Key strategies for safe school design
Schools are places for children to learn, grow, and thrive. Unfortunately, they have also become targets for acts of violence. Design can play an important role in creating a safer learning environment without sacrificing a sense of openness and welcome.
The primary focus of an educational environment should be creating an atmosphere that excites and encourages learning. Security measures should be subtly integrated: supplementing, not distracting from a learning environment.
Some of the key strategies our design team uses to design safer schools include:
Using site design to slow down intruders until law enforcement arrives. Our team has found that the best way to do this is to create layers of protection designed to deter intruders, starting with the site perimeter. Creating separation between the entry to the school building and the drive lane will slow down an intruder. Providing the proper visual supervision of school entrances gives the staff more time to prepare and alert authorities to suspicious behavior.
Secure entry vestibules: The building entry is the most like place for visitors to enter the school building. Providing a secure entry, requiring visitors to be buzzed through two sets of doors, is crucial. Transaction windows between the vestibule and Administrative Office require visitors to sign-in before being allowed into the school. Moving Administrative Offices closer to the building entry makes it easier for school staff to monitor incoming visitors.
Rearranging building layout: Locate all Administrative Offices and spaces not regularly used by students towards the front and locate all classrooms towards the back of the building. This layout slows down intruders by forcing them to go through more layers of security and surveillance before they can reach students.
School safety is a difficult subject to discuss, but it needs to be taken seriously. Creating a comprehensive school safety plan is a team effort that requires collaboration between administration, faculty, parents, students, law enforcement, and design professionals.