Educators participating in a recent survey overwhelmingly believe that the Covid pandemic has increased student mental health needs–and in many instances, mental health issues are the biggest obstacle to school safety.

These latest statistics are found in the 2023 School Safety Survey from Raptor Technologies and the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO). Through the survey, Raptor gathered insight into a wide range of school safety and student wellness challenges school safety decision-makers face today. 

The survey surfaced critical data and insight on obstacles related to school safety and security processes, such as physical security, safety drills and procedures, and emergency response planning. In addition to 60 percent of respondents citing “mental health issues” as the greatest school safety obstacle they are encountering, 78 percent of respondents indicated the mental health needs of their student population have increased since returning post-Covid.

Mental health affects how children handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Early intervention is the most important and effective way to support a student who may be experiencing mental wellbeing issues they are not equipped to manage. However, over 50 percent of respondents indicated they aren’t fully equipped to assist with the mental health-related needs of their students.

Schools do so much for a community. They provide a safe place for children to learn and grow each day, filled with educators who truly care. However, as a parent or educator, it’s important to understand that many schools aren’t being used to their full potential.

When utilized properly, local schools can uplift safety in your community, providing a place outside of traditional school hours for children and families to feel secure and supported.

The task of neighborhood safety shouldn’t fall solely on teachers and administrators. However, these individuals who have regular contact with local youth can spearhead the initiatives that promote safety in the community.

If you’re not sure where to get started with that kind of promotion, let’s cover a few ideas that can increase the role schools play in community safety and security.

Community Outreach Programs

One of the best ways to utilize local schools is to transform them into community centers when classes aren’t in session. School outreach programs provide countless benefits for kids and teens. They bring resources into the buildings that keep young people engaged while providing a place of safety after school. Some of the biggest benefits include:

• Continued education on specific issues;
• Behavioral changes;
• The promotion of civic engagement;
• Improved student outcomes.

If you’re not sure how to transform your space into a community center, think about what your neighborhood really needs. Some teachers could volunteer to teach specialized classes. You could open up the gym to offer sports programs to kids and adults alike. Professionals from the community might be willing to come and teach parents about things like financial health and self-care.

Related:
5 school safety questions your district should be prepared to answer
Learn to align your communication strategies with school safety

Having a campus-wide communication ecosystem is imperative, and school district leaders have no higher priority than to create secure and informed campus environments.

Being able to initiate a controlled emergency notification protocol to alert, notify and monitor directly from a mobile device, classroom audio system, or interactive flat panel is essential.

An eSchool News panel of experts, including Brent Thrasher, Instructional Technology Coordinator at Overton County Schools and Todd Eddy from Galaxy Next Generation, offers insights into how to make better decisions, prevent risk, and strengthen communication between faculty, administration, and first responders during an active threat.

Topics include:

• How to immediately notify teachers of a lockdown through software alerts.
• How to instantly notify law enforcement and first responders.
• How to monitor communication within your entire ecosystem using one software platform.

Related:
3 keys to school communication and community-building

COVID has undeniably changed education, and as schools, districts, and states move forward with educating students in a new reality, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is focusing on student learning and student safety.

MDE is investing up to $49 million of its American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III funds in four new services to support student safety and learning statewide.

“These student and school support services will help all district and school leaders manage the challenges of the pandemic and help students accelerate their learning,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “Along with a system to make schools safer, we are offering districts services that will give students access to high-quality content, college and career planning tools, and live tutors 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

All school districts have the option to subscribe to the services, which are being provided at no cost to districts. Districts that decide to implement the new services will have free access to them through the end of the ESSER III funding cycle, September 30, 2024.

The four new student safety and learning services include:

Health and School Safety Platform (nSide)
The web-based the nSide platform enables schools and districts to develop and implement stronger health and safety plans that protect students, teachers and staff. Features include an emergency alert system to first responders, surveillance cameras that detect crowd congestion, and a system to create detailed campus maps and building floor plans with georeferenced images that give first responders precise locations. 

December 2021 saw the latest TikTok challenge encouraging students to make threats of shootings, bomb threats, and violence against schools. Some schools enhanced security protocols while others canceled classes entirely. Many of the threats were ultimately unverified, but even rumors of potential school violence were enough to incite major panic for parents and put school leaders across the country on high alert.

