Simply state mission of School Intruder Response training is to provide school districts, school administrators and school faculty with effective and practical training relating to the following: RECOGNIZING behavioral pre-cursors to “school violence” in given situations that have the potential to escalate PREVENTING escalation of behavioral pre-cursors relating to “school violence” by responding effectively RESPONDING effectively to “school violence” incidents if and when they occur

Want us conduct a "School Intruder Response" Seminar for your school?
Typically schools or school districts want us to conduct a seminar for their school administration, faculty and counselor personnel that is a minimum of 3-4 hours in length or up to a full day depending on what topics they want covered.  Visit our seminars page and complete online quote request form at the bottom of the page and we will provide you with a quote for conducting a seminar.

What is School Violence?
Typically when we hear the term “school violence” we think of the tragic school shooter incident that occurs somewhere on school grounds. Media images of such incidents leave little to the imagination and generate the impression that the term “school violence” equates ONLY to a school shooter critical incident.

What is critical to note from the knowledge gained from high profile violent incidents which have occurred in recent years is that school violence involves much more than violence sparked by the firing of a gun. Many incidents which involve gun violence, in fact, are reflective of the culmination of other lesser incidents of violence or threats of violence and which lead up to the ones which ultimately involve school shooting incidents.

According to the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “school violence” is defined as follows:

“any behavior that violates a school’s educational mission or climate of respect or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions, and disorder.”

The above definition attempts to capture the idea that school violence takes many forms and that defining school violence only in terms “shootings” means that the problem of school violence is destined to exist and even increase.

To pursue efforts directed at preventing & effectively responding to “school violence,” such efforts should address milder behaviors or “behavior pre-cursors” and not be limited to ONLY keeping guns (& other potentially deadly weapons) out of schools. Efforts need to address the entire range of behavioral pre-cursors that can potentially lead up to a deadly incident. First in these efforts need to be the education of teachers, school administrators, counselors and those who come into daily contact with our children at RECOGNIZING these behavioral pre-cursors when they occur.

What all of this really means is that efforts which are directed at school violence prevention must focus on a broader definition of “school violence” as defined above and improve our understanding of what constitutes school violence. Trying to prevent school violence only in terms of physical security measures which are designed to keep guns and other weapons out of schools IS NOT enough. Although such measures have their place in preventing school violence from occurring, a comprehensive range of measures must be employed to address the expectations and obligations that our schools have to protect our children. The preparation measures in responding to the variety of “school violence” incidents need to include the following:

• RECOGNIZING behavioral pre-cursors in given situations that have the potential to escalate
• PREVENTING escalation of behavioral pre-cursors by responding effectively
• RESPONDING effectively to behavior through education of expectations, discipline and removal of access by offenders to our children is critical

Not If .. . But When!
This should be our mindset as part of developing a comprehensive approach to school violence incidents. Obviously prevention and effective intervention PRIOR to an tragic incident occurring is the goal but part of our preparation when preparing to protect our children should also include what to do when an incident like this occurs BOTH while it is occurring and after the incident has taken place.

Here are some important facts in regards to your decision to include this aspect of establishing a comprehensive school intruder response program.

• DID YOU KNOW that over 50% of the schools shooting incidents that have occurred over the past 20 years have occurred within cities of populations of less than 10,000 people?
• DID YOU KNOW that most school shooting incidents are over prior to the first law enforcement responder to arrive on scene?
• DID YOU KNOW that in most school shooting incidents the shooter told one or more people prior to committing the act?
• DID YOU KNOW that in most schools we conduct fire drills every year with our faculty and students despite the fact that we have not had a person killed in a school fire in over 40 years?
• DID YOU KNOW that almost no drilling is conducted with faculty and/or students in regards to Intruder Response in our schools despite the fact that we have had many students and faculty killed by school shooters in the past 20 years, AND these incidents are increasing?

Prevention & Preparation
Preventing and responding to violent or potentially violent intruders at our schools should include the development of policies and procedures to address the following:

• Behavioral pre-cursors to “school violence”
• Recognizing behavioral pre-cursors and effective intervention to such
• Developing atmosphere and support resources for open communication
• School Entry Access Protocols
• Program & Policy Development
• Lock Down Protocols
• Secure in Place vs. Immediate Evacuation Response Protocols
• Securing classrooms
• Student management & locations of students within classrooms
• What to expect from the law enforcement response
• Liaison w/ local law enforcement response & coordination of emergency action planning