Image via NRAAM.org

The school year is back in session for tens of millions of American children, including my twin boys. Keenly aware of security considerations, I like what I see at my kids’ school. Do you know much about your kids’ school…or grandkids for you older folks?

As parents, we expect these schools to proactively mitigate risk and keep our kids safe while they’re there. When visiting the school, if you as a layperson see obvious security weak points like unlocked exterior doors during school hours, there may be other issues that you didn’t notice. If school officials aren’t addressing these deficiencies, we as parents can help nudge them towards improving safety.

No one likes to deal with heightened security – until the wolf is at the door. However, when it comes to saving lives, proactivity beats reactivity every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Don’t assume. Be proactive as a parent. Assess your kids’ school security plans by opening a dialogue with your local school adminisrators.

The NRA’s School Shield program provides a great apolitical springboard for those discussions. Not only that, but the School Shield program will not only send out experts to do a security evaluation — at no charge — but they can also provide grant money to make any recommended security improvements.

Because the harder the target, the less likely a bad guy will successfully recreate another Parkland in your hometown.

Image via NRA School Shield website. nraschoolshield.org

Here are some questions the School Shield program has put together for parents to ask teachers and administrators to make sure they don’t have their heads in the sand when it comes to security.

1. Has our school ever had a vulnerability assessment done?

2. Does our school work with local law enforcement and emergency responders in crisis planning and training?

3. When was our emergency operations/crisis management plan last reviewed?

4. What types of drills are conducted at our school and at what frequency?

5. Are all exterior doors of our school locked during instructional hours?

6. Are all visitors to our school required to check in with the main office?

7. Are students and staff trained on how to identify and report suspicious or concerning behaviors/comments?

8. Does our school have a behavioral threat assessment team?

9. If there is an emergency, how and when are parents/guardians notified?

10. Do we have designated security personnel assigned to our school? If so, are they armed/unarmed?

In fact, there’s a guide you can download and print out with all of these questions. Or you can email it to your school’s administrators.

The School Shield website also has a series of videos talking about the security analysis their experts provide from the perspective of teachers, parents, paramedics, etc., as well as ways to implement increased security without frightening parents.

Don’t assume your kid’s school is as safe as it could (or should) be. You can help them make sure they work to mitigate risks and maximize safety. The life you save might be your son or daughter’s.

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59 COMMENTS

    • There is no reason for a federal department of education. Local communities should have control over their schools.

      • “Local communities should have control over their schools“

        Oh yes, the push to bring back local control because it would make so many conservative’s fascist dreams come true.

        ‘Local control’ would bring back segregated schools, ‘separate but equal’ is still equal according to the white supremacists.

        • Most calls for segregation today are coming from liberal (in name only) people. It is the Postmodern Critical Theorists that have captured education that are advocating for segregated spaces and lessons in schools.

          Get with the times Miner. If you’re not careful you’ll end up committing epistemic violence and find yourself tossed in to the “fascist” bin, too.

        • MajorStupidity,

          That is the most pathetic, inane drivel I’ve seen from you, so far.

          1. Deranged, Leftist/fascist narrative? Check.
          2. Projection writ large (“No, we don’t want to control your kids, or indoctrinate them, we just want to FORCE them to go to public schools (or junta-approved, “acceptable” upper-class schools for the children of the elite), so we can make sure they learn the “approved” curriculum.”) Check.
          3. Completely oblivious, un-self-aware propaganda? Check.

          You have now ascended to the pinnacle of irrelevancy – you are a REALLY poor caricature of a Leftist/fascist idiot. Enjoy your new-found status, MajorStupidity.

          To paraphrase Oppenheimer: “You are now become Rachel Maddow, destroyer of truth.” Have fun, and remember . . . “when the revolution comes”? You’ll be one of the first up against the wall. If you think being a “useful idiot” (very little “useful”) will save you from your Leftist/fascist “friends”?? You’re even stupider than I thought you were.

          If I were a more vindictive person, I would almost wish to see you achieve your Leftist/fascist “utopia”, just to watch you have to live with the nightmare you helped create. Unfortunately, I and my children have to live in the dystopia you seek, so . . . f*** off, MajorStupidity, and let the adults take over.

        • You think the federal Dept. of Education is the only thing holding back school segregation? That’s pretty bad Miner, even for you. Like Anonymous said, the Left is actually segregating certain areas and events in schools right now. I think it’s only happening in colleges, but like every other commie idea, it spreads like a virus.

        • Wow, miner, you are a master projectionist. Maybe if your side had not sold out to corporations and their trillions you would seem more sincere in your bleeding for the down trodden.

          If everybody is a closet racist you must be included.

    • Home school your kids, and how good or bad the security at the government school is won’t matter to you. Your kids also won’t get exposed to all the woke and LGBTQUEER stuff prevalent at too many schools today.

        • “groomers posing as teachers“

          Matt Gaetz is posing as a teacher? I thought he was pretending to be a congressman.

        • MajorStupidity,

          COOL STORY, BRO!!

