Jan 22

Written by: Bret Rachlin
1/22/2010 3:30 PM

Is the reporting of school safety and security incidents an art or a science (Source: WTOP.com, January 15, 2010, Montgomery County grapples with school safety report)? If it’s a science, then schools simply would note their security/safety incidents and let the report speak for itself. If there were 20 fights during the school year, then that’s how many would be in the report. If it’s an art, however, then of those same 20 fights, it’s possible only 10 would appear in the report.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is not the only district dealing with this issue, but it is the district covered in the highlighted article. With several groups weighing in on the latest School Safety and Security at a Glance report, including county officials, school security representatives, and Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office, it’s no wonder that there’s disagreement about what incidents should be reported.

For example, Acting Chief of School Performance Frank Stetson said the following about the distinctions that are made, “You can have a fighting incident between two kids, but that doesn’t necessarily rise to a serious incident report. However, if it’s a group of students, and somebody gets injured in that, that’s a serious incident report.” Conversely, “council member Roger Berliner said he would want any fight reported,” especially if his child was in a fight.

Additionally, another council member expressed that teachers and administrators often have challenges regarding incidents in the classroom. Teachers likely do not want to report issues out of fear that administrators will push back with the message that they can’t handle the students.

Overall, it’s time for all school officials to take responsibility for safety and security issues collectively and establish a clear process for how to report incidents and plan for how to reduce the number of future incidents. Most schools are still very safe places where learning happens every day, but each school has its own unique attributes that impact the school’s effectiveness in providing a safe learning environment. A minor fight in one principal’s eyes may be part of a larger bullying issue, so it should be reported as an incident (this is reporting as a science). Each report should be analyzed based on the school’s individual make-up (including its incident reporting history and how it has dealt with its prior security incidents), which allows schools to report all incidents without fear that someone may label the school “dangerous” based solely on the report. With this approach schools can plan and act accordingly for the long-term, rather than simply trying to address with knee-jerk fixes for the short-term.

How does your school district classify security/safety incidents for reporting purposes? Are you concerned people will stereotype your school negatively if you report too many incidents?

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