Full Transcript for Building Safer School Environments

the country to assess vulnerabilities, implement strong safety measures, and create environments where students and staff feel secure. 30 00:02:14,220 --> 00:02:16,674 without feeling like they're in a fortress. 31 00:02:16,674 --> 00:02:20,108 Paul, thank you for being here and welcome to the show. 32 00:02:20,108 --> 00:02:21,911 Hunter, thank you for having me the show. 33 00:02:21,911 --> 00:02:23,337 I'm really glad to be here. 34 00:02:23,341 --> 00:02:24,662 Absolutely, it's a pleasure. 35 00:02:24,662 --> 00:02:26,842 I've heard so many great things. 36 00:02:26,842 --> 00:02:31,062 I've seen you in presentations in the past with our risk management conferences. 37 00:02:31,062 --> 00:02:34,562 So it's a pleasure to actually sit down and have a conversation with you. 38 00:02:34,562 --> 00:02:42,246 As I've already mentioned some of your background, I'm a little bit more curious about how you got into school safety and where you are. 39 00:02:42,530 --> 00:02:44,492 Well, thanks for mentioning my background. 40 00:02:44,492 --> 00:02:51,976 I grew up in the Chicago area and a day when my dad worked at Argonne National Labs, which is a Department of Energy facility. 41 00:02:51,976 --> 00:02:59,201 And he kind of built a career around an engineer view of physical security. 42 00:02:59,201 --> 00:03:07,774 And in 1984, after 15 years there, they asked him to start his own consulting firm so he could help out all the DOE facilities nationwide. 43 00:03:07,774 --> 00:03:14,524 I joined that firm in the late 90s and so I'm very much a second generation physical security consultant. 44 00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:16,952 while keeping in the family business. 45 00:03:16,952 --> 00:03:28,379 You know, Paul, as I was thinking about this episode, I reminisced a little bit about my own school matriculation and in the fall of 2002, you know, in the DC area, there was the 46 00:03:28,379 --> 00:03:38,466 DC sniper and there was an immense amount of school safety and security that had to take place to ensure that no students or staff were affected. 47 00:03:38,466 --> 00:03:40,289 by was going on during that time. 48 00:03:40,289 --> 00:03:46,999 Needless to say, school safety has always been a concern, but in recent years, the conversation has definitely intensified. 49 00:03:46,999 --> 00:03:54,252 So I'd like to start off our conversation and set the foundation by asking, where do schools stand today in terms of school safety? 50 00:03:54,252 --> 00:04:05,754 Well, they're safer and they're safer because when you went to school and in the years before that, when I went to school and things were far more open, far more relaxed, less 51 00:04:05,754 --> 00:04:12,041 practices involving visitor management and the locking of doors and systems that were in place. 52 00:04:12,041 --> 00:04:15,595 so we've gotten better over time, even with awareness, we've gotten better. 53 00:04:15,595 --> 00:04:17,121 And unfortunately. 54 00:04:17,121 --> 00:04:23,303 Some of that awareness is driven by fear, which we don't want at all, but a heightened sense of awareness is good. 55 00:04:23,303 --> 00:04:25,404 So schools in general are safer. 56 00:04:25,404 --> 00:04:31,806 However, risks are greater and we can think about the isolation of the individual. 57 00:04:31,806 --> 00:04:33,816 We can think about social media. 58 00:04:33,816 --> 00:04:38,928 We can think about societal, the climate, political climate. 59 00:04:38,928 --> 00:04:46,240 We can think about all of these things, but there's no doubt that the risk is higher than it used to be. 60 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,306 in places where in general we're safer than we would have 61 00:04:50,306 --> 00:04:51,718 Absolutely, absolutely. 62 00:04:51,718 --> 00:05:01,957 It is a little bit frightening to see some of the things, whether it's in the mainstream media or even on social media, the things that are happening in our schools. 63 00:05:01,998 --> 00:05:12,437 You know, here at ARM, a lot of the times we have those conversations where churches and schools, especially in our little bubble, if you will, we operate under the assumption 64 00:05:12,437 --> 00:05:15,480 that they're inherently safe environments for 65 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:20,436 At least as I had kind of mentioned in my fictitious story that I would have never happened here. 66 00:05:20,436 --> 00:05:31,618 But as we try to build a good foundation, you alluded to some of these things already, but what are some of the characteristics that should be present in the school to actually be 67 00:05:31,618 --> 00:05:33,654 considered high level of safety? 68 00:05:33,654 --> 00:05:34,034 Yes. 69 00:05:34,034 --> 00:05:36,896 Well, first of all, thank you for the Ministry of ARM. 70 00:05:36,896 --> 00:05:38,597 I admire what you're doing. 71 00:05:38,597 --> 00:05:40,898 And I want to say it begins with relationships. 72 00:05:40,898 --> 00:05:46,921 Now I'm a physical security guy and people would say, well, aren't you going to talk about cameras and weapons detection? 73 00:05:46,921 --> 00:05:52,344 And, and maybe we'll talk about some of that later, but it begins with relationships. 74 00:05:52,344 --> 00:05:58,017 In general, people don't harm or wish to harm people who they know care about them. 75 00:05:58,017 --> 00:06:03,680 And that should be a hallmark of the churches and schools anyway. 76 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:09,995 is that we're in a place that's supportive and a place that's caring and a place that offers resources. 77