          Now do Bill Clinton, Jeffery Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, and all the other Dimocrat, Leftist/fascist kiddie diddlers. Why isn’t “Herr Drumpf” on the flight manifests for the “Lolita Express”, MajorStupidity???

          Any evidence Matt Gaetz was banging a Chicom spy?? Where are the Cuomo brothers, these days?? F*** off, MajorStupidity.

      • Second the motion. By the time the schools get straightened out an unborn generation will have passed high school. Home school is the only way to guarantee a great education and the best security.

    • It wasn’t because marsupials skulked in one night under the cover of darkness? 🙂

        • “…and created war and the atom bomb.”

          But, but, but…

          Aren’t you building a Neutron bomb in your burrow…?

        • Geoff. Possum is just pissed because we humans made a bomb that works. He can’t get his to work.

          We know this because we’re still alive.

        • Don’t let jwm and Geoff harsh your mellow, possum – you’ll get that bomb to work (just as soon as you realize that possum poop, as toxic as it is, ain’t plutonium). Good luck with that!

  4. If my children were young they’d be home schooled. My granddaughters are as are my brother’s (10!) kids as are various nieces & nephews. Don’t leave your kid’s to a violent chaotic leftard propaganda mill.

  5. Armed Security, Yes Sir…he / she/ they have a messenger bag full of tennis ball sized rocks available at all times….except during their lunch and breaks (secured in a vault during those times and before / after school hours). They also have a 1W FRS radio with wich to threaten any unauthorized intruder. Mirrored sunglasses for intimidation and a well trained vocabulary of (potentially) harsh words round out their equipment.

  6. It’s seems more apparent every day politician’s do not want real solutions. The ‘dims’ always raise funds for their political ambitions around tragedy, the imagery of vultures circling overhead come to mind.

  7. 5. Are all exterior doors of our school locked during instructional hours?

    6. Are all visitors to our school required to check in with the main office?

    These two rules are the most violated by staff and nearly always part of the killer’s entry success.

    • As per locked doors, fire codes everywhere require that all exterior doors can be opened rapidly and without restraint from the inside. Most use “panic bars”. While staff may prop them open occasionally to run outside/return, far and away most are left by students passing by, skipping class, or propping for another student returning from some, shall we say, expedition off campus/out of the building.

      The “staff problem” in buildings where I worked were solved by RF scans of the required ID at all locked outside door entrances, which also log the person entering. (I’m in no way trying to support teachers, or public schools, just an observation from 40 years of experience.

      As per armed security in the form of LEOs, SROs, etc: Most of the “school cops” I’ve been associated with were never the Hollywood types, often near retirement or more prone to desk work, and would become quite friendly with the students, even very popular. Their position becomes one more related to “presence” than security or guard work. I contend that were I wanting to make a name for myself as a shooter, I’d just walk up to the uniform, pull my concealed weapon and shoot him/her/it first, thereby gaining the RO’s weapon, pepper spray, and some other goodies to use in my quest. I’m not a believer that uniformed personnel are actually much of a deterrent to a juvenile bent on mayhem. Not knowing which staff member might end the rampage early might be an actual deterrent but under today’s idiot rules we’ll likely never find out. I will state, however, that as bad as most public school teachers are in regards to firearms, I believe in the “no atheist in a foxhole” plan: People often react counter to their learned/acquired “principles” when a real threat to their lives is 3 feet in front of them.

      We had a review of School Shield last week and I am a supporter as a place to start. Still, as others have stated, until a plan occurs that allows normal, qualifying (??) staff to also carry concealed, always secret firearms for the protection of themselves and their students; as well as a total removal of the always anti-American propaganda being pushed on undeveloped minds; home or private schooling is the only option if one really loves their children and wants help in preparing them for the future.

      • Craig,

        In favor of enhanced (and intelligent) security. Not a fan of the “surveillance state”. Biometrics, RF-encoded IDs, “facial recognition”, etc.? Just a little too 1984 for my tastes. School custodians make regular circuits of the facility (IF they are doing their jobs); why can’t they verify door status? If necessary, hire a dedicated security officer or two just for that purpose (God knows, I found ways to avoid surveillance when I was that age!). Or, we could go whole hog, and just microchip everyone and be done with it, amirite?

  8. “…when it comes to saving lives, proactivity beats reactivity every day of the week and twice on Sundays.”

    I would be brutal in my messaging if I were running a school board campaign out there.

    Like show a school hallway covered in yellow evidence tents and smears of blood and have the text read “We tried it their way, and look what it got us. Again. Stop this madness and secure our schools…”

    • NTexas,

      “TAX PAYER CAN AFFORD IT”

      Really??? So, what’s your annual contribution, idiot??

      Oh, and QUIT F***ING SHOUTING AT US, @$$HOLE!!!!

  10. My local schools look like fortresses.

    Back when I was in school, most boundary fences were only waist high with full height fences where the school bordered adjacent properties.

    Now we are talking about 2.5m (8’+) high fences with anti-scaling measures and locked exterior gates.

