It’s difficult to be assertive when you’re confused. The simpler the message, the easier it is to remember and implement. It helps a great deal to keep your vision for a safer school set on 3 or fewer points that are simple in scope.

With that in mind, I recommend that this year you focus on 3 big yearly goals that when accomplished will positively impact everything else.

1. Engage more.
2. Lock every door.
3. Speed up our lockdowns.

Engage More.

We need this. Not only for our mental, emotional, and physical health but also for our school safety. The more that teachers engage with students the better the relationships. The better the relationships the greater the communications. The greater the communications the more trusting our students will be and therefore the more likely they will be to share information about fellow students who need help or who are showing signs of danger.

Our teachers and staff members also need this—they need to engage with each other and as Tony Shay says, “To collide together.” Every person is the hero of their own story. They are a world of their own. When they collide—engage with each other it’s truly a powerful thing that is both extremely good and absolutely necessary for creating a warm, positive, and safe culture.

Engage, engage, above all engage this year!

Lock every door.

Every door handle must be locked—treat it as a non-negotiable. There are a few valid reasons to hold or even prop open a door but there is never a valid reason to leave a door handle unlocked. We must master this. We must get beyond this very simple but critical task. Every door must be locked!

90% of all school attackers enter through an unlocked/open door. What would happen if we locked our doors?

At Uvalde, the attacker entered through an unlocked/open exterior door and then entered a classroom door that couldn’t even lock. I can’t for certain say what would have happened if these doors would have been locked, but I can say with absolute certainty that Uvalde would have ended differently. Guaranteed.

Speed up our lockdowns.

On average, teachers take 38 seconds to lockdown. This is entirely too slow. We must speed up our lockdowns. I’m happy to give you all the materials for the 7 Second Lockdown. Very soon there will be a series of videos online that you can share with your teachers to help you explain as well as implement it. Until then, when you practice your drills reinforce these 3 critical teacher tasks.

1. RUN to the door.
2. CLOSE the door (it must already be locked).
3. GET OUT of the way (school attackers shoot through the door.

If you want to add additional steps you can. However, these are the 3 critical tasks that must be accomplished regardless of whatever else the teacher is asked or required to do.

Do these three things—especially RUN to the door and I promise you will speed up your lockdowns.

Adopt these 3 goals to make your school safer this year. Share them with your teachers and staff members. Post them in classrooms, repeat them often, routinely check for success and compliance. You can never repeat them too often. As the philosopher Marcus Aurelius stated nearly two centuries ago, “People don’t need to be told what to do…they need to be reminded what to do.”

Remind your teachers and staff members to do these three things and in doing so you will help them to be safer, less anxious, more confident, and therefore they will enjoy a higher quality of life.

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If you’d like to prepare and inspire your leaderhip team, consider scheduling a Safe & Loved Leadership professional development. I'll show you exactly how to implement these three ways to make your school year safer.

email for more details.

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