00:06:09,995 --> 00:06:17,662 You know, as I think back to my high school days, I think probably about, I don't know, 80, 90 % of the teachers I had were good teachers. 78 00:06:17,662 --> 00:06:24,067 And maybe a very small percentage of them were not great because they had mailed it in or they didn't let kids anymore or whatever. 79 00:06:24,067 --> 00:06:32,154 But as so a small percentage of those teachers, I knew for some reason really invested in me. 80 00:06:32,214 --> 00:06:38,142 I don't know why that is personalities, whatever, but I think we can never go wrong when we're investing. 81 00:06:38,142 --> 00:06:47,614 can't do that perfectly with every single student, every single staff member, but we sure can try to be ambassadors of God's love. 82 00:06:47,614 --> 00:06:48,454 Absolutely. 83 00:06:48,454 --> 00:06:49,185 Well said. 84 00:06:49,185 --> 00:06:49,916 Absolutely. 85 00:06:49,916 --> 00:06:53,058 Ambassadors of love. 86 00:06:53,058 --> 00:07:00,792 You know, one thing that we preach and I'm sure you've heard it on multiple occasions is we talk about child protection a lot here. 87 00:07:00,792 --> 00:07:12,792 And we often speak in terms of building the right fence in regards to securing, you know, so you wouldn't talk about cameras and things of that nature just as much because 88 00:07:12,792 --> 00:07:18,064 I mean, that social aspect is definitely important and probably most pivotal. 89 00:07:18,164 --> 00:07:28,539 So maybe so much as the physical things, the physical measures that we can actually set in place, but could you, guess more so describe maybe the security planning team and the 90 00:07:28,539 --> 00:07:31,904 relationship between schools, parents and the community. 91 00:07:31,904 --> 00:07:32,915 Yes, thank you. 92 00:07:32,915 --> 00:07:37,117 And I want to touch on both of those things because they are connected. 93 00:07:37,117 --> 00:07:41,040 But first of all, a collaborative approach is always the best approach. 94 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,403 Nobody has shoulders broad enough to carry the whole security program by themselves. 95 00:07:45,403 --> 00:07:52,867 And unfortunately, we occasionally bring in people who are former military, former law enforcement, and thank you for your service. 96 00:07:52,867 --> 00:07:57,656 And I'm going to make a generalization, but sometimes that person 97 00:07:57,656 --> 00:08:03,028 thinks that they're going to power up and carry everything by themselves. 98 00:08:03,028 --> 00:08:04,659 It doesn't work. 99 00:08:04,659 --> 00:08:11,612 And so we've got to make sure that we've got staff that are making a personal investment in the safety of the school. 100 00:08:11,612 --> 00:08:16,574 Administrators, students, parents, community making a

personal investment. 101 00:08:16,574 --> 00:08:19,515 And that begins with a safety planning team. 102 00:08:19,515 --> 00:08:26,198 And the safety planning team has internal stakeholders, like I just mentioned, and external stakeholders. 103 00:08:26,198 --> 00:08:29,119 which would include our emergency responders. 104 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:38,305 Listen, we know why we're here on this earth and making sure that we're connecting with community is, is, you know, at the forefront of that. 105 00:08:38,305 --> 00:08:45,409 Now, once we've got that in place, we are going to make sure that we've got a layered approach to security. 106 00:08:45,409 --> 00:08:53,708 We're going to start with the property and if, you know, we can't fence every property, we have urban settings and sub-urban and rural, I understand that. 107 00:08:53,708 --> 00:08:57,318 but we're going to look at the property to make sure it's secure. 108 00:08:57,318 --> 00:09:01,141 We're going to look at the parking area to make sure it's secure. 109 00:09:01,141 --> 00:09:05,232 We're going to look at the building and the building envelope to make sure it's secure. 110 00:09:05,232 --> 00:09:10,464 then inside classrooms and interior spaces, we want to make sure. 111 00:09:10,464 --> 00:09:16,610 So we've got layered security all the way to where the most important asset is inside. 112 00:09:16,610 --> 00:09:22,152 the, I like that, that layered, layered security makes a ton of sense to me. 113 00:09:22,152 --> 00:09:24,841 So we'll build, I see the building blocks here. 114 00:09:24,841 --> 00:09:26,154 We're building from community. 115 00:09:26,154 --> 00:09:29,705 We're setting the layers in place for the security in and of itself. 116 00:09:29,705 --> 00:09:35,408 One thing that really, know, as I'm having these conversations, you and I are having this conversation. 117 00:09:35,408 --> 00:09:39,799 Our listeners tend to be the leaders in their individual churches. 118 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,048 Even when we're at risk, our RMC conference there, it's a lot of the leadership. 119 00:09:46,048 --> 00:09:49,682 level of the ones that are having these conversations. 120 00:09:49,682 --> 00:09:59,962 But one thing that I'm interested in and maybe you can speak on is how can we have a healthy and appropriate involvement of the students? 