Though many students see social media challenges as a rite of passage or a way to fit in with their peers, what they may not realize is that students caught participating in challenges to make threats of violence or engage in destructive behaviors face severe consequences—including criminal charges in some cases.

It’s clear that schools must work with parents to inform students of the consequences associated with participating in these dangerous viral challenges. And with the spike in school violence over the last year, every threat should be taken seriously. So, what can schools do now to ensure their students and colleagues remain safe?

Early prevention

First off, schools should monitor social media posts to understand and anticipate which ones may be relevant to them. Additionally, parents should monitor their student’s social media activity on a regular basis. Not only are parents generally unaware of social media trends in a broader sense, but they are also often unaware of what their own child is participating in.

Next, teachers and school personnel need to be hyper-vigilant in observing student behavior. They need to take note of students who are quicker to get angry and need to understand what their triggers are in order to avoid pushing them past their breaking point. We also need to understand that although it may be necessary under certain circumstances, the purpose of threat assessment is not to punish students or send them to jail, but rather provide them with assistance—like mental health support—and prevent situations from escalating.

After a lull in threats of violence early in the pandemic, we are once again seeing tragic stories of deadly shootings and acts of violence as schools reopen. Schools and educators are in difficult positions and looking for ways to keep kids and staff safe. Nationwide, schools are preparing for potentially harmful threats, putting precautions in place, and evolving the school safety landscape.

As a parent of school-aged children, I received notifications regarding the recent threats that trended on Tik Tok in December. Local authorities, the FBI, district leaders and school security teams all worked together to monitor the situation. But what proactive safety and security measures can schools be taking?

Here are three ways schools can reduce potential safety risks before and during an emergency.

Take a holistic approach to school safety

It is critical that school leaders consider school safety across all phases of an incident: how do we prepare better in advance of an emergency? How do we surface tips and critical information from our communities that provide early indications of issues? What happens after the incident occurs – how do we restore normalcy? This type of holistic approach considers each stage of an emergency: preparedness, response, and recovery.

David Riedman, lead researcher for the K-12 School Shooting Database, shared a few strategies with the Washington Post. One beneficial approach is to host crisis response trainings that provide the opportunity for students to speak up if someone they know may be in crisis. To this end, pre-emptive resources such as anonymous tip solutions have been shown to be effective as most attackers share their plans with at least one other person.

With the academic year underway, K-12 schools have resumed in-person learning. However, there is growing concern amongst parents, students, teachers, and faculty that reopenings come with a variety of safety and health risks. Threats of public violence, mental health concerns, uncertainty around the Delta variant, and more all stand in the way of educators having a successful school year.

A recent survey found that 57 percent of respondents are “extremely or very concerned” that a post-pandemic crisis could affect their safety or the safety of a loved one in a school environment. When combined with the knowledge that students are under significant mental health stress and that many younger learners are still unvaccinated, administrators should think carefully about how best to ensure a safe return to classrooms. 

The key lies in putting tools, strategies, and policies in place today that ease concerns and minimize risk. By taking the proper steps, schools can focus on creating healthy learning environments for students rather than worrying about the safety challenges at hand.

Provide resources to support student mental health

Going into the 2021-2022 academic year, school administrators must acknowledge the elevated risk of mental health crises and violence on school grounds, especially after such an extended period of disruption. In fact, a Reuters survey found that nearly three-fourths of school districts surveyed witnessed “multiple indicators of increased mental health stresses among students” since the pandemic began. Many students have experienced significant isolation and even trauma over the last 18 months, and a full-time return to classroom learning may exacerbate mental health struggles.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and that means educators across the globe are still finding inventive and innovative ways to support and teach students in classrooms, during hybrid instruction, and in virtual settings.

The eSchool Media K-12 Hero Awards program, sponsored by Trox, recognizes the determined and dedicated efforts of educators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Never before have educators been challenged and tested as they were, beginning in March 2020 and up until today, and never before has their resilience been more apparent. Administrators, technology leaders, classroom teachers, and educators in all roles have persevered as they taught each and every one of their students during a global pandemic.

Here, eSchool News highlights Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister–one of its K-12 Hero Awards finalists. Keep reading to discover how this Hofmeister keeps learning going in the middle of a global pandemic.

Nominee: Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Nominated by: Rave Mobile Safety

What makes this nominee a hero?

