On the first week of school, a shooter opened fire through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis on Wednesday onto a crowd of nearly 200 children celebrating Mass, according to multiple reports. Two were killed and 17 were wounded.

The 23-year-old gunman was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, allowing him to shoot dozens of rounds through the windows of the Annunciation Catholic School just before 8:30 a.m.

Kenneth Trump, president of the , says events like this are an alarming way to start the school year. While school shootings may be top-of-mind for many leaders at the moment, he recommends maintaining a broad focus.

“There are many other school safety threats that are higher probability but lower impact in comparison to a school shooter,” he says.

He contends that elementary schools are far more likely to experience non-custodial parent issues than a school shooting. Most schools are addressing issues like bullying, cyberbullying, verbal threats, fights and similar threats on a day-to-day basis.

“Active shooters are one threat on a very broad threat continuum and school administrators can’t get tunnel visioned on any one threat at the expense of losing sight of others,” Trump explains.

Emphasizing training

This school year, Trump is prioritizing safety training in three areas: situational awareness, recognizing abnormalities in patterns and making cognitive decisions under stress. He says he wants educators to be “situationally aware” while supervising.

The second area, recognizing abnormalities in patterns, is something Trump says educators are already great at doing.

“They notice the stranger in the parking lot or hallway, the car parked in the back parking lot that doesn’t belong, or a person in the pickup line who is not the normal adult to pick up a child,” he explains.

Thirdly, making cognitive decisions under stress requires a new way of thinking for many school staff who are on the front lines. In most cases, teachers and support staff send difficult situations upward to their assistant principal or principal when the issue exceeds their typical caseload or responsibilities.

However, in moments of crisis, teachers don’t have much time, underscoring the need to train and empower school staff to make important decisions under high stress.

Technology’s role in safety

Trump often says the human element is the most important component of school safety preparedness. Meanwhile, school districts are to bolster their security.

He says that leaders must carefully assess risks, threats and vulnerabilities when evaluating security technology.油Leaders must take a “tactical pause” when under pressure from their communities to purchase security technology.

“In short, security hardware and technology should be determined upon a comprehensive assessment, not to provide an emotional security blanket for parents and others in the school community,” he explains.

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Only 17% of school staff members feel their entrances are “completely secure,” citing several issues keeping administrators from maintaining a secure entrance, including:

• Guests not following check-in procedures (31%)
• Lack of staff (30%)
• No way to verify guest identities (24%)

That’s according to a from油油Singlewire Software, a mass notification and visitor management provider. The research highlights the top concerns and challenges schools are experiencing in securing their entrances to deter potential threats from entering their buildings.

“School safety starts at the front door,” said Terry Swanson, president and CEO of Singlewire Software.

Upon surveying hundreds of school staff members nationwide, the researchers uncovered five key findings that may provide administrators a better understanding of how to improve front door security.

1. Most schools are monitoring their entrances 24/7

59% of school staff members said their school entrances are always supervised and monitored, and 32% said entrances are monitored daily when school is in session.

2. School staff are satisfied with the effectiveness of security protocols

32% of respondents rated their current security protocols as “excellent,” while 50% rated them as “good.”

3. Schools rely on video surveillance

89% of schools have video surveillance in place, and 43% are planning to purchase or upgrade video surveillance in the next two years.

4. School staff overwhelmingly know what to do when issues arise

In the case of an emergency, 89% of school staff members said they know how to respond.

5. Communication tools play a crucial role in security

Only 1% of respondents said their schools lack an established communication system.

Read the full report .

More from 91心頭: Why schools take a long time to report ransomware

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Now, as superintendent of the Greenville Central School District in New York, Bennett spearheads initiatives and initiates frequent discussions surrounding school security. He sends out quarterly safety updates to his community, and every September, when school starts, he walks his students through what they can expect from the district if油and油when油a security incident occurs.

“I’ve got to catch myself every once in a while because of my experience to make sure I’m not going overboard on what we’re trying to do in the realm of safety,” says Bennett. “But at the same time, ensuring what we’re doing is thoughtful, practical, and makes sense.”

Taking action

He’s currently conducting a school safety audit with the help of Jaclyn Schildkraut, the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Her assistance ensures that the district complies with state safety requirements.

Bennett says the audit will give him tangible resources to present to his school board and community that highlight the district’s ongoing mission of prioritizing school safety.

There are also many front-facing safety measures in place, according to the district’s . Every building is equipped with the , a school resource officer from the Green County Sheriff’s Department, and a blue light system, which allows administrators to lock down the school from anywhere within the building. When a lockdown is initiated, all doors immediately lock and keycards are deactivated. Blue lights shine throughout the campus to alert that a lockdown is in place.