121 00:09:59,962 --> 00:10:09,370 Well, I always like to say this first to leaders set an example and that's really what we should be doing with leadership anyway If we're required to wear ID badges wear them if 122 00:10:09,370 --> 00:10:13,954 we're required to go through visitor management Procedures go through them. 123 00:10:13,954 --> 00:10:24,523 I remember I've got four kids who are now adults But my daughter wrote an essay in high school and she said dad have to do a persuasive essay and I have two points Can you help 124 00:10:24,523 --> 00:10:25,914 me find a third point? 125 00:10:25,914 --> 00:10:28,896 I need three and I said, what's the topic and she said? 126 00:10:28,896 --> 00:10:32,377 Why students shouldn't have to wear IDs at XYZ school. 127 00:10:32,377 --> 00:10:34,347 And I said, well, I don't agree with you. 128 00:10:34,347 --> 00:10:35,088 So I'm not helping. 129 00:10:35,088 --> 00:10:36,088 No, I didn't say that. 130 00:10:36,088 --> 00:10:38,729 said, well, what are the points that you have? 131 00:10:38,729 --> 00:10:45,651 And she said, number one, why do students definitely have to wear badges if not all of the teachers are wearing them? 132 00:10:45,651 --> 00:10:53,433 And why her second one was why, is wearing a badge so important when, people are propping open extra doors anyway? 133 00:10:53,433 --> 00:10:58,654 And it's, you know, we understand why a student looks at things and says, 134 00:10:58,654 --> 00:10:59,335 a lot. 135 00:10:59,335 --> 00:11:02,477 If you're not holding the line, why do I have to hold the line? 136 00:11:02,477 --> 00:11:04,709 And so it's important to hold the line. 137 00:11:04,709 --> 00:11:09,063 Second of all, student involvement is important because the students are seeing everything. 138 00:11:09,063 --> 00:11:11,144 They're ahead of us in technology. 139 00:11:11,144 --> 00:11:18,330 And when I say us, I say a loosely Hunter, because I know you're ahead of me in technology, but it's just the way it cascades down. 140 00:11:18,330 --> 00:11:25,346 The student who's in at a middle school level today is ahead of all of us in technology. 141 00:11:25,346 --> 00:11:26,497 It's just the way it is. 142 00:11:26,497 --> 00:11:27,808 And students 143 00:11:27,808 --> 00:11:30,980 generally have a much better pulse for what's really going on. 144 00:11:30,980 --> 00:11:34,322 So we must find appropriate ways to involve them. 145 00:11:34,322 --> 00:11:36,803 And one would be in the safety planning team. 146 00:11:36,803 --> 00:11:41,316 And one might be, you know, I don't know much about Snapchat. 147 00:11:41,316 --> 00:11:46,889 So why don't we have a student come and talk with us about Snapchat and how it works. 148 00:11:46,889 --> 00:11:48,310 We might learn something. 149 00:11:48,310 --> 00:11:54,934 We might be able to build a bridge and we might be helping that student become a leader anyway. 150 00:11:54,934 --> 00:11:55,628 Yeah. 151 00:11:55,628 --> 00:11:56,678 Yeah, absolutely. 152 00:11:56,678 --> 00:12:11,243 I've heard a plethora of the tech genius at the school and the student level who's able to get backdoor access to

some physical securities that we don't always take into 153 00:12:11,243 --> 00:12:12,143 consideration. 154 00:12:12,143 --> 00:12:19,115 Even ways to get into the building that we think are secure, no one can get into it, and the students always find a way. 155 00:12:19,115 --> 00:12:21,726 I laugh actually when you talk about your... 156 00:12:22,274 --> 00:12:32,650 daughter writing the persuasive argument about why the students should wear lanyards because I was that rebellious high school kid that refused to wear my lanyard so much so I 157 00:12:32,650 --> 00:12:46,297 got detention behind it but that's I understand the reasons why now but you know as a student you're thinking on kind of I didn't want to start the conversation off with this 158 00:12:46,297 --> 00:12:52,002 but at the same time I know that it's important for us to mention we don't 159 00:12:52,002 --> 00:12:58,007 have to go in full detail, but as we all know, there was an incident at one of our schools. 160 00:12:58,007 --> 00:12:59,208 It could have been worse. 161 00:12:59,208 --> 00:13:00,369 It's still not great. 162 00:13:00,369 --> 00:13:12,710 I would actually like to touch on, you know, I've spent some time in conversation with professionals at the FBI level, some that do the ALICE training, but where do we begin the 163 00:13:12,710 --> 00:13:20,236 conversation and what advice do we give to teachers and school admin in response to active shooters? 164 00:13:20,236 --> 00:13:23,469 Yeah, well, there's a lot on pack there and I'm going to just say it. 165 00:13:23,469 --> 00:13:24,410 I'll start this way. 166 00:13:24,410 --> 00:13:31,136 First of all, we don't give into fear and you know, that's not having warship over my life, over your life, over our lives. 167 00:13:31,136 --> 00:13:32,377 We're not doing that. 168 00:13:32,377 --> 00:13:34,199 We understand that God is our refuge. 169 00:13:34,199 --> 00:13:35,530 And so that's very important. 170 00:13:35,530 --> 00:13:37,923 And that doesn't mean we put it on autopilot. 171 00:13:37,923 --> 00:13:40,275 We're still responsible for the stewardship. 172 00:13:40,275 --> 00:13:42,086 We put watchers on the wall. 173 00:13:42,086 --> 00:13:46,030 It's, it's very clear in scripture that we have a right. 174 00:13:46,030 --> 00:13:52,153 play, we're not not our own refuge, but we are going to take responsibility in places that we can. 175 00:13:52,153 --> 00:14:00,198 And second of all, I think what we do is we say it's still a very, very rare occurrence that something like this happens. 176 00:14:00,198 --> 00:14:02,959 And by the way, that doesn't mean it's okay. 177 00:14:02,959 --> 00:14:08,672 My heart breaks for people who have gone through the trauma in that incident

