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Thirty percent of K12 teachers and administrators think about their physical safety at work every day. However, only a third of those same folks believe their school or district “strongly prioritizes” safety. There are several reasons why leaders ought to address this gap.

First and foremost, an educator’s perception of their own safety impacts their willingness to stay. Seventy-seven percent of educators and administrators believe safety has a direct impact on teacher retention and recruitment, according to a shared exclusively with District 91��Ƭistration by CENTEGIX, a rapid incident response safety solutions provider.

Security incidents—and the ability to respond to them effectively—also impact a teacher’s ability to do their job effectively, says Roderick Sams, a former superintendent and principal and currently the chief development officer at CENTEGIX.

“The amount of time it takes to deal with a situation directly impacts the amount of time a teacher has to provide instruction,” he says. “Ultimately, that accumulates over the course of a school year, and that negatively impacts a student’s ability to meet standards and achieve at the level they should.”

One of the more significant findings from the survey echoes the sentiments of District 91��Ƭistration’s past conversations with security experts like Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, who advise leaders to prioritize training and education over safety hardware.

CENTEGIX asked survey-takers to identify the types of safety and security tools, protocols and measures their school has in place. Topping the list are emergency drills like active shooter and bomb threats (83%). Near the bottom of the list, you’ll find things like hardening of doors and windows (26%) and weapons detection systems (9%).

Addressing safety gaps

There are a number of challenges that school leaders must overcome to improve their overall culture of safety. Twenty-five percent of respondents felt that a lack of funding was their most significant barrier.

Sams encourages leaders to become champions of data to make informed decisions and overcome whatever gaps might exist in their schools.

“As a former principal myself, one of the things I was religious about was using data to inform how we operated as a school,” he says. “Data is also critical in the world of safety as well.”

For instance, if a leader knows they have a disproportional amount of incidents occurring in one location in their school, they can make the necessary adjustments to address that issue.

“If I don’t have access to data in that way, I’m just speculating versus truly having the ability to ��ԴǷ���how this could potentially have a positive impact on safety,” he says.

More from 91��Ƭ: A look at gun violence during the 2023-24 school year

The survey also sheds light on other details surrounding security and incident response. In some cases, it took school employees anywhere from three to 10 minutes to notify the appropriate personnel that help was needed.

We encourage you to take a deeper look at to gain a clearer understanding of how you can address your school’s security-related gaps.