Page 8 - School Planning & Management, June 2019

HEALTHY, SAFE SCHOOLS
Seven Design Features to Enhance Safety
A number of well-known safety experts contributed to the development of Indiana’s Department of Education Safety concepts. They include Michael Dorn, Dr. Randall Atlas, Tod Schneider, Chris Dorn, Phuong Nguyen, Steve Satterly, Chief Russell Bentley, Chief Rod Ellis, Corey Goble, Ulric Bellaire, Rachel Wilson and Morgan Billinger. Here is a summary of these seven design features:
1. Positive Body Language: Décor actually contributes to safety. A comfortable and attractive building environment leads students (as well as faculty and administrators) to value their connection to a school-building and to want to keep it clean and well- maintained, and that contributes to safety. Décor may include wall murals and displays of student artwork as well as color schemes. A security concept known as “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” or CPTED.
2. Natural Surveillance: Safety, of course, includes crime control. Certain design features can exert a powerful influence over crime control. In particular, natu- ral surveillance or the ability for people to observe the surrounding landscape without need for technology, is credited
Traffic-Safety design. Consider asking an officer from a local police department traffic division or the nearest state police barracks to help assess the proposed parking, student pickup, and drop-off areas in conjunction with the bus loading area(s). Too many schools are built with extremely danger- ous and terribly inconvenient parking areas and approach drives that could be avoided with more careful thought and input from an experienced traffic officer.
by security experts with enhancing safety. Criminal tend to avoid environ- ments where inhabitants can easily observe their activities.
3. Natural Access: Another CEPTED con- cept called Natural Access uses exterior design to identify boundaries between public and private space. For example, fences, walls, shrubbery, and various building site and building features can separate public spaces and private spac- es, while identifying entrances and exits
to buildings. Such clearly defined spaces can discourage would-be criminals.
4. Traffic-Safety Design: It is, perhaps,
a little-known fact that traffic fatalities rank as a leading cause of death for K-12 students. Hence, it is vital to incorpo- rate easily identified and understood traffic safety elements into K-12 designs. Traffic safety features include signs, roll stops, raised crossings, and bollards. Important note: some schools serve foreign speaking students and parents. As such, signs written in English as well as other relevant languages should be incorporated into traffic-safety design.
5. Emergency Lockdown Rooms: Today’s world offers a host of relatively new threats to safety and security. These may include active shooters, problems related to attackers with other kinds of weapons, bomb threats, and the like. Security experts recommend arranging furniture in ways that enable people
to get to lockdown rooms as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.
6. Placement and Design of Offices and Meeting Rooms: Once again, experts recommend designing spaces in which offices and meeting rooms offer speedy,
PHOTOS © SIMONE HOGAN
Access Control. As security audits, red team assessments, and actual incidents often demonstrate, many U.S. K-12 schools lack meaningful access control. While it is understandable that school officials want their schools to be open and welcoming to parents and guardians, a number of tragic events have demonstrated that the risks may be too high to have open campus concepts. Properly placed signage can help eliminate potential problems for visitors and school personnel.
8 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JUNE 2019
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