation regarding the School Safety Drill Act; participated as a member of the Illinois School Security and Standards Task Force and the Illinois Terrorism Task Force; and hosted School Safety Seminars at the Joint Annual Conference.

Guidance Resources

• Federal School Safety Clearinghouse and SchoolSafety.gov - Access resources that address a variety of topics such as bullying and cyberbullying, cybersecurity, emergency planning, mental health, threat assessment and reporting and more.

• Illinois School Campus and Safety Program - Provides awareness and preparedness training to enhance organizational capacity to plan for, respond to, and recover from an emergency or disaster. Learn about training course programs and events.

• The Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Center’s (STIC) School Safety Information Sharing Program - Designed to identify the information needs of school and campus safety officials and ensure timely and wide dissemination of actionable intelligence that is tailored to the protection of these communities. Resources include Communications Tips for School Threats and School Safety Information Sharing.

• Mass Violence In America (August 2019 Published by National Council for Behavioral Health)

• Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model

• DHS Campus Resilience Program Exercise Starter Kits

• Illinois Terrorism Task Force School Safety Working Group Recommendations

• School Safety Procedures

Additional reading in the Illinois School Board Journal 

• K-12 Cybersecurity: The Role of the School Board (January/February 2020)

• Intertwined: School Safety and SEL (November/December 2020)

• Threat Assessment: Protecting Students and Schools (November/December 2020)

• Reaching Beyond the Basics of School Safety (November/December 2020)

• The Why and How of School Resource Officers (November/December 2020)