Assessing School Safety Needs: The Perceptions of School Administrators Post Sandy Hook

• In Event: Youth Professionals: Working within Structured Spaces

Abstract

Increasing attention and concern has been given to incidents of crime and violence in schools as well as the prevention strategies utilized to address such events. Highly publicized incidences of violence have caused school officials and communities across the country to realize the shortcomings of school safety and prevention measures. This has resulted in schools implementing a multitude of strategies in an attempt to address issues of safety and security. This research looks to school principals to identify specific factors that contribute to perceptions of school safety, and also to distinguish measure they perceive to work best in their campus environments. Specifically, school administrators were surveyed regarding the preventability of major criminal incidents in the educational setting and how school leadership has done in general preparing for these types of incidents. Results of this study indicate that administrators’ perceptions of overall school safety are associated with beliefs regarding how prepared the school is to handle criminal incidents. Additionally, the more years one has spent as an educator/administrator is associated with the idea that these events are largely unpreventable and there is little that can be done by the school to prevent them.

Authors

• Joseph M. McKenna, Texas State University

• Sean Varano, Roger Williams University