Supervising the Outside Parameters of the Building
Many schools have poorly defined parameters, transition markers, or barriers from street traffic. Playground equipment, poles, and other structures often provide easy access to fire escapes, roofs, and other potential entry points. Trees, shrubs, and related greenery frequently offer perfect concealment for juvenile parties, vandalism, or entry into schools at night. This is especially true for buildings where evening activities are conducted. Schools have as much responsibility for security at night as they do during the day. To ensure that the parameters of the building are constantly supervised, the building principal should develop a parameter supervision policy. This policy should stipulate to members of the custodial staff, teachers, and students the responsibilities and procedures for reporting an unidentified person or persons loitering on the school grounds both during the day and at night. Parameter Supervision Policy provides a sample policy statement that focuses on parameter supervision.
Posting Notification Signs
Most schools make poor use of signs both outside and inside schools. Outside signs should include notices prohibiting trespassing, identifying drug-free and weapon-free zones, providing directions to visitors, and identifying specific entrances by number, letter, or both. Signs inside the school should include clear directions to the office and should identify the school’s different wings, program areas, or facilities. Often school signs direct visitors to report to the main office, yet there are no signs that indicate where the main office is located! To remedy this situation, some schools have posted signs throughout the building which point to the main office or nearest administrative office. Others have posted floor plans near each entrance so that visitors can locate the administrative offices on the map. When posting signs outside the school facility, the author recommend that letters or numbers identify each entrance and that directional signs and floor plans are posted inside the building near each entrance. This particular plan will benefit emergency services and police department officials because it provides a building layout with entrances marked on the plan. When entrance locations are specified in advance of arrival, emergency care units can react more quickly. An emergency caller can simply request that the ambulance driver and the police to be sent to Entrance Door S1 (First South Door) and follow the red arrow to the gym.
Trespassing
Trespassing, as defined in this section, should mean each and every actual entry upon the premises by a person in violation and contrary to the provisions of any official sign posted to regulate and govern such entry or notice. Former students, suspended or expelled students, truants, and strangers increasingly present problems for school administrators as trespassers on school property. Trespassing can lead to other incidents of violence and should be treated as a priority concern by school administrators, teachers, and staff. Some basic suggestions for managing trespassing include the following:
- Implement effective access control procedures as previously mentioned.
- In the student handbook, list trespassing as an offense which will warrant discipline.
- Communicate to students via the student handbook and during student orientation that they are not to have friends or relatives come to school grounds to meet with them before, during, or after school.
- Students should be aware that if they support and encourage trespassers, they will receive disciplinary consequences.
Use a camcorder, camera, or similar device to record trespassers or non-students in the area of buses and school property at school dismissal. If the trespassers are unknown at the trespassing location, a picture or videotape can assist administrators of other schools in the area or the local police in identifying them. Once trespassers or loiterers are identified, their home school administrators or the local police should pursue the appropriate disciplinary action. The policy in establishes a procedure for handling suspended students who trespass on school properties.
Protective Lighting
Protective lighting, which used to be a simple issue, has been increasingly debated over recent years. Advocates of an energy conservation policy argue that by turning out all lights and requiring school neighbors and others in the area to report any signs of light to police, thieves will be caught much faster because they need light to do their dirty work. However, many building principals question the lights-out philosophy because it is frequently supported and advocated more from an energy (and dollar) conservation perspective than from a professional security perspective. Whereas it may work in some areas, particularly in rural or smaller suburban communities, building principals working with larger, urban districts question whether lights-out is the best approach. Most lights, such as individual classroom lights, should be turned off after hours or when the classroom is not in use. The efficiency and logic of having a school completely lit up are questionable. Nevertheless, good lighting outside the building deters the amateur vandal or burglar who might otherwise commit an offense under the protection of darkness. It is logical to follow “lights-out” on the inside and “lights-on” on the outside as a general recommendation, recognizing that schools and districts are unique and may require individualized recommendations. Further lighting problems can be caused by inadequate maintenance and infrequent inspections of lighting conditions. School security assessments often turn up reports of burned-out or damaged lights that have gone un-repaired for months, even though the facility had been used on a daily basis. Like other physical security issues, lighting generally requires financial commitments. This includes costs associated with repairs, replacement, and labor. Costs, however, should not automatically disqualify corrective action. It is better to pay smaller amounts for prevention than larger amounts for damage awards in court. (See Checklist Below for Use of Protective Lighting)
Checklist for Use of Protective Lighting
- Are parking lots, building entrances, and outside parameters well lit?
- Does the school maintenance program include the replacement and repair of outside lights?
- Are all security lights on timers or sensors to conserve energy?
- Is there an inside lighting plan for after-school hours in specific areas of the school building?
Traffic Control and Parking Lot Supervision
The times when the parking lot and school driveways are most vulnerable to outside interference and trespassers is usually at the beginning of the school day, during lunch, and after school. Because parking lots often have multiple entrances and exits that can facilitate vandalism and defacement of vehicles and school property, the building principal should insist that the staff be assigned to various traffic and parking lot duties during the most vulnerable times of the school day.
The most important element for controlling and supervising the parking lot is the campus traffic and parking lot supervision plan. This plan should be designed in such a way that it restricts traffic locations, but in areas where the traffic is heavy, the plan should allow an easy flow of traffic for both pedestrians and vehicles. To help implement safe traffic practices, the building principal should establish procedures that communicate the desired before- and after-school traffic procedures.
It should be noted that parking lot supervision policies for elementary school sites will differ substantially from those for secondary school sites. Elementary policies focus more on getting the children safely into the proper vehicles (school buses, parents’ cars, day-care shuttles) while secondary sites focus more on preventing speeding, reckless driving, violence, and vandalism while students are entering and exiting the school parking lot (See Secondary Parking and Driving Regulations). Controlling secondary parking lots requires intense supervision; therefore, the authors highly recommend closed campuses for lunch, thereby eliminating an opportunity for students to engage in unsafe behaviors.
Vehicale Identification
Schools with a large staff and student body are also likely to have more problems associated with vehicles. Consequently, a vehicle identification program that requires all vehicles to be registered with the main office should be maintained. (See Vehicle Registration Policy) Registration should include a vehicle description, license number, and related identification information for staff and student vehicles. Examples of both a student vehicle registration form and a teacher vehicle registration form have been provided in (See Teacher Vehicle Registration Form and Student Vehicle Registration Form) Note of Caution: It will be important to keep faculty and staff vehicle identification information out of the hands of students.