Furthermore, each school follows the same five standard response protocols in the event of an emergency. Each response is based on an “all-hazards approach” instead of having responses for individual scenarios. The responses are:

1. Lockdown: In the event of an immediate threat of violence in or around the school.
2. Secure lockout: Used for incidents that pose an imminent concern outside of the school.
3. Hold: Limits the movement of students and staff while dealing with short-term emergencies.
4. Evacuate: In the case of a fire, for instance, students and staff are instructed to leave the building.
5. Shelter: During a weather-related event, students and staff shelter in place.

Seeking community

He adds that the audit provides another layer of security. Part of this goal is to ensure he is in tune with the current national safety climate and trends.

In 2018, some folks from the , a national network of current and former school leaders who have experienced gun violence in their buildings, asked him to join the coalition. The network’s members share the combined wisdom of their experience with the larger principal community to assist administrators recovering from campus tragedies.

“For the first time in my life, I felt as though I had found people who understood what was going on,” he says. “We found our voice, a friendship, a bond.”

Shootings at a larger scale

Bennett’s work endures even as school shootings continue to reach astronomical levels. So far in 2024, there have been nearly 300 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, according to the . It falls roughly 50 incidents short of last year’s record-high of 349 shootings.

In August 2022, the Principal Recovery Network published a , a collection of best practices to help school leaders in the aftermath of such events. We encourage you to read the report and the group’s .

More from 91心頭: You may want to borrow this district���s successful smartphone rules

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First, you should start by building awareness about reporting to detect threats early and deter future threats, according to from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Leaders should encourage members of their district to “report, don’t repost” threats they see online to avoid further dissemination of threats, thus limiting their impact.

Secondly, look into building a partnership structure that will help address such threats. Intelligence organizations like fusion centers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or school-knowledgeable law enforcement personnel will play an instrumental role in assessing threats and deciding on appropriate response actions.

Additionally, mental health and other threat assessment professionals will provide resources to schools addressing these situations in the moment and during recovery.

Next, leaders should consider the inclusion of a multidisciplinary threat assessment team while addressing anonymous threats. Their expertise should be utilized when the threat actor’s identity is revealed. At the very least, these teams should include a school administrator, a school-based law enforcement representative and a school counselor or similar mental health professional.

Leaders should also utilize response coordinators to help balance initial steps to ensure their campus is safe. If your school is the target of a threat, determining which assets need to be on-site is a crucial first step. Furthermore, be prepared to announce to your community whether the decision is made to lock down, secure campus or close school.

More from 91心頭: How to create professional development that���s meaningful this year

Also on the list is the need to triage and determine the level of concern each threat poses. Start by considering contextual information about a threat, identify discernable patterns that may elevate or decrease the level of concern, and identify sins of the threat’s imminence that may call for a rapid response reaction.

Finally, taking into consideration all of these strategies, enhance your school’s preparedness to address future threats. Establish a response protocol that tackles threat situations and conduct age-appropriate drills and training exercises. Protocols should also include communicating with families and ensuring the proper resources are in place to address a threat’s impact.

You can read the full report .

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School shootings and social media threats

I’m sure many of you have been keeping up with the news surrounding Wednesday’s deadly mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia’s Barrow County Schools. The suspect has been identified as 14-year-old Colt Gray, an Apalachee High School student.

The shooting resulted in four deaths, including two students and two teachers, according to the .

In Ohio, at least one Cincinnati-area school district closed in response to shooting threats posted to social media, the 油reports. The online threats suggested violence against multiple schools, according to police reports.

“We cannot verify the validity of this threat as we do not have sufficient time to complete a full investigation before school begins tomorrow morning,” Mt. Healthy City Schools said in a letter to families on Wednesday ahead of its decision to close.

As many as four other districts, including Cincinnati Public Schools, held classes with increased police presence on Thursday.

“The district is taking extra precautions as the safety of students and staff is of paramount importance,” CPS said in a statement.

In light of these recent events, I encourage you to read up on some of油District 91心頭istration’s油recent coverage featuring safety experts who offer comprehensive advice on bolstering your school’s security measures. Here are a few resources to help you get started:

AI-powered ransomware is inevitable. Heed this advice

In the next two years, AI-powered ransomware will modify malware code in real time to avoid detection, predicts one expert. Here’s what you can do to prepare.