that you're mentioning in all of these incidents. 178 00:14:08,672 --> 00:14:16,046 And some of the survivors of these incidents are some of my very best friends, many of them 179 00:14:16,142 --> 00:14:22,227 people of faith and trying to bring redemptive components now to lessons learned. 180 00:14:22,227 --> 00:14:27,051 And those lessons learned are almost always this. 181 00:14:27,132 --> 00:14:31,505 were sort of taking everything easy. 182 00:14:31,505 --> 00:14:33,817 We weren't being vigilant. 183 00:14:33,817 --> 00:14:39,282 And by the way, I'm not applying that to any particular incident because every incident is different. 184 00:14:39,282 --> 00:14:44,310 But in the aftermath, we almost always say, I wish we would have. 185 00:14:44,310 --> 00:14:46,490 And so what can we do with our safety planning team? 186 00:14:46,490 --> 00:14:51,612 We can bring them ahead of any incident and we can say, what are some of our concerns? 187 00:14:51,612 --> 00:14:52,933 What are some of our risks? 188 00:14:52,933 --> 00:14:54,673 How can we build the wall? 189 00:14:54,673 --> 00:14:57,874 And when I say the wall, I'm not talking about the real one. 190 00:14:57,874 --> 00:15:01,475 I'm not talking about saying we're, you know, we're going to be Fort Knox. 191 00:15:01,475 --> 00:15:05,457 But what I am saying is this, what are our concerns? 192 00:15:05,457 --> 00:15:10,476 How can we, how can we be better with behavioral threat assessment? 193 00:15:10,476 --> 00:15:13,747 How can we be better with our community who wants to visit? 194 00:15:13,747 --> 00:15:19,470 And we do want them to visit, but we want them to visit with authority present. 195 00:15:19,470 --> 00:15:21,711 And how do we place these things? 196 00:15:21,711 --> 00:15:27,673 And I want to say this, it feels daunting, but so much of this work has been done by others. 197 00:15:27,673 --> 00:15:33,996 And there are groups like Safe and Sound Schools that grew out of the aftermath of the Sandy Hook incident. 198 00:15:33,996 --> 00:15:38,538 There are non- other non-for-profit groups like the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools. 199 00:15:38,538 --> 00:15:39,378 They, 200 00:15:39,530 --> 00:15:44,040 fried to put a lot of these things in place so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. 201 00:15:44,504 --> 00:15:45,995 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. 202 00:15:45,995 --> 00:15:56,719 Aside from Active Shooter, I know it's been standardized for, I don't know when it became a thing, but you already have your fire drills as standard at most schools. 203 00:15:56,719 --> 00:15:59,971 Active Shooter, there's some schools that kind of have drills. 204 00:15:59,971 --> 00:16:03,983 There's some that are still on the fence about that for various reasons. 205 00:16:03,983 --> 00:16:11,826 But what are some other school emergencies that you would recommend schools and planning around the need for that? 206 00:16:11,826 --> 00:16:12,174 Yeah. 207 00:16:12,174 --> 00:16:20,454 Well, I'm thankful, first of all, that you brought out fire because I was pretty much raised in Chicago and have lived there most of my life. 208 00:16:20,454 --> 00:16:26,634 And that's where 67 years ago, our Lady of the Angels Catholic School burned to the ground and almost 100 people died. 209 00:16:26,634 --> 00:16:32,954 And after that, agencies and entities got together and said, we can never let this happen in a school. 210 00:16:32,954 --> 00:16:40,554 Again, schools have to have fire alarm systems and fire extinguishers and be made of fire-retardant materials. 211 00:16:40,568 --> 00:16:53,389 conduct followed drills and you did those and I did those and maybe we didn't love doing them, we got prepared while doing them and because we put those practices and those codes 212 00:16:53,389 --> 00:16:57,933 in place, there hasn't been one student who has died in a school related fire since. 213 00:16:57,933 --> 00:17:04,438 And Hunter, there are about 3,000 fires in educational institutions every calendar year. 214 00:17:04,438 --> 00:17:09,398 There's burning burns, there's been severe injuries and smoke inhalation, but no deaths. 215 00:17:09,398 --> 00:17:16,664 So how can we take that and apply it to the security and an active shooter kind of threat arena? 216 00:17:16,664 --> 00:17:18,696 There are many entities trying to do that. 217 00:17:18,696 --> 00:17:21,488 One of them is ASIS International. 218 00:17:21,488 --> 00:17:26,872 They are going to this year come out with their standards for school security. 219 00:17:26,872 --> 00:17:32,577 And anybody who's listening, it's a good thing to just keep your ear open for those standards. 220 00:17:32,577 --> 00:17:33,958 They're going to be basics. 221 00:17:33,958 --> 00:17:38,860 And you say, well, having locks on doors and having, you know, 222 00:17:38,860 --> 00:17:41,712 basic video surveillance systems, all that's very basic. 223 00:17:41,712 --> 00:17:48,728 But yes, many schools are missing component or schools have walkie talkies instead of two-way radios. 224 00:17:48,728 --> 00:17:58,226 And I don't want to break down all of the differences here, but there should be some basic standards that are in place and those are about to be unveiled. 225 00:17:58,226 --> 00:18:08,738 And second of all, I think this, think, like I said, the safety planning team gets together and says, where are our gaps and where are our vulnerabilities? 226 00:18:08,738 --> 00:18:11,400 How can we address them in a prioritized way? 227

