Incorporating School Safety Devices into School Plant Planning
Michael Hassell
Providence College
October 7, 2013

Background and History Schools should be safe and secure places for all students, teachers, and staff members. Without a safe learning environment, teachers may have difficulty teaching and students may find their environment a difficult one in which to learn. (DeVoe, J. et al., 2012). Priorities set by schools, local authorities, and state and federal government have prompted the nation to focus on improving the safety of American schools. The safety of our school facilities has become one of the largest issues in education and has continued to be a concern of great importance. Although the most recent national indicators demonstrate that larger gains have been made in recent years, safety issues remain substantial problems in US school buildings. Between 2004 and 2012, there was a 46 percent decrease in the violent crime victimization rate at school. Despite this decline, students who are between the ages of 12 through 18 were victims of about 700,000 violent crimes and 1.2 million crimes of theft at school in the year 2012. (DeVoe, J. et al., 2012). Among the top trends in school safety are violence, theft, bullying, drugs, and most importantly, firearms. These issues continue to grow in many schools throughout the country indicating that more remains to be done to make our school facilities safer. Furthermore, accurate information about the nature, extent, and scope of the problem being addressed is essential in developing effective programs that support safe facilities. However, as local budgets around the US continue to decrease, school leaders are still left to fulfill new safety requirements for their school facilities. This research paper will address the growing issue of safety requirements as it