    • Really.
      I didn’t know Australia(New Zealand?) had the same benefits that our schools have here in the U.S.

  11. The high school in my city has terrific security at the main entrance. Bullet resistant glass, bars, sally-port entry and two guards in duty. Unfortunately, the other 10 doors on the sides and back have no security and people come and go at all times. The school is surrounded on all four sides by streets with traffic lights so potential perps can easily case the place and observe the lax security. Should have a wall around it.

  12. Anyone who calls any NRA program “apolitical” has been out of touch with reality for at least half a century.

    The name NRA anything is instantly political.

    • Have to agree here. Like the Karens will ever get behind ANY program that the NRA offers. They want safety in name only. And that really translates to CONTROL. Control of kids, parents (no dissent–we know what’s best for ‘our’ child that you think you’re raising), and all other community members. Gun owners? Icky…no, they’ll need to report for re-education. Sign up and board the cattle car, if you please.

    • “and sale dope”

      Apparently, at your school they also need to learn the difference between ‘sale’ and ‘sell’.

      • MajorStupidity,

        Well played!!! When you have no substantive comment, immediately revert to grammar/spelling Nazi!!! Very “on brand” for your ilk, MajorStupidity.

        • It all he knows.
          When pathetic losers can’t dispute content, they shift to grammer, spelling, syntax……..

          Just as every other day, everyone is laughing at the 🤡s pathetic pivot attempt.

  15. Putting armed guards in schools and even allowing teachers themselves to be armed in order to combat any threat posed by the rare ‘active shooter’ becomes quite worthless against the greater disease being spoon fed to children by lunatics teaching communist idealism. You can harden school security to the Nth degree but confusing kids to the point of suicide makes it a meaningless waste of time and resources.

    The mere fact that this is even a discussion in the first place is evidence that ‘gun free school zones’ make everyone LESS safe.

    • “lunatics teaching communist idealism“

      Could you cite a specific example of the “communist idealism” you believe is being taught in schools.

      • Umm, . . . you claim YOU graduated??? That seems pretty specific and persuasive. No one on this forum wants their children to turn out as brain-dead, indoctrinated, and stupid as you, MajorStupidity.

        As for specific examples?? Don’t watch much news, do you, MajorStupidity???

      • If a leftarded study, poll or media outlet doesn’t say the sun rose this AM, it never happened in winertardworld. 🤪

        Needs to change his username to gaslighter49er……..or strawmaner49er.

  16. How about charging people who know there’s a psycho in their school, or another with accessory after the fact, or murder, if that’s the case. Every single school shooting could have been stopped, people knew, even law enforcement. People who stay silent are just as responsible.

    • “charging people who know there’s a psycho“

      Interesting idea, and what criteria would you have for defining what is a “psycho”?

      • “…what criteria would you have for defining what is a “psycho”?”

        The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting a different result.

        One example, getting draconian gun laws passed expecting to reduce crime, but instead making violent crime far worse.

        Case in point, Chicago… 🙂

  17. Boch, I would worry more about the propaganda being poured into your kids heads in public skrewl than the minimal danger of a mass shooting.

    As for security, I provide my own for myself regardless of law or policy.

  18. I let my high-school-age son carry a P365.

    The second amended isn’t limited to some arbitrary age set by JanetRenoJackBootedThugs.

    If you don’t teach your kids and let them carry, why?

    This site advocates:
    – single moms poaching
    – allowing 11yo girls to open carry AR15s

    So I let my son pack heat. Every time I say this, this message board hates on me.

    Yeah, it’s an NPE. Concealed means concealed. He’s responsible. I trust him.

    • So I take it kids carrying guns to schools should be permitted, and it’s not necessarily a sign of a mass shooter.

      As many on this list point out, the constitution gives no age limit and everyone here says gun free zones are a bad idea, clearly the conclusion is that every child should be armed at whatever age they want.

      That should certainly make the school safer.

      • Check your notes trollfarm.🙄

        You did this same strawman around 8 months ago.

        Even used the ‘I let my son bring…….’ username.

        It’s really pathetic that you’re reduced to recycling old scripts. 🤪

        I guess that’s what happens when the progtards have no wins to run on weeks before an election. 🤔

        Troll on trollfarm.

    • All I’ve gotta say about your son carrying a gunm to school is if he gets caught hes up sht creek.
      I rekon that’d be a felony.
      .
      Wouldn’t it be ironicatbest if a skewl shooter showed up and your son saved the day.
      Oh my oh my

  20. All good common sense recommendations in the article. The same recommendations apply to places of worship. One of the many reasons we left our church. They would not take security during services seriously. They did implement additional security measures during AA meetings and the like at night after a dumpster fire and numerous thefts. But didnt get the memo on protecting parishoners or allowing them to protect themselves. Concealed is concealed but I just could not deal with their head in the sand attitude. Churches are target rich environments just like schools and shopping malls.

    • Perhaps your congregation has faith in The Lords protection?
      All I know is when the religious mama skunked got attacked by a dog she told her offspring, “Let us spray.”

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