Today's School Security - American School & University article

Apr 1, 2012 12:00 PM, By Mike Kennedy (mkennedy@asumag.com)

Improved technology and more effective prevention programs help schools and universities provide safer learning environments.

Security cameras at Wells Community Academy High School, Chicago, have stepped up safety efforts. Photo: CPS Office of Safety and Security

The month of April has a grim track record for deadly violence on school and university campuses. On April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, armed with guns and bombs, launched an attack on teachers and fellow students at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo. They killed 12 students and one teacher, and wounded 23 others before committing suicide. On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho carried out the most deadly shooting spree on a U.S. campus when he shot 32 people to death on the Blacksburg campus and then took his own life.

Now, April 2012 has a chapter in that disturbing legacy. On April 2, One L. Goh, a former student apparently embittered about his experience at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., returned to the campus. He allegedly began shooting; a secretary and six students were killed, and three others were wounded.

Outbreaks of violence at education institutions typically do not rise to the horrific levels of Virginia Tech, Columbine or Oikos. But incidents that threaten school security?bullying, hazing, online harassment?take place in every month of the year and may occur in any classroom or campus from coast to coast. Schools and universities have taken numerous steps over the years to create safer learning environments, deter violence, detect troublesome behavior before it becomes life-threatening, and put plans in place to respond to emergencies. The efforts won?t eliminate violence and criminal behavior from schools, but every incident that befalls an education institution provides administrators with another opportunity to see what lessons can be learned to make the learning environment safer for students, staff members and visitors.

Keeping watch

Over the years, violent episodes have occurred at some education institutions when an intruder has been able to get inside a school. In response, schools have taken steps that make it more difficult for people to enter facilities without permission and make it easier to detect those who do get inside.

The federal government?s "Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2011" says that in the 2009-10 school year, 99 percent of public schools require visitors to check in or sign in. Some schools have systems that conduct an immediate criminal background check on visitors before they are allowed in.

Other steps schools are using to maintain control of who is in their buildings:

?Controlled access to school buildings during school hours: 92 percent.

?Controlled access to school grounds during school hours: 46 percent.

?Students required to wear badges or photo identification: 7 percent.

?Faculty and staff required to wear badges or photo identification: 63 percent.

?Use of security cameras to monitor schools: 61 percent (at high schools, the figure rises to 84 percent).

?Random metal detector checks: 5 percent.

?Daily metal detector checks: 1 percent.

Caught on video

The likelihood of getting caught is a factor would-be troublemakers take into account before engaging in out-of-bounds behavior. On a spacious campus, in a large facility, where hundreds or thousands of students may go about their business in relative anonymity, school security staff may find it difficult to monitor all the potential trouble spots or those tempted to create problems.

The widespread availability of inexpensive, more powerful video technology has enabled education institutions to even the playing field in the battle for campus safety. People who know their actions may be recorded on a surveillance system may decide to rein in their inappropriate impulses, and many schools and universities have blanketed the inside and outside of their facilities with cameras so that few areas are beyond the reach of the watchful eyes of security officers.

The ability to transmit video images over an education institution?s computer network and to record images digitally rather than on bulky and space-eating tapes has made it possible for schools to monitor more locations in real time, gain access to images from remote locations, and track down archived video more quickly.

The extent of video surveillance on some school campuses has made some privacy advocates uneasy, but education administrators who have placed a high priority on campus safety have seen that the surveillance has improved the climate for learning in schools.

In Chicago, the school district began using security cameras in 1999 and now has more than 7,000 analog cameras in 268 of its more than 600 schools. In 2010-11, officials decided to step up security at one of its more crime-plagued high schools. After numerous high-definition cameras were installed at Fenger High School, administrators reported that misconduct cases declined 59 percent compared with the previous year, and the number of arrests dropped by 69 percent. The dropout rate at Fenger dropped from 19 percent to 5 percent.

Those numbers prompted officials to install the high-definition system at 14 more high schools that officials say have high numbers of misconduct, arrests or reports of crime. The system, now in place, has between 50 and 80 high-definition security cameras at the 14 schools.

"We need to provide instructional supports to help teachers and principals drive student growth in the classroom, and building a safer learning climate goes hand in hand with those efforts," says Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard. "We hope that (the) high schools benefitting from these security cameras will experience similar results to those that helped move Fenger in the right direction."

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