As COVID-19 swept across the nation, many schools moved student and staff safety to the top of their priority lists. However, as many schools focused efforts solely on testing and case counts, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister never stopped thinking about the holistic safety of Oklahoma’s nearly 700,000 students and more than 85,000 teachers and staff.

A proponent of full-time in-person learning, Joy worked tirelessly through the summer of 2020 to ensure Oklahoma public schools were able to reopen in the fall. With safety top of mind, she was constantly evaluating ongoing cases and evolving situations in schools throughout the state, and reminded students, teachers, and other staff of the importance of following best practices like washing hands. At almost every news conference, she was asking the public to do their part so students could get back to learning, promoting safety along the way.

With COVID-19 on the retreat, Joy turned her attention to the long-term mental and physical health of her students. Just recently, the Oklahoma Department of Education announced the use of $35 million in pandemic federal relief dollars to help districts hire more school counselors, licensed school-based mental health professionals, social workers, and recreational therapists. The School Counselor Corps is a program for which Joy has been advocating for years. Oklahoma children suffer from the highest rates of trauma in the nation, and schools have long needed more counselors to support students. Joy saw the pandemic as adding more trauma to student mental health and worked to provide additional resources to address their social-emotional needs and ensure they are on track for academic success.

Joy’s holistic approach to student safety also includes the state’s innovative use of the Rave Panic Button, a school safety app that, with the push of a button, sends important information to 9-1-1 centers, on-site personnel and first responders in the event of an emergency. As schools look forward to a more traditional school year in the fall, Joy wants to ensure schools are safe and connected via the Rave Panic Button, knowing that it can make a huge difference when responding to an emergency. Joy played an integral role in making Rave Panic Button available to all Oklahoma K-12 public schools and 9-1-1 centers to enhance school safety and security at no cost to the schools. Thanks to her dedication in promoting the program across the state education and law enforcement communities via email campaigns, news conferences and school-by-school safety assessments, the Rave Panic Button is implemented in public schools across the state with countless stories of impact.

Joy has always put Oklahomans at the forefront of school safety. With COVID-19, this goal was certainly challenged at times, but Joy never forgot her longer-term mission. Throughout the pandemic, she has had student, teacher, and staff safety top of mind–and she’s ready to tackle any other obstacles that may come.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and that means educators across the globe are still finding inventive and innovative ways to support and teach students in classrooms, during hybrid instruction, and in virtual settings.

The eSchool Media K-12 Hero Awards program, sponsored by Trox, recognizes the determined and dedicated efforts of educators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Never before have educators been challenged and tested as they were, beginning in March 2020 and up until today, and never before has their resilience been more apparent. Administrators, technology leaders, classroom teachers, and educators in all roles have persevered as they taught each and every one of their students during a global pandemic.

Here, eSchool News highlights Greenville County Schools–one of its K-12 Hero Awards finalists. Keep reading to discover how this district keeps learning going in the middle of a global pandemic.

Nominee: Greenville County Schools

Nominated by: Gaggle

What makes this nominee a hero?

When South Carolina closed school buildings across the state last year, Jeff McCoy and his team sprang into action, working diligently to accommodate the district’s educators and students. As the Associate Superintendent for Academics at Greenville County Schools, McCoy knew how important it was to keep students engaged in their education from wherever they were.

He quickly launched the district’s virtual learning school, ensuring continuous learning for 23,000 students from the onset of the pandemic. Getting one-third of the district’s students set up with e-learning in mere days was no easy lift for McCoy’s team, but these efforts showcased their dedication to both students and academics.

Throughout the pandemic, McCoy and his team continued to implement, coach, and support professional development courses for the educators in the district. Approximately 2,000 educators participated in these sessions to ensure they were successfully engaging students in their education during the pandemic. This allowed both educators teaching remotely and those teaching in the brick-and-mortar environment to continue with their PD efforts during this unpredictable time.

McCoy’s commitment to creating and sharing best practices with educators throughout Greenville County Schools showcases his tremendous dedication to teaching and learning. The vast number of educators voluntarily joining the virtual learning sessions is a testament to his passion for education.

Last October, McCoy and his team made digital safety top of mind for the district. After seven months of navigating the pandemic, they had witnessed so many struggling students and knew that action was necessary. Being unable to see students face to face made it nearly impossible to protect and support all of the students within the district, but McCoy and the senior leadership team recognized the importance of safeguarding students—especially in regards to depression and suicide.

