School Safety

Education news, analysis, and opinion about keeping student safe in the school building from bullying, violence, and environmental hazards, among other things

Explainer

Greeley Police Officer Steve Brown stands in the hallway during passing periods at Northridge High School in Greeley, Colo. on Oct. 21, 2016. While school resource officers, like Brown, are expected to handle responsibilities like any police officer they're faced with unique challenges working day-to-day in schools
School Resource Officers (SROs), Explained
Does the presence of armed officers prevent school violence? Do they contribute for Black children to the 'school to prison pipeline'?
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Crosses and flowers hang on a fence outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, near Parkland, Fla., in memory of the 17 people killed in a school shooting there in 2018.
Crosses and flowers were part of a memorial for the 17 people killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. Following that shooting, schools around the country considered additional safety measures, including threat-assessment policies.
Brynn Anderson/AP
School Climate & Safety Preventing Student Violence: 3 Key Takeaways
Advice from two experts on threat assessment and crisis response in schools.
Evie Blad, May 19, 2022
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3 min read
A rifle hangs on display in the window of the West Endicott & Susquehanna Arms Co., Monday, May 16, 2022, where the Buffalo shooting suspect purchased fire arms in Endicott, N.Y.
A rifle hangs on display in the window of an Endicott, N.Y., gun shop where the Buffalo shooting suspect purchased firearms.
Michael Hill/AP
School Climate & Safety Responding to Student Threats: Schools Wrestle With How to Prevent Violence
The Buffalo shooting suspect made a threat at school last year, but wasn't flagged under the state's red flag law.
Evie Blad, May 18, 2022
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10 min read
Clark County School District K9 Officer James Harris and his partner Ziggy, a one-year-old, gun-sniffing Labrador Retriever, search for a gun during a training session at Desert Pines High School Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. The number of weapons confiscated from students at Las Vegas-area schools has risen nearly 30% since the 2019-2020 academic year, corroborating what experts and educators have called a spike in troublesome behavior among schoolchildren since the return of in-person learning nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clark County School District K9 Officer James Harris and his partner Ziggy, a gun-sniffing Labrador Retriever, search for a gun during a training session at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas in February 2019. After two recent incidents in which students brought guns to school, a South Carolina district is raising money through a GoFundMe campaign so it can purchase specially trained dogs to detect firearms.
Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP
School Climate & Safety One District’s Unusual Fundraising Campaign to Curtail Guns in Schools
A S.C. school district has established a GoFundMe page to raise $20,000 to buy specially trained dogs to sniff out firearms.
Lyn Riddle, The State (Columbia, S.C.), April 26, 2022
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2 min read
Illustration of sad figure in dark room with window.
Benjavisa/Getty
School Climate & Safety Violence, Threats, and Harassment Are Taking a Toll on Teachers, Survey Shows
A nationwide survey also found 43 percent of teachers said they want to quit.
Madeline Will, March 17, 2022
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5 min read
Conceptual illustration of a person's Hand covering another person's mouth to silence them.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and holaillustrations/iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Opinion Schools Must Heal Survivors of Sexual Assault, Not Retraumatize Them
Schools must do more to address sexual violence against their students, writes an education lawyer.
Amy Leipziger, March 15, 2022
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4 min read
May 26, 1866 – Harpers Weekly
May 26, 1866 – Harpers Weekly
Equity & Diversity Q&A Racist Bomb Threats and Post-Civil War School Burnings: A Scholar Connects the Dots
Hundreds of Black schools built during Reconstruction were burned, but racist violence against schools is hardly a historical footnote.
Mark Lieberman, March 9, 2022
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9 min read
A student walks away from the shadow of bars.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and iStock/Getty<br/>
School Climate & Safety Opinion As a Former Cop, I Know We Need Police-Free Schools
Do school resource officers actually make schools safer? It’s not guaranteed.
Evan Douglas, February 11, 2022
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4 min read
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School boy (11-13) sitting on chair in corridor outside principal's office, side view
DigitalVision/Getty
School Climate & Safety From Our Research Center Threats of Student Violence and Misbehavior Are Rising, Many School Leaders Report
A new EdWeek Research Center survey suggests a link between the return to in-person learning and behavior problems.
Holly Kurtz, January 12, 2022
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3 min read
Cyber bullying concept. Paper cut Woman head silhouette with bullying messages like disgusting, OMG!!, loser, hate, ugly, and stupid.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
School Climate & Safety What the Research Says Bullying Dropped as Students Spent Less Time in In-Person Classes During Pandemic
Researchers based their findings on an analysis of internet searches on online and school-based harassment.
Sarah D. Sparks, January 10, 2022
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5 min read
Sign indicating school zone.
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Interactive School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
Education Week is tracking K-12 school shootings in 2022. See the number of incidents and where they occurred in our map and data table.
January 5, 2022
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2 min read
Conceptual illustration of young person in crisis
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Opinion Assessing Shooting Threats Is a Matter of Life or Death. Why Aren't Experts Better at It?
To take the right actions before the next tragedy occurs, schools need all the help they can get, write three experts.
David Riedman, Jillian Peterson & James Densley, December 16, 2021
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5 min read
Three Oakland County Sheriff's deputies survey the grounds outside of the residence of parents of the Oxford High School shooter on Dec. 3, 2021, in Oxford, Mich.
Three Oakland County Sheriff's deputies survey the grounds outside of the Crumbley residence while seeking James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, on Dec. 3, 2021, in Oxford, Mich.
Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP
Federal Miguel Cardona Should Help Schools Push Parents to Store Guns Safely, Lawmakers Say
More than 100 members of Congress say a recent shooting at a Michigan high school underscores the need for Education Department action.
Andrew Ujifusa, December 15, 2021
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3 min read
After a rally in front of the White House, students march up Pennsylvania Avenue toward Capitol Hill in Washington on March 14, 2018. Students walked out of school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month's massacre of 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
After a rally in front of the White House, students march in Washington on March 14, 2018, to protest gun violence.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
School Climate & Safety Opinion How Can We Honor the Victims of School Shootings? Listen to Students
A mother who lost her child at Sandy Hook nine years ago writes that we must prioritize student voice to make schools safer.
Nicole Hockley, December 13, 2021
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3 min read
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