Scholastic Surveillance

In the report, the top five camera location priorities were at entrances and exits (76 percent), hallways (62 percent), and lunchrooms, playgrounds, and gyms (53 percent). Only a minority of respondents wanted cameras in classrooms (36 percent) and locker rooms and bathrooms (18 percent).

“Many school administrators will throw up some cameras to fortify their front entrance,” he continues. “But the reality is, it is what is behind those fortified walls that really makes up the heart of your school security program—which is your people.”

Of course, investing in “the people side” of school security takes time and money, he says. It often means professional development training not just for teachers and administrators, but for support staff: the bus drivers, who are the first and last ones to see students every day. Secretaries who might take a call from someone making a bomb threat. Custodians and food service staff, who may be the first ones to notice any strangers on campus. “They are on the front lines,” he says. “They should be included in tabletop exercises, along with the first responders.”

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