School Safety

Education news, analysis, and opinion about keeping student safe in the school building from bullying, violence, and environmental hazards, among other things

Explainer

Greeley Police Officer Steve Brown stands in the hallway during passing periods at Northridge High School in Greeley, Colo. on Oct. 21, 2016. While school resource officers, like Brown, are expected to handle responsibilities like any police officer they're faced with unique challenges working day-to-day in schools
School Resource Officers (SROs), Explained
Does the presence of armed officers prevent school violence? Do they contribute for Black children to the 'school to prison pipeline'?
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Conceptual illustration of a lone figure standing in a sea of bullets
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and Jorm Sangsorn/iStock; Getty images
School Climate & Safety Opinion This Is What Happens to a Student’s Brain When Exposed to Gun Violence
Traumatized and hypervigilant brains cannot learn effectively, write a behavioral neuroscientist and a school psychologist.
Amanda M. Dettmer & Tammy L. Hughes, June 27, 2022
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5 min read
Photograph of crime scene tape and school.
F.Sheehan/Education Week and Getty
School Climate & Safety From Our Research Center What Would Make Schools Safer? Here's What Educators Say
Respondents to a national survey of educators said measures like red flag laws, more school counselors are key to any school safety law.
Evie Blad, June 24, 2022
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7 min read
Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the court in 2021.
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the court in 2021.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP
Law & Courts School Groups Worry as Supreme Court Recognizes Right to Carry Handguns in Public
In a 6-3 decision over a New York state law, the court says little about schools as 'sensitive places' where guns can be prohibited.
Mark Walsh, June 23, 2022
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6 min read
Woman standing on a paper boat with a tsunami wave approaching.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
School Climate & Safety From Our Research Center 'The World Feels Less Stable': Educators' Sense of School Safety Right Now
6 in 10 educators said a mass shooting by a student or outsider was their biggest source of fear.
Catherine Gewertz, June 23, 2022
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7 min read
Protesters take to the streets of downtown Detroit June 11 to call for new gun laws. One holds up a sign that says "policy and change."
Protesters call for new gun laws in Detroit's March for Our Lives event earlier this month.
KT Kanazawich for Education Week
Federal The Senate Gun Bill: What It Would Mean for School Safety, Mental Health Efforts
Details of a bipartisan Senate agreement on guns outline additional funding to support student mental health programs.
Evie Blad, June 22, 2022
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6 min read
First lady Jill Biden speaks at the 125th Anniversary Convention of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in National Harbor, Md., Friday, June 17, 2022.
First lady Jill Biden speaks at the 125th Anniversary Convention of the National Parent Teacher Association in National Harbor, Md.
Susan Walsh/AP
Families & the Community Jill Biden: The Teacher-Parent Partnership Can Be 'Powerful'
First lady Jill Biden emphasized the value of educator and family partnerships in a speech at the National Parent Teachers Association convention Friday.
Libby Stanford, June 17, 2022
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2 min read
Carol Strickland, the director of the National Teachers Hall of Fame, talks to the engraver who added 16 additional names to the memorial this summer.
Carol Strickland, the director of the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas, talks to the engraver who added 16 additional names to the memorial this summer.
Courtesy of Dylan Coldsmith
School Climate & Safety Uvalde Teachers, 14 Others Added to the National Memorial to Fallen Educators
New names were added to the memorial—including those of the beloved educators killed in the May 2022 mass shooting.
Madeline Will, June 17, 2022
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5 min read
Emergency and urgency, dialing 911 on smartphone screen.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Classroom Technology School Shootings Are Fueling the Debate Over Cellphones in Class
Both pro- and anti-cellphone educators cite the same rationale for their stances: safety in a crisis.
Alyson Klein, June 16, 2022
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7 min read
Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie listens during a meeting of the Broward County School Board in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie listens during a meeting of the Broward County School Board in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Lynne Sladky/AP
School & District Management Robert Runcie, Superintendent During the Parkland Massacre, to Lead School Safety Initiative
The $1 million project is linked to people who used to work in Broward County, Fla., Runcie's former district.
Scott Travis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 13, 2022
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7 min read
Protesters hold up a sign that shows the outline of a rifle struck through with a yellow line at a demonstration in support of stronger gun laws.
Protesters gather for the March For Our Lives rally in Detroit, among the demonstrations against gun violence held on the heels of recent mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.
KT Kanazawich for Education Week
Federal What Educators Need to Know About Senators' Bipartisan Deal on Guns, School Safety
In addition to gun restrictions, a tentative compromise would also fund mental health and school safety programs—but it faces hurdles.
Evie Blad, June 13, 2022
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4 min read
61322 Graduation Cap Florida BS 7
Jonathon Parker, pictured on the chair, should have walked across the graduation stage with classmates from the Deer Valley High School Class of 2022 last week in Antioch, Calif. But he was shot and killed by another student more than two years ago in the school parking lot.
Courtesy of Jonathon Parker's family
School Climate & Safety The Lost Graduate: Remembering a Student Gunned Down at School
California teen Jonathon Parker and two Michigan teenagers should have graduated this year, but they were killed by gun attacks at school.
Catherine Gewertz, June 13, 2022
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3 min read
Jecholiah Marriott, 17, a junior at Cass Technical High School, leads the March for Our Lives rally through the streets of downtown Detroit, Mich. on June 11, 2022. The rally was to protest the spike in gun violence, especially in schools across the country.
Jecholiah Marriott, 17, leads the March for Our Lives rally through the streets of downtown Detroit on June 11.
KT Kanazawich for Education Week
School Climate & Safety A New Generation of Youth Activists Asks a Familiar Question: How Many More Students Must Die?
Detroit high school students pick up the reins of the March For Our Lives movement after another stunning spate of gun violence.
Williamena Kwapo, June 11, 2022
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3 min read
Illustration of a gun with a school and school bus resting on the barrel of the gun. Background full of speech bubbles.
Collage by Gina Tomko/Education Week and Getty
School Climate & Safety Opinion Let’s Act to End School Shootings While We Still Can
Don’t give up on student safety when the spotlight fades on Uvalde, plead 17 principals who led their schools during or following shootings.
Principal Recovery Network, June 10, 2022
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2 min read
A student helps block the classroom door with furniture during a mock lockdown drill at Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas on Jan. 22, 2013.
A student helps block the classroom door with furniture during a mock lockdown drill at Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Rachel Denny Clow/Corpus Christi Caller-Times via AP
School Climate & Safety School Shooter Drills: Is There a Right Way to Do Them?
Can schools use drills to prepare students for a crisis like shootings without traumatizing them?
Evie Blad, June 9, 2022
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10 min read
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