00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:16,263 I know I'm going on a little bit here, but I know it a lot of times it comes back to money. 228 00:18:16,263 --> 00:18:17,564 We don't have the funds. 229 00:18:17,564 --> 00:18:19,255 We're not like a public school. 230 00:18:19,255 --> 00:18:20,166 We're not... 231 00:18:20,166 --> 00:18:22,327 And the grants are not available for us. 232 00:18:22,327 --> 00:18:24,418 And first of all, that's not always true. 233 00:18:24,418 --> 00:18:25,849 Grants may be available. 234 00:18:25,849 --> 00:18:27,280 There's a great site for that. 235 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:32,856 It's called schoolsafety.gov, which is a government site, but has private... 236 00:18:32,856 --> 00:18:36,589 private foundations and grants that can help schools and churches. 237 00:18:36,589 --> 00:18:40,072 But second of all, it's not always just throwing money at it. 238 00:18:40,072 --> 00:18:49,349 It's making sure that we have brought the right kind of instruction and held people accountable so that they can make a personal investment. 239 00:18:49,349 --> 00:18:57,762 When my eyes are part of see something, say something, or see something, do something, when that happens, we build a culture. 240 00:18:57,762 --> 00:19:03,309 that's safer and that's really what I espouse is building a safe culture. 241 00:19:03,458 --> 00:19:04,018 You said that? 242 00:19:04,018 --> 00:19:10,570 Yeah, and I think that's always that's what I'm hearing and it sounds crucial to have that safe culture, the community behind it. 243 00:19:10,570 --> 00:19:14,921 I know I had mentioned how I went to school in D.C. 244 00:19:14,921 --> 00:19:17,502 and, you know, was in grade school during the D.C. 245 00:19:17,502 --> 00:19:18,042 sniper. 246 00:19:18,042 --> 00:19:22,643 Later on in life, I went to a school where there was tornadoes. 247 00:19:22,643 --> 00:19:24,524 Growing up in D.C., I wasn't familiar. 248 00:19:24,524 --> 00:19:28,005 I know that tornadoes exist, but I wasn't in a state where it was prominent. 249 00:19:28,005 --> 00:19:33,292 And the first time I experienced a tornado warning call was in the middle of the night. 250 00:19:33,292 --> 00:19:35,142 And I thought the Lord was coming. 251 00:19:35,142 --> 00:19:40,066 I did you not the sirens going off and I just had no idea. 252 00:19:40,067 --> 00:19:44,760 That experience really stood out in my mind as to, you know, why did no one warn me? 253 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:46,006 What am I supposed to do? 254 00:19:46,006 --> 00:19:47,272 I have no idea. 255 00:19:47,272 --> 00:19:52,665 You know, you've kind of already talked about how to involve the students and have the community a part of those things. 256 00:19:52,665 --> 00:19:56,750

But I think that's, that's a key aspect that sometimes gets overlooked. 257 00:19:56,750 --> 00:20:01,141 Well, I want to thank you for circling back because I didn't fully answer that last question. 258 00:20:01,141 --> 00:20:04,632 You said, what other kinds of emergencies are we preparing for? 259 00:20:04,632 --> 00:20:14,155 And of course, far more likely to occur than a violence emergency would be a medical emergency and a severe weather emergency, which you're referring to right now. 260 00:20:14,155 --> 00:20:21,837 And we've got to be a little bit better with, I know codes require us to have automatic external defibrillators, but where are they? 261 00:20:21,837 --> 00:20:23,737 And who can use them? 262 00:20:23,737 --> 00:20:26,644 And does it require me being? 263 00:20:26,644 --> 00:20:30,035 certified in first aid CPR and AED to be able to utilize that. 264 00:20:30,035 --> 00:20:33,496 And by the way, the answer is no, it gives simple audio instructions. 265 00:20:33,496 --> 00:20:36,047 Don't, don't look at an AED on a wall. 266 00:20:36,047 --> 00:20:40,088 If somebody needs assistance, if you're not certified and say, well, I wish I could have helped them. 267 00:20:40,088 --> 00:20:42,559 No, it's going to walk you through how to do that. 268 00:20:42,559 --> 00:20:46,640 We now are storing trauma kits and stop the bleed kits. 269 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:53,974 And in terms of severe weather, not only tornadoes, but you know, the great shakeout is a practice we do for earthquakes and 270 00:20:53,974 --> 00:20:56,656 coastal regions may have hurricanes. 271 00:20:56,656 --> 00:21:04,502 So, you know, I'm in a place right now where we've got a severe winter storm and ice can be a problem and flooding is an issue. 272 00:21:04,502 --> 00:21:07,204 How do we deal with all of those things? 273 00:21:07,204 --> 00:21:10,806 And it's always a multi-hazard approach. 