The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceptions of school principals regarding creating a safety plan that addresses school safety in K-12 schools in Illinois. The conceptual model that guided this study was the M-PHAT model from the National Association of School Psychologists Framework for Safe and Successful…

This paper examined the perceptions of school administrators in the state of Illinois concerning their roles in preventing school violence. Targeted school violence has increasingly been a concern in the United States. It is a type of violence that transcends everyday altercations in the school context, and rises to the level of deliberate,…

This dissertation examines the fidelity in which school districts are prepared to implement their reunification plan in the event of a tragedy or emergency. School emergencies continue to occur, and safety plans need to be developed and administered to support and protect students and staff. This dissertation is organized into two separate papers.…

This qualitative research study investigates teachers' perceptions of school safety and their adherence to specific safety procedures in a small, pre-K-eighth-grade school district in a small, suburban school district in Illinois. Data were collected through anonymous open-ended surveys distributed to teachers with varying experience levels. The…

The County School Facility Sales Tax (CSFT) has been a supplemental funding source for some Illinois school districts since its inception in 2007. CSFT offers districts an alternative source of revenue targeted specifically for school facilities and for paying off existing debt without relying on local property taxes. This study explores and…

This study determined the perceptions of school administrators who work at rural schools in Illinois classified as distant and remote on whether they need to be allowed to carry concealed weapons in order to protect themselves and their students by responding against armed intruders with deadly force. An existential conceptual/theoretical…

Drawing from a context of reception framework, this article asks the following questions: How do educators describe issues of safety and belonging in the context of a charged immigration policy climate? What practices have educators developed to support immigrant-origin youth? And, what are the relationships between educators' perceptions of…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether district funding influences the leadership work of school principals. This study explored the role of the elementary principal in four school districts. Two districts were located in communities with an affluent population and the schools had an abundance of fiscal resources; the other two districts…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to find out the current status of school safety in regard to how school buildings are secured and how much the staff is trained on how to handle security related issues. The research was based on the differences between rural, suburban, and urban schools in the state of Illinois. My interest in this topic…

This paper has two purposes: First, we describe the components of the Student Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility for School Safety (SOARS) framework in the context of the literature on school safety. Second, we offer outcomes from a pilot study testing the framework's impact on student perceptions of: (1) school belonging; (2) sense of…

The phenomenological research investigates the perceptions of principals on the use of multi-option response plans before, during, and after active shooter drills. The study discovers three central themes from eight Secondary principals. Active shooter drills in public schools are mandated by state legislation and create school culture challenges…

By the end of March 2020, all public schools in the United States were closed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. More than 50.8 million children stayed home as school systems scrambled to transition to remote or hybrid learning platforms. While the decision to close schools was difficult, the debate over when and how to reopen…

We study changes to teacher working conditions from 2016-17 to 2022-23, covering school years before, during, and after the COVID pandemic. We show working conditions were improving leading into the pandemic but declined when the pandemic arrived. Perhaps more surprisingly, the pandemic was not a low point: teacher working conditions have…

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine how the interorganizational relationship between school administrators and law enforcement personnel with diverse cultures, missions, and objectives collaborates to create, implement, and sustain emergency management readiness. The theoretical concept that guided this study…

A rise in racial tensions nationwide has heightened the need for community college leaders to have candid conversations about race on their campuses. "Dialogue is the only path to creating community," says Joseph Grenny, co-author of "Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High." But talking about race,…