It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that a collaborative, evidence-based, systems-thinking approach to school emergency preparedness is necessary to maintain safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments for all students. The registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as "school…

Increases in student experiences with social and mental health, acts of violence, and the school-to-prison nexus have prompted many schools to evaluate alternatives to safety that are equitable, inclusive, and student and family-centered. Punitive approaches to school safety have been shown to disproportionately affect underserved schools and…

Even though school safety is a topic of concern for many people, there are laws that specifically protect students because of race, national origin, sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Educational spaces should prioritize the safety and well-being of all students (Ladson-Billings, 2014). Hence, educators are charged with the responsibility of…

Although all stakeholders agree that schools must be safe places to learn, there are discrepancies among researchers, policy makers, and the general public about what constitutes school safety, and how best to accomplish the goal of making schools safe. This article reviews what we have learned about components of school safety by examining trends…

Colleges are charged with providing safe and secure campus environments, which are conducive to learning for all students. It is the duty of the college leadership to ensure that their campuses are not only visually appealing, but also that they ensure the safety of all. Recent events have shown that efforts to protect our campuses and…

School security is an issue faced by all school districts. Some school districts in the state of Missouri made the decision to arm members of their staff to provide an additional layer of defense. This qualitative study looks at the lived experiences of PK-12 school staff members who carry a concealed weapon for Shield Solutions. The participants…

State school safety centers (SSSCs) aim to provide a wide range of services to enhance school security. Still, more information is needed to understand how the centers should operate and what factors determine their success. In 2021, the WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center received funding from the U.S. National Institute of Justice to…

To explore issues of safety and security at school the research reported here investigated the way a sense of security was created in school, how security was linked to different locations and situations, and the influences that acted on pupils' sense of security. Pupils in year 1 in Sweden took photographs associated with insecurity and security,…

While research consistently finds that increases in a school's SRO/police presence correspond with increases in the rate of school referrals of student disciplinary incidents to law enforcement agencies, direct evidence of distributional concerns across various student subgroups is scant. Drawing on data from the 2017-2018 School Survey on Crime…

BACKGROUND: Lockdown drills are mandated within many educational settings in the US; they may contribute to adverse mental health and there is little to suggest their effectiveness. We describe factors associated with post-drill anxiety and perceived effectiveness of drills. METHODS: We surveyed youth-caregiver dyads presenting to the pediatric…

An ultimate goal of American universities is to provide a safe and secure environment for all who attend and operate there, but what safety looks and feels like to the individual can vary to a great degree. There are many factors that campus safety departments consider when designing their campus safety policies and regulations. One way…

This resource includes state statutes and regulations that explicitly allow concealed firearms on campus, explicitly prohibit firearm possession on campus, and statute or regulations that allow guns in locked vehicles on college campuses. In some states, court cases have overturned or altered statewide or systemwide policies related to guns on…

The purpose of this study was to gather information regarding the confidence and competence levels of school mental health professionals who are called upon to implement threat assessment procedures as part of their job duties. More specifically, the study involved comparing the confidence and competence levels of school mental health…

This study represents an application of the entertainment education approach utilizing aspects of arts education to deliver campus policy and protocols to a population of incoming first year students at new student orientation. Consistent with previous applications in research, these theatrical entertainment messages were combined with a post-show…

School shootings, a tragic occurrence throughout history, have garnered heightened attention in recent decades, largely due to widespread media coverage and the rise of social media platforms. Recent school shootings have created an increased need for school safety and security. Schools have added cameras, metal detectors, electronic door locks,…