274 00:21:10,806 --> 00:21:13,468 I want to share one more resource on that right now. 275 00:21:13,468 --> 00:21:22,114 There's another non-for-profit called the I Love You Guys Foundation and they make what's called SRP standard response protocol. 276 00:21:22,114 --> 00:21:28,066 They make these kinds of procedures available for free to schools. 277 00:21:28,066 --> 00:21:32,439 That sounds like some excellent resources and I appreciate you sharing that with our listeners. 278 00:21:32,439 --> 00:21:34,650 think that they'll also appreciate that as well. 279 00:21:34,650 --> 00:21:38,452 The other thing that I think we've kind of discussed it. 280 00:21:38,452 --> 00:21:46,467 So we've talked, we've definitely laid the foundation of some of the things that our listeners should take into account when they're building the right fence, if you

will, or 281 00:21:46,467 --> 00:21:52,700 building the wall, however you want to look at it, the layered approach of protecting these schools, having community involved. 282 00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:55,448 I've talked about how to involve the dust. 283 00:21:55,448 --> 00:22:04,249 teachers and staff as well as how to have a healthy and appropriate involvement of the students. 284 00:22:04,249 --> 00:22:08,680 what role can parents play in school security and safety efforts? 285 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:09,010 Yes. 286 00:22:09,010 --> 00:22:11,102 Well, first of all, it should be a supportive role. 287 00:22:11,102 --> 00:22:19,018 And that doesn't mean that as a parent, I might agree with everything that the school is doing, but working against the score would be bad for everybody. 288 00:22:19,018 --> 00:22:21,589 So how can I as a parent be more engaged? 289 00:22:21,589 --> 00:22:31,947 And I like to bring at least a parent or two representatives into the safety planning team, Hunter, because sometimes as a parent, I may have an agenda. 290 00:22:31,947 --> 00:22:35,029 If we just were wearing school uniforms, we'd be safe. 291 00:22:35,029 --> 00:22:36,490 Or if we just had 292 00:22:36,490 --> 00:22:39,032 weapons detection systems, we'd be safer. 293 00:22:39,032 --> 00:22:44,676 But what I don't often get to see is the whole view, the comprehensive view. 294 00:22:44,676 --> 00:22:55,603 And when we're bringing parents and we're transparent with what we're doing, all of a sudden the information begins, I think, to backfill the concerns that I had. 295 00:22:55,603 --> 00:22:58,885 So I'm very much for including parents in that way. 296 00:22:58,885 --> 00:23:05,390 And as a parent, I'm very much for going to the school to say, hey, please tell me what you have in place. 297 00:23:05,390 --> 00:23:06,348 In fact, 298 00:23:06,348 --> 00:23:15,974 when my students made the transition, my kids made the transition as students from high school to college, I went with them on the college visits and I asked to speak with the 299 00:23:15,974 --> 00:23:20,376 public safety person to say, is it that you have on this campus? 300 00:23:20,376 --> 00:23:21,928 And you know what I found? 301 00:23:21,928 --> 00:23:27,371 Very forthcoming, very intentional about the measures they had in place. 302 00:23:27,371 --> 00:23:33,184 And as a parent, I should be wanting to know what that is and giving them an opportunity to share. 303 00:23:33,326 --> 00:23:36,688 Yeah, I think that's excellent, excellent approach to that. 304 00:23:36,688 --> 00:23:38,128 And it would be nice. 305 00:23:38,128 --> 00:23:48,694 think, you know, like you said, you'll have more people that are open and welcome to having that conversation to

ensure the security is in place, you know, so I like this. 306 00:23:48,694 --> 00:23:49,974 I really appreciate this. 307 00:23:49,974 --> 00:23:53,036 I really can say that I've learned a lot from this conversation. 308 00:23:53,036 --> 00:23:57,358 And before we kind of begin to wrap things up, I just wanted to 309 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:06,686 kind of open the floor a little bit more for you and see if there's anything that we may have missed or haven't discussed just yet that you would kind of encourage our listeners 310 00:24:06,686 --> 00:24:09,578 more on when it comes to school security. 311 00:24:09,676 --> 00:24:10,626 Thank you for asking. 312 00:24:10,626 --> 00:24:12,428 I appreciate you leaving room for that. 313 00:24:12,428 --> 00:24:22,245 I always tell administrators this, if you only have a dollar to spend and you only have an hour to plan and it sounds like your budget and your schedule, right? 314 00:24:22,245 --> 00:24:27,780 Then you want to focus on the two areas that protect people the most. 315 00:24:27,780 --> 00:24:34,424 Now I grew up with Argonne National Labs and there were high fences around the share property, razor wire at the top of those fences. 316 00:24:34,424 --> 00:24:36,652 And there were people at the gates who had... 317 00:24:36,652 --> 00:24:46,139 You know, their finger on the triggers of long guns and they had layers of intrusion detection systems or what you would call burglar alarm systems because their number one 318 00:24:46,139 --> 00:24:49,471 asset was uranium and plutonium supplies. 319 00:24:49,471 --> 00:24:53,604 We needed to detect the bad guy before they got to the center of the campus. 320 00:24:53,604 --> 00:25:00,699 Now, many schools have burglar alarm systems and I think that's great, but the burglar alarm system is not protecting people. 