Every day in America more than 50 million children go to neighborhood public schools. Parents send them off with every hope they will be safe while there. And yet, as has been the case in too many cities, violence shatters that hope. The Council of Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI) seeks to lead in the effort to bolster schools and provide safer and more secure learning environments. As a result, this planning guide has been created to provide elected officials, educators, planners, and builders with essential knowledge certain to aid in the protection of students. This guide seeks to answer the primary question of how to create a built environment which lends itself to emergency preparedness and response. It explores four major and interrelated categories in doing so: infrastructure, crisis communications, staffing, and procedures. On February 6, 2013, CEFPI hosted a security summit in Washington, D.C. Attendees included personnel from national, state, and local educational and security agencies. No school administrator wants to have to face the challenges of violence; yet all must come to grips with that possibility. They must plan and prepare for a broad array of threats. Appended is a list of speakers and attendees.