From the Premier Safe & Loved Course:
Certified E-SAT Practitioners

I was walking in the park the other day when a man passed me on a bicycle going the same way Everything about him said discipline. Bright orange safety vest, properly fitted helmet, fingerless black gloves, and bike shorts.

Then I smelled it.
Cigarette smoke. 

I looked around—who in the heck was smoking? 

There was no one near me, just the guy on the bike and there was no way it could be him. And then I watched him look over his right shoulder, take a long drag from a cigarette, blow it out, lower his head, and go back to pedaling. 

I was shocked. 

Individually, his actions may make sense, but all together—no way.
They were horribly misaligned. 

And that’s exactly what I often see in schools.

We invest in safety measures. We install systems, write procedures, and run drills. Each one, on its own, is valuable. But when those efforts aren’t connected by a shared purpose and when they don’t reinforce each other, they lose their impact or worse, hold you back. 

Just like cycling and smoking. 

You can’t do those things together and get healthy.
Just like you can’t leave your exterior doors unlocked and be safe. 

To really move forward, the things that matter the most must be aligned. Everything has to work together. 

Here are five things that will absolutely work in harmony with each other and help you achieve greater protection, greater academic success, and deeper connections. 

They are listed in order of importance.
Put these 5 things together and they will multiply your efforts. 

1. Engagement Above All Else
   

   You cannot be a great school, have great safety, or build deep connections if you don’t engage. Just like smoking might be the single greatest thing holding that cyclist back, low engagement is the single greatest thing holding most schools back. 

   It’s not that everything else won’t help you—it will. 

   Just like the helmet, vest, and gloves helped him. But without engagement, you’ll never get very far. 

   Engagement above all else.

2. 7-Second Lockdown
   

   A lockdown is not a drill. It’s your failsafe.

   It’s for when everything else has failed. When the threat is outside your capabilities. When you don’t see it coming. 

   He who controls the first few seconds of a crisis has the greatest influence over the outcome. Yes, you must have great engagement but without being able to lockdown in 7 seconds or less it is like smoking and riding a bike.

3. Strengthen Your Morning Arrival
   

   Roughly 75% of school attacks happen first thing in the morning. 

   Statistically speaking, nothing is more important than fixing, enhancing, or strengthening your morning arrival.

   But beyond the statistic, how you welcome (engage) your students determines the energy and the tone for the entire day. 

   If it’s low energy, you’re going to have a low-energy day or you’re going to have to turn it around. 

   There’s an old boxing saying – “It’s easier to stay up than get up.” 

   It’s so true. It takes a lot of extra energy to get back to your feet. Same thing goes for a school day. It’s harder to turn the day around than it is to maintain the day. 

   A great start will push you forward and you can follow along on the momentum. 

   On a personal note, just imagine being a student in a low engagement—low energy morning arrival. 

   ▶️ You get off the bus.
   ▶️ You walk through the drop-off area.
   ▶️ You enter the building.
   ▶️ You go down the hallway.
   ▶️ You stop at your locker.
   ▶️ You walk into your classroom and sit down.

   And through all of that not a single adult says a word to you. 

   If that doesn’t break your heart just a little bit then we’re missing something pretty big.

4. Lock Every Door Handle
   

   We have to open doors to let people in. 

   That’s just part of running a school. But the handle itself should never be left unlocked. That’s non-negotiable. 

   And not because I’m rigid but because I understand the threat. 

   Here’s one of the most important statistics in school safety: If violence reaches your classroom and your door handle is locked, there is a 99% chance the attacker will not get in. 

   Leaving it unlocked is exactly like riding a bike and smoking a cigarette. You can do it. And you might get away with it for a long time. But when the consequences finally catch up to you it’s a very heavy price to pay.

5. Train Your Staff to Recognize a Threat
   

   You can’t prevent a threat if you can’t identify the threat. 

   During a Teachers are the Prize presentation, I showed several images of how students often dress when they are planning and preparing for an attack. 

   In the back of the room, a group of teachers suddenly stood up and started talking rapidly—urgently—to each other. 

   Later, I found out why. The picture I showed them was exactly how a student in their school dressed every single day. Every day, that student was sending a loud signal of danger and no one was picking up on it because no one recognized it. 

   You must train your staff to identify a threat or your chances of preventing one are greatly reduced.

Most safety training tries to make teachers into something they don’t want to be. 

The best approach is to take what teachers and staff members already do—and make them better at doing it. 

Every teacher knows how to engage. Every adult in your building interacts with students every day. Now imagine if you took those everyday interactions and blended in proven violence prevention techniques. 

Not added on top.
But blended right into them. 

That’s ESAT.
Engagement + Supervision + Access Control + Territorial Reinforcement. 

It takes your safety and rolls it into one effort, all working together. Where you’re no longer cycling and smoking at the same time. 

By blending safety into every single interaction, every single day, your safety will be stronger, easier, and automatic. 

It’s really not about doing more.
But making what you already do…work all together for you.