Knowing they could be missing something, and just how unacceptable that idea was, McCoy heightened the district’s digital safety efforts to ensure students were being taken care of. This included altering the OnTrack process, a whole-child approach for early warning response with a team of school personnel to intervene with struggling students. At the first sign of a struggle in the virtual environment, students in distress are identified, preventative action is taken, 1:1 mentors are appointed, and the OnTrack team intervenes to provide the necessary supports to ensure student safety and well-being.  

Educators like Jeff McCoy make us all proud to work in education. His passion for teaching and learning—even in the toughest of times—is truly inspiring. Thanks to his efforts, students were able to remain engaged and safe throughout the pandemic. Whatever next year brings, the students and educators within Greenville County Schools are lucky to have his expertise and dedication as we move forward from this unusual time.

The next challenge for educators as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic is safely returning to in-person learning. After over a year of forced shutdowns and adoption of an online workforce and remote learning, the logistics of safely returning to in-person learning are overwhelming. The challenge is even greater with the Delta variant of COVID-19 becoming more prolific, and K-12 districts, colleges, and universities are racing against the clock to figure out what their approach will be this coming fall.

Whether schools opt for a phased approach, stay with hybrid learning or proceed with fully in-person classes, the goal is the same: to safely, quickly and efficiently return to school. Further, higher education institutions have to be cognizant of their impact on the larger community. Colleges and universities are a hub–with thousands traveling to and from campus each year, mingling, cohabitating and more, what happens within an academic institution may reach far beyond the campus.

So what can be done to help leaders navigate these challenges? Enter no-code. The past year has highlighted the need for agility and the ability to adapt when change and disruption happens – which, as we know, is a constant. The adoption of no-code processes is vital to empowering organizations to adapt with change.

What is no-code?

No-code gives business users – those outside of IT – the tools to build sophisticated applications without the need for professional coding. Because no-code tools don’t require a background in development, an educator is empowered to create nearly any application to solve a myriad of challenges. For example, someone in HR or in academic services can create an application to track vaccination reports, or a resident assistant can create an application to track visitors coming in and out of a dorm.

The COVID pandemic has changed much about how we live and how we work. Nowhere is this more evident than in our schools – in how we safely teach our students and how our students learn, safely. The challenge with schools is that, from a safety perspective, educational institutions were already under siege.

Consider the following: According to the National Fire Protection Association, there are more than 3,200 fires each year in schools in the U.S. According to the United States Government Accountability Office, there are roughly 115 school bus incidents involving fatalities each year. Of course, most people don’t realize this because this information is overshadowed by the 180 school shootings in the U.S. from 2009-2018, according to CNN.

And now – in 2021 – we have inserted the impact of a global pandemic into this already-volatile situation, with almost no suggestions or assistance to these schools regarding how to safely re-open and keep our school campuses open.

Fortunately, there are many ways that technology can help in this area. And while this pandemic is not a good thing, there are a number of learnings we can take away from these times that have relevance long after this pandemic is gone. It all begins with asking the right questions.

Interventions into student safety, prompted by technology used to help school leaders prevent students from harming themselves or others, increased dramatically after COVID-19 landed in the U.S. and caused schools to close physical classrooms.

In its annual Student Safety Report, Gaggle, which uses artificial intelligence and trained safety experts in a student safety solution designed to prevent student suicide, bullying, inappropriate behaviors, school violence, and other harmful situations

According to the report, which analyzes incidents detected using Gaggle’s solution, during the 2019–20 school year, school and district educators were able to save the lives of 927 students.

This number represents a general increase of 28 percent over the preceding school year, but a significant difference emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The pre-pandemic increase in lives saved was 11 percent, but during the pandemic, the increase rose to 32 percent.

Related content: 6 reasons we’re using a student safety platform

“We’re able to have a presence in a space that normally we wouldn’t be part of. We’re not in their homes with them, but when students are creating these calls for help, we want to be able to act and provide the necessary support,” said Dr. Adrian Palazuelos, superintendent of the Fillmore Unified School District, in the report.

We are excited to bring you the third in a series of eSchool News Guides, which are full of resources, tips, trends, and insight from industry experts on a variety of topics that are essential to the classroom, school, and district.