This week’s shooting at Townville Elementary School in South Carolina that left two students and a teacher wounded hearkened back memories of that fateful December day in 2012 when 20 children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook. Unfortunately, one of the shooting victims, six-year-old Jacob Hall, later died as a result of the injuries he sustained. Experts say the quick actions of first responders in this case likely mitigated any further casualties from being inflicted by the teen gunman who was taken into custody. However, the shooting does once again raise concerns about the state of security in the nation’s schools, particularly elementary schools which tend to be the most vulnerable.
According to published reports, the 14-year-old accused in the Townville shooting crashed a truck into a fence surrounding a playground at the school and proceeded to open fire. The gunman never made it inside the school and was quickly subdued by a volunteer firefighter who responded to the scene. Admittedly, experts say that an active shooter event of this nature is hard to prevent regardless of what kinds of security measures may already be in place.
“It’s very difficult to stop every kind of attack there is, so you have to give this school credit for having [security measures] in place. It at least took some effort for [the gunman] to get where he did on the playground,” says Paul Timm, president of school security consulting firm RETA Security.
Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, also credited the actions of first responders with helping to minimize the potential damage. “In fact, thanks to the quick response on the outside, the shooter did not make it into the school,” says Trump.
Avoiding a Knee-Jerk Reaction
Timm says the security posture of schools has gotten better since Sandy Hook, but that progress has been slow and often comes in the form of “window dressing.”
“By that I mean people buy [security] systems and think now that they have these systems in place that they are good to go,” Timm says.
Trump also cautions school administrators against having knee-jerk reactions to these types of security incidents and implementing solutions that would do little to stop a shooter. “Following high-profile incidents like the Sandy Hook shooting, there is always a search to do something new in order to respond to the emotional security needs of parents, educators and the broader society,” he says. “We have seen ridiculous extremes like bulletproof backpacks for students, bulletproof white boards for classrooms, bulletproof blankets to protect against shooters and tornadoes, and teaching students and school staff to throw things at, and to attack, armed gunmen.
“People are looking for the ‘wow’ but not thinking about the ‘how’ in terms of the inability and unreasonableness of implementing these and other ideas,” Trump continues. “These all meet the emotional security needs, but in reality will do little - and may even create a false sense of unrealistic security - to actually make kids, teachers and schools more safe.”
Inherent Security Challenges
Timm says elementary schools face several inherent challenges when it comes to protecting students and faculty against these types of attacks. First and foremost, because there is not the same perceived insider threat at an elementary school compared with middle and high school facilities, they are not going to have the same amount of resources to combat an active shooter.
“For example, you’re not going to have a school resource officer at an elementary school like you would at a high school. You also probably won’t have the number of cameras and the same level of measures that you would in more at-risk populations,” Timm says.
Conversely, Timm says elementary schools are generally much better at gaining compliance from students, parents and staff members when it comes to implementing simpler measures, such as visitor management systems and various access control safeguards.
Trump says elementary schools are also challenged by staffing shortages which can become a security issues during these types of events. “On a day-to-day basis, the biggest safety threats to elementary schools may be bullying, aggressive student behavior and non-custodial parent custody issues,” Trump adds. “But elementary schools are often challenged by having a limited number of unassigned teachers and support staff who are able to supplement the supervision of common areas such as hallways, cafeterias and playgrounds. Many elementary schools have one principal with no assistant, a part-time counselor and one secretary in the office. Keeping eyes open, working together for supervision and being proactive on safety is truly everyone's job.”
Room to Improve
As demonstrated by the quick response at Townville, Timm says schools, by and large, have done a much better job or coordinating with local law enforcement authorities to prepare for myriad security threats. Additionally, many schools have also improved their visitor management systems and added measures like vestibules to keep people with ill intentions from gaining access to buildings. On the other hand, he says some school boards still see technology as a panacea for all of shortcomings.
“What happens is we think because we have [those systems], we’re finished,” Timm adds. “The problem is, I could have a great electronic access control system but if people with credentials aren’t waiting for the door to close and latch behind them, someone who tailgates in has just defeated the system.”
Trump says many of the things that schools still need to improve on don’t include deploying “flashy” and “fad-driven” measures, but rather more basic things. “Employing CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) concepts in new school construction and renovations can make substantial improvements ranging from reconfiguring main entranceways to funnel visitors into the office while preventing people from walking on into the building, to enhancing hallway supervision with improved line-of-sight and reducing bullying by putting restroom sinks in a common area on the outer portion of the bathrooms so adults can better supervise kids washing their hands after using the facilities,” Trump explains. “Technology is a supplement to but not a substitute for a comprehensive school safety program. Any security equipment is only as strong as the weakest human link behind the equipment.
“We can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on security equipment, but does the technology have realistic applicability to a Pre-K-12 school setting that meshes with school climate, culture and community relations aspects of how schools operate?” Trump continues. “We are seeing far too many school districts throw thousands of dollars in security equipment such as cameras based on one-time grants or other budget allocations, only to have no budgets for maintenance and replacement in the months and years ahead. The result: cameras that are not functioning, not being repaired and presenting a false sense of security, along with a potential liability risk, to school districts.”
Trumps says school officials and administrators need to invest as much or more time and resources into educating staff and improving their preparedness as they do in making enhancements to their physical security systems. “Too often we see well-intended school leaders who will be quick to drop some dollars for physical security equipment they can point to when talking with parents, but they are much more guarded in releasing time for training school staff, diversifying their lockdown or evacuation drills, and doing meaningful, detailed planning with their first responders,” Trump adds. “In the cases I see as an expert witness, the questions typically are focused more on allegations of failures of people and procedures, not of failures of equipment.”
The Future of School Security
While many school districts across the country have considered arming or have armed some staff members as a way to stop mass shootings, neither Timm nor Trump is in favor of the idea. “Arming teachers is a high-risk, high-liability proposition,” Trump says. “To be armed to protect one's self and family is one thing, but to arm non-law enforcement, educational school staff is tasking them to perform a public safety function to protect the masses. This function should be left to trained, professional career law enforcement professionals.”
Timm believes that as the culture of schools changes with regards to security, and as awareness improves, schools are going to be increasingly better prepared for active shooters and other threats. “As we’re leaving the Mayberry mentality and have more a defensive driver mentality, that is going to help everyone,” Timm says.
Trump also emphasizes that the likelihood of these events remains extremely low but that schools still have to be prepared for a worse-case scenario. “The good news is that the vast majority of schools will never experience an active shooter. The bad news is that places that used to be sacred grounds, such as our schools and churches, are now experiencing incidences of crime and violence that history never crossed the threshold of their doorways,” he says. “It’s a matter of being aware and prepared, but not scared, and organizational leaders can no longer claim that they didn't know something could potentially occur or that they didn't know what to do in terms of security and preparedness. The resources are out here but, as is often the case in the security arena, denial, along with budgetary and time constraints, are often an organizational leader’s worst enemy.”
