For lack of staff, money, expertise, and time, school
districts for the most part still can’t put a huge emphasis on education
programs similar to those run in many colleges and corporations to continually
remind people about the rules they need to follow when dealing with physical
security and confidential data. Maybe 2013 will be the year that starts to
change, especially since the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, making the
mitigation of risk more palatable and far less pricey than the potential of
extended legal actions. I say this because it bothers me as a parent
and a physical security professional, that we spend so much more protecting our
Data Centers and Networks than we do in our schools.
The “Active Shooter Scenario” is everyone’s worst case
situation, I work with this everyday in protecting hospitals (Code Silver), in
malls or any other open to the public facility. Based on all that I have
read on the above incident, I do not believe that anyone could have handled
that situation better than it was handled. The school staff did an outstanding
job and Law Enforcement responded immediately keeping the carnage to a minimum.
My point is schools do not need to be open. We can reduce access and push
back the perimeter, which I believe is the only way to reduce the active
shooter threat.
Many times, when I would bring up K-12 school security
enhancements I would get push back like “We want an open feeling in our schools
and the employees won’t allow that.” Hopefully what Richard Cantlupe, an
American history teacher at Westglades Middle School in Parkland, Fla.: He
called Newtown "our 9/11 for schoolteachers." If this is true and we
can at least give our schools the same protection as our data centers will come
a long way in making our schools safer.
After 911 we had Presidential Directive 7 which was a
Homeland Security Presidential Directive that established a national policy for
Federal departments and agencies to identify and prioritize critical
infrastructure and to protect them from terrorist attacks. The directive
defines relevant terms and delivers 31 policy statements. These policy
statements define what the directive covers and the roles various federal,
state, and local agencies will play in carrying it out. We need to add
our schools to this list and give grant money to the school districts to get it
done today.
The solution is available; it will just cost some
money. The school designs are mostly fine; we just need a few enhancements
to reduce the threat, especially the perception of a school being a soft
target. However you can never completely eliminate the threat completely. I have many ideas on this issue and look forward to
discussing them in future postings. I have a check list I have used in
the past that I picked up along the way that gets everyone thinking. If
you would like a copy please go to https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62454695/k-12_School_Safety_Security_Checklist_McDonald_AACI.pdf.
If you have any questions, comment here or call anytime!