‘Talking Out of School’ podcast: How to improve school safety beyond metal detectors

“We don’t want to blame everything on COVID, but COVID did have a notable, marketable impact on school safety,” says Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services.

How to improve reading instruction

Few studies have addressed teachers’ impact on reading and instruction and whether they feel they have the knowledge and resources to support students who have difficulty reading instructional materials. New research from uncovers public school teachers’ perceptions of students’ challenges with reading in grades 3-8 and what educators need to help students become proficient readers.

Here are some of the findings:

• Third- through eighth-grade teachers across all subjects reported that students spend more than half of their class time reading and writing.
• 44% of their students always or nearly always experience difficulty reading the written content within their instructional materials.
• 40% of teachers have misconceptions about how students develop reading skills, and nearly half of teachers say their primary source of knowledge about reading instructions comes from their experiences in the classroom.
• Nearly three-fourths of teachers say they desire more access to resources to identify and support students with reading difficulties.

Learning from leaders

Before you go, the National Association of Secondary School Principals announced this week its three finalists for the 2025 National Principal of the Year award. Read our coverage highlighting each finalist here.

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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油District 91心頭istration 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油District 91心頭istration’s油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油know油how this could potentially have a positive impact on safety,” he says.

More from 91心頭: 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.

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In total, there were 144 cases of a school shooting last year, according to the nonprofit’s data. In 2022-23, there were 110. Yet, both numbers are a significant improvement from the油record-breaking 192 shooting incidents that occurred in 2021-22.

“School is the last place where kids should have to worry about gun violence, yet we saw incidents of gunfire on school grounds increase last year,” the research reads.

The most common type of shooting to occur in schools last year involved attempted or actual assaults or homicides, the research continues. Additionally, we saw record-high numbers of shootings by police and unintentional shootings.

For instance, two people were during a basketball game at Escambia County High School in Alabama when a gun went off after falling from someone’s waistband.

More from 91心頭: Learn from one state that bested chronic absenteeism

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a 16-year-old student a classmate after a basketball game at Atrisco Heritage High School. The two were playing with the gun in the parking lot when it discharged.

“These shootings offer a window into the devastating impact that gunfire on school grounds has on students,” the research reads. “All incidents of gun violence in schools, regardless of their intent or victim count, compromise the safety of students and staff.”

Additional gun violence data

We encourage you to yourself to get a clear picture of gun violence in K12 schools. Here’s a brief look at some of the organization’s additional findings:

• In 2023-24, 87 people were wounded. Thirty-six were killed.
• The majority of instances involved gun homicide/assault (52.7%). Others include:
  • Unintentional shooting (14.8%)
  • Gun suicide death/attempt (6.7%)
  • Mass shooting (0.7%)
• 26 states have adopted a secure storage or child-access prevention policy.

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In fact, in 2022 found that 44% of K-12 parents fear for their child���s physical safety while at school. This means nearly half of parents don���t believe that their children���s schools are secure enough to protect them. The issue of safety in schools is certainly a complex one, but there are proven measures that can be taken that are readily available to school administrators.

The first question we must ask is, ���What is it, physically, about our schools that leaves us vulnerable?��� This question can introduce a variety of responses. To combat vulnerabilities, people may look to our governing bodies to implement policy change while others may draw attention to the role of personal responsibility of school employees in maintaining security, many of which overlook the physical state of community buildings���more specifically their doors and entrances���and jump straight to costly security add-ons.

In 2020, the Department of Homeland Security ran an active shooter simulation, in which classroom doors that lock when closed had a ���significant impact��� on deterring the threat of the shooter. To date, no active shooter has ever breached a classroom door that was securely latched and locked.

Despite this simple safety measure, one in four U.S. public schools still lack classroom doors that lock from the inside, highlighting the need to increase public awareness of effective security enhancements and door safety practices. While ensuring all schools have secure door openings seems like a straightforward solution, there is currently no national standard for secure openings in America leaving students, faculty and staff at risk.

To address the lack of necessary standards for secure openings, the Door and Hardware Institute in collaboration with the Door Security and Safety Foundation recently released new guidelines, ���Are Your Door Openings Secure?��� to equip not only school teachers and administrators but also building managers and property owners with the knowledge and resources to confidently secure their buildings.

These guidelines are meant to serve as a resource on the best practices for securing community spaces; within the guidelines, there are recommended guidelines, outlining three different levels to securing openings, that teachers and administrators may use to assess their current security capabilities at the opening and inform them on proper operational procedures.

Our goal is to make schools not only aware of the importance of door security, but also to embolden them to first, educate themselves, and second, facilitate steps toward improving their spaces with properly secure openings. We know the impact implementing these guidelines can have, and we are committed to supporting school administrators as they create safe learning environments, one door opening at a time.