321 00:25:00,699 --> 00:25:02,600 It's protecting things. 322 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,134 the school arena, people are more in 323 00:25:05,134 --> 00:25:07,876 important than things I think we all would agree. 324 00:25:07,876 --> 00:25:16,512 And the two areas that always protect people the most, and we're talking about physical security, are communication systems and devices. 325 00:25:16,512 --> 00:25:18,623 We have got to be able to get help. 326 00:25:18,623 --> 00:25:24,928 And I don't know if you're familiar with legislation that's sweeping the country now, but it's called Alissa's Law. 327 00:25:24,928 --> 00:25:27,800 And it comes out of the Marjory Stelman Douglas incident. 328 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:34,026 And basically it says, can I as a student or a staff member always be able to get to a 329 00:25:34,026 --> 00:25:39,990 a button or a device that allows me to connect with responders if there's an emergency. 330 00:25:40,011 --> 00:25:41,622 Can we do that in ops? 331 00:25:41,622 --> 00:25:43,053 Is there a telephone? 332 00:25:43,053 --> 00:25:44,834 Is there an intercom call button? 333 00:25:44,834 --> 00:25:46,095 Is there a two way radio? 334 00:25:46,095 --> 00:25:48,357 So communication is always very important. 335 00:25:48,357 --> 00:25:54,541 I need to be able to get help and I need to get a message if an emergency notification has been issued. 336 00:25:54,541 --> 00:26:01,536 And then the second area, if I only have a dollar to spend and an hour to plan is access control. 337 00:26:01,548 --> 00:26:04,479 And that's why I talked a little bit about the layered approach. 338 00:26:04,479 --> 00:26:06,489 Do we know when somebody's on our property? 339 00:26:06,489 --> 00:26:09,450 Do we know when they've entered the parking lot? 340 00:26:09,450 --> 00:26:13,901 we decide how they come into the building and once they're in, where they go? 341 00:26:13,901 --> 00:26:25,915 Access control, not very easy, but we have to be able to restrict it so that the people who are not permitted in certain areas don't get there and the people who are, are able 342 00:26:25,915 --> 00:26:26,445 to. 343 00:26:26,445 --> 00:26:31,526 And so those two, communications and access control, very, very important. 344 00:26:31,924 --> 00:26:32,814 Absolutely. 345 00:26:32,814 --> 00:26:36,265 I like to tell you a little bit of a maybe maybe it'll be a curveball. 346 00:26:36,265 --> 00:26:36,806 Maybe not. 347 00:26:36,806 --> 00:26:39,756 Maybe you're Babe Ruth to stick with that analogy. 348 00:26:39,756 --> 00:26:49,970 But it stands out specifically for me because I spent some time as an account executive and I took some of the knowledge that I had, little bit of knowledge I had at the time to 349 00:26:49,970 --> 00:26:51,780 speak about school security. 350 00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:57,594 And while I was present, it turns out that as a go figure, one size doesn't fit all. 351 00:26:57,594 --> 00:26:58,070 it's 352 00:26:58,070 --> 00:27:03,234 A lot of the individuals that were in that room and that were present are actually the entire staff. 353 00:27:03,234 --> 00:27:10,300 The one teacher, the one person is the principal, is the teacher for all the students, is the art teacher. 354 00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:11,662 You you go down the list. 355 00:27:11,662 --> 00:27:14,534 They are that one person at that school. 356 00:27:14,534 --> 00:27:22,130 Are there things that the one teacher, small school can do to also be prepared? 357 00:27:22,511 --> 00:27:26,634 there any differences there or is it kind of all a little bit of the same? 358 00:27:27,010 --> 00:27:34,637 Yeah, I totally

understand that because in many, especially our smaller schools, that individual is the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. 359 00:27:34,637 --> 00:27:41,302 I went to a parochial school and in seventh grade, our teacher was also the principal of the school. 360 00:27:41,302 --> 00:27:45,586 And when I say teacher, he taught all subjects to both seventh and eighth grade. 361 00:27:45,586 --> 00:27:55,458 We were all together in one room and not early seventh and eighth grade, but he had advanced math and English for seventh and advanced math and English for eighth. 362 00:27:55,458 --> 00:27:58,840 That man was carrying a full load. 363 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:07,126 And what we do in that case, we remind that person, as capable as they are, that it takes a collaborative approach. 364 00:28:07,126 --> 00:28:09,948 How can we get help from others? 365 00:28:09,948 --> 00:28:12,130 There are other teachers in the school. 366 00:28:12,130 --> 00:28:14,452 There are custodians in the school. 367 00:28:14,452 --> 00:28:17,494 There are pastors from the local church. 368 00:28:17,494 --> 00:28:20,376 There are parents who are helping. 369 00:28:20,376 --> 00:28:22,467 My mom was a lunch mop. 370 00:28:22,467 --> 00:28:23,810 There are people. 371 00:28:23,810 --> 00:28:30,521 who can we can delegate things to, who we can count on things, count on certain things. 372 00:28:30,521 --> 00:28:35,529 And so I remind that person, your shoulders aren't broad enough to do this by yourself. 