Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Can Technology Contribute To School Safety?

  • By Richard Fuller
  • 03/01/19

Student safety is a top concern for districts and schools. They want solutions that will help them to support students’ mental health and well being, as well as guard against potential threats. Often the first area of consideration is physical enhancements, such as security cameras and bulletproof glass, which can make a real difference but can inhibit the educational mission. Now many schools are turning to solutions that address student mental health and well-being, which are often at the root of school safety issues, with more extensive use of digital safeguarding.

Digital safeguarding can provide valuable insight into students’ mindsets and can also alert staff if students make—or are discussing—threats of violence to themselves or to others. As the use of mobile technology in the classroom grows, digital safeguarding can be one of the best ways to detect potential safety concerns. Early notification allows schools to investigate and address concerns before they get out of hand.

A recent survey of school counselors found that paper-based record keeping is the most common practice to record information on student well-being and mental health issues. Experience suggests that the era of informal record keeping is being replaced by auditable recording of student safety incidents and the actions taken by schools. Schools can also look for solutions that allow them to integrate, analyze, and store student safety data digitally in order to improve efficiency and inform counseling sessions or other interventions.

Administrators can play an active role in addressing safety through policy, funding, and implementation of digitized safeguarding solutions or other technology that will support counselors, instructors, and staff while also ensuring the privacy of student data.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management March 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Richard Fuller is Executive Chairman of Impero Software (www.imperosoftware.com/us), which provides student safety and device monitoring and management solutions. He can be reached at 844/346-7376 or [email protected].

Featured

  • Embry-Riddle Completes Construction on Research, Lab Facility

    Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, Fla., recently announced the end of construction on a new research and lab facility on campus. The Center for Aerospace Engineering II (CAT II) will support aerospace research and technology development and broke ground last summer.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • UCF Modernizes College of Hospitality Management

    The University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla., recently completed a major renovation effort for the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, according to a news release. The project modernized 77,600 square feet worth of academic classrooms, teaching labs, and collaborative spaces to support both students and faculty.

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.