If you would like to learn more about our guidelines, please visit .

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Now, the families have announced further lawsuits against Instagram’s parent company, Meta, citing claims that it allowed advertising by the manufacturer of the assault rifle used in the Uvalde school shooting. Activision Blizzard, the company that owns the “Call of Duty” franchise, was also included in this lawsuit from the families. According to the lawsuit, the Uvalde, Parkland and Sandy Hook shooters played the popular video game leading up to their assaults.

Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the AR-15 used in the Uvalde school shooting, is also being sued. “There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” Josh Koskoff, a partner at law firm Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, said in a statement.

Safety, of course, remains a top priority for most district leaders. Hop on over to this podcast episode where we chat with safety expert and President of the National School Safety and Security Services Ken Trump about what administrators can do to mitigate risks.

School buses get a makeover

Also this week, the Biden-Harris 91心頭istration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 Clean School Bus Program competition, which awards 530 school districts nearly $900 million to replace older, diesel fuel school buses that pose health risks. Schools will be using the rebates to purchase more than 3,400 clean school buses, most of which will be electric. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Weekly insight

I know it’s summer for most of you, so I gathered some timely research that could be useful as you prep for the 2024-25 school year.

Many of you likely operate leveraging one-teacher, one-classroom models. There’s no shame in that, considering how difficult it is to hire and retain sufficient staff post-pandemic. That being said, it may be in your best interest to dive into team teaching.

This from the Center for Reinventing Public Education showcases early outcomes from the Next Education Workforce (NEW) team-based models in Mesa, Arizona. Here’s what they found:

• Higher retention rates: Teachers���especially new educators���in these models are more likely to remain at their schools.
• Longer career plans: Educators plan to stay in the profession for at least five years.
• Increased satisfaction: They’re more likely to recommend teaching to a friend.
• Improved evaluations: Ratings are higher compared to those in non-team-based classrooms.

More from 91心頭: School layoffs are mounting quickly as ESSER winds down

To that end, 54% of teachers say they’re considering leaving the profession over the next two years, according to a released this spring from K12 Insight. By now, I’m sure you’re tired of hearing that, so what should you do?

The researchers suggest creating a work environment where educators油want油to work and thrive. However, according to K12 Insight’s poll, only 52% of school employees say their district recognizes them for high-quality work and accomplishments. The extensive report offers various strategies and solutions to this issue.

New from 91心頭

Hot off the press, we’ve just announced our “Top 100 Influencers in Education,” which you can find in the latest magazine issue. You’re likely to recognize several national pioneers in education, including some fellow superintendents who are doing incredible work for their students.

We’ve also released another episode of the “Talking Out of School Podcast” where we sit down with filmmaker Tiffany Shlain about her new documentary “The Teen Brain.” The film dives into neuroscience to help parents and teachers better understand the upsides of an intense period of growth and development for students.

And just when you thought you could get through a piece without any mention of artificial intelligence, think again. I recently spoke with Santa Ana Unified School District Superintendent Jerry Almendarez about how he and his communications team use AI to create video messages to the community in multiple languages.

In this video, you can see Almendarez communicating in perfect Spanish, a language he’s not fluent in. Thanks, AI!

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A national keyword search conducted by K12 data tracker shows how often four big topics���including mental health and career and technical education���are covered at meetings nationally. Burbio has been providing regular updates on what school boards in the largest districts have been talking about.

Its most recent analysis looks at this year’s school board discussions in districts serving about half of the students in California, Florida, Texas, New England and parts of the Deep South. Not surprisingly, there’s some evidence of political lines being drawn, particularly around SEL and related topics.

Read more from 91心頭: Superintendent turnover���lots of new hires, just a few departures

Student mental health has been an ongoing and major concern for administrators. Mental health and related terms such as “therapist” were mentioned at nearly half of the meetings in California and more than 40% of the sessions in New England, compared to just 13% in Texas.

The SEL divide is similar, though the term was mentioned less often in all parts of the country. Social-emotional learning was covered at nearly 40% of meetings in New England and more than 20% in California, compared to around 5% in Florida and Texas, both of which have laws restricting the teaching of sensitive topics such as race and LGBTQ issues.

CTE and security

Regional divides are narrower for career preparedness and safety. CTE was on the agenda at nearly 75% of Florida school boarding meetings, 63% in California and half of the meetings in the South.

Security was most common in Florida (78% of meetings), Texas (64%) and New England (54%).

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