373 00:28:35,529 --> 00:28:36,551 You need help. 374 00:28:36,551 --> 00:28:38,146 Let people help. 375 00:28:38,146 --> 00:28:38,606 that. 376 00:28:38,606 --> 00:28:39,287 I like that. 377 00:28:39,287 --> 00:28:44,511 And hopefully that that is helpful to those individuals in that situation. 378 00:28:44,511 --> 00:28:56,201 Because I you know, when I had that conversation, it was it quickly became exhausting for me, not in a bad way, but just I felt like I didn't have the answers for them. 379 00:28:56,201 --> 00:29:03,077 And so I hope that that begins to get the gears turning and provide them with a bit of response. 380 00:29:03,077 --> 00:29:04,708 So I want to thank you, Paul. 381 00:29:04,708 --> 00:29:06,669 Thank you for for that. 382 00:29:08,042 --> 00:29:13,445 As that being said, we're getting towards the end of this episode. 383 00:29:13,445 --> 00:29:18,727 I definitely want to send my warmest thanks to Paul for you being with us today. 384 00:29:18,727 --> 00:29:21,749 And thank you to everyone else who has joined us. 385 00:29:21,749 --> 00:29:26,361 If you found this conversation meaningful, please share it with others who might benefit. 386 00:29:26,361 --> 00:29:32,484 If you're interested in diving deeper, I would recommend Paul's book, Shameless Plug There. 387 00:29:32,484 --> 00:29:33,504 Thank you. 388 00:29:33,504 --> 00:29:38,590 Again, it's school security, how to build and strengthen a school safety program. 389 00:29:38,590 --> 00:29:39,541 It's a must read. 390 00:29:39,541 --> 00:29:44,566 I'd also like to take an opportunity for you to share your platform. 391 00:29:44,907 --> 00:29:48,130 Where can people connect with you and learn more about your work? 392 00:29:48,130 --> 00:29:49,111 Well, thank you. 393 00:29:49,111 --> 00:29:50,061 I appreciate that. 394 00:29:50,061 --> 00:29:51,892 And I appreciate the shout out for the book. 395 00:29:51,892 --> 00:29:54,603 It's, it's, it's again, my mom loves the book. 396 00:29:54,603 --> 00:29:55,814 And so I think you will too. 397 00:29:55,814 --> 00:29:57,115 But I want to say this. 398 00:29:57,115 --> 00:29:58,826 I also have a podcast. 399 00:29:58,826 --> 00:30:01,777 It's called the changing face of school security. 400 00:30:01,777 --> 00:30:05,179 And we bring in a guest and a 30 minute podcast. 401 00:30:05,179 --> 00:30:11,583 So who has a certain amount of expertise, but also resources to be able to share. 402 00:30:11,583 --> 00:30:18,164 just like I shared a few websites here today, and I strongly recommend that you look at the, love you guys foundation. 403 00:30:18,164 --> 00:30:23,679 safe and sound schools.org school safety.gov and pass K-12.org. 404 00:30:23,679 --> 00:30:27,263 I think all of those non-for-profits are going to be of use to you. 405 00:30:27,263 --> 00:30:31,497 But if you're interested, especially in school security, the podcast will be helpful. 406 00:30:31,497 --> 00:30:34,750 And Hunter, I don't have the smooth tones that you do. 407 00:30:34,750 --> 00:30:37,613 so great facilitation of this podcast. 408 00:30:37,613 --> 00:30:39,484 In no way are we competing with that at all. 409 00:30:39,484 --> 00:30:42,978 But if somebody wants to drill down, that would be the place to go. 410 00:30:42,978 --> 00:30:43,406 Yeah. 411 00:30:43,406 --> 00:30:44,686 I absolutely. 412 00:30:44,686 --> 00:30:46,766 think I actually have listened. 413 00:30:46,766 --> 00:30:52,806 I haven't listened to every episode, but I have listened to a few of your episodes of your podcast and I highly recommend it as well. 414 00:30:52,806 --> 00:30:54,306 So thanks for sharing that. 415 00:30:54,306 --> 00:30:59,766 And I want to thank you again, Paul, for your for you sharing your expertise with us today. 416 00:30:59,886 --> 00:31:06,206 Again, for our listeners, if you found this episode valuable, please share, subscribe and leave us a review. 417 00:31:06,206 --> 00:31:07,150 You can share this. 418 00:31:07,150 --> 00:31:11,073 podcast through Apple podcast, Spotify and Amazon music. 419 00:31:11,073 --> 00:31:14,917 We also have a new podcast page on our website. 420 00:31:14,917 --> 00:31:23,926 Simply go over to Adventist risk.org, hover over the safety resources tab, and then select let's talk solutions podcast. 421 00:31:23,926 --> 00:31:28,650 Here you can listen to all our episodes and share certain episodes or the entire page. 422 00:31:28,650 --> 00:31:33,384 Also, if you haven't already, please subscribe to our solutions newsletter to receive. 423 00:31:33,384 --> 00:31:38,579 even more safety and risk management resources for your church, school, or ministry. 424 00:31:38,579 --> 00:31:42,202 As always, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 425 00:31:42,202 --> 00:31:46,625 And until next time, stay faithful and stay prepared. 426 00:31:46,625 --> 00:31:47,886 God bless. 427 00:31:48,127 --> 00:31:53,791 I hope you found our podcast today informative and that you were equipped for your ministry in a new way. 428 00:31:53,791 --> 00:31:58,115 Please don't forget to share the podcast with your friends and fellow ministry leaders. 429 00:31:58,115 --> 00:32:01,137 That helps get our information to the people who need it most. 430 00:32:01,137 --> 00:32:02,062 As always, 431 00:32:02,062 --> 00:32:06,310 We would love to see your feedback and suggestions on our social media channels. 432 00:32:06,310 --> 00:32:08,954 God bless and see you next time.