School safety does not have to be expensive, but it does have to be a priority. Every school district can make the proactive decision to create a culture of safety in their schools, a culture that demonstrates through its active campus safety teams, proactive threat assessment teams, realistic all-hazards drills and comprehensive training for students, faculty, staff and stakeholders that school violence in any form will not be tolerated. Throughout this book you will be exposed to safety innovations and security technologies. There is no doubt that some of these measures, when applied to the correct situation, can have a positive impact; however, creating a comprehensive safety initiative is always more about instilling values than about spending money. School administrators, teachers, students and parents must be committed to implementing necessary school safeguards from the physical design of the facility to its day-to-day management of safety and security concerns. A comprehensive and proactive school safety system must be grounded in actionable threat assessment teams, pragmatic school safety plans, realistic crisis response drills and sustained target hardening tactics. This 4th edition of the award-winning School Safety 101 places a renewed emphasis on the importance of threat assessment and identifying and responding to early warning signs prior to an attack. According to research 78% of all school mass shooters were current or recent former students from the school and that 68% of the time there were significant and obvious warning signs that were missed by schools, law enforcement and mental health professionals. School districts must place a renewed emphasis on actionable and comprehensive threat assessment teams that directly correlate threats with specific services and sanctions which can mitigate the possibility of a school shooting. This updated edition also presents familiar chapters on school safety preparation and response, including the importance of proactive campus safety teams remaining vigilant in conducting school safety audits and crisis response planning and practice that meets each specific school's needs and realistically represents the dangers schools face in the 21st century. The 4th Edition of School Safety 101 also presents new research from Mass Shootings: Six Steps to Survival and highlights the ESCAPE model, an easy-to-remember six-step process developed from actual actions taken and decisions made by individuals who survived these terrible attacks. The ESCAPE Model can be taught in an age-appropriate level to children of all ages, and when combined with basic pre-planning and civilian situational awareness, can potentially save lives in the event of an attack.
About the Author: John Matthews is the Executive Director of the Community Safety Institute (CSI) and a former Chief of Police. Matthews has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years and has a BBA and an MBA. He is the author of seven books and nationally recognized for his work in both law enforcement and school safety. John has developed over 100 federally-funded public safety programs. As one of the country's most respected school safety experts, John is developer of the RAIN Model for classroom conflict, the SAFE School Initiative and the Schools and Universities Safety Resource Center, founded the University Crime Watch program, and produced over a dozen school safety curriculum's for educators, students and law enforcement officials. His school safety books include: Creating A Safer School (2001); Countering Terrorism (2002) and School Safety 101 (2010, 2012, 2016, 2018). He also contributed to a Community Oriented Guide to School Safety published by the Department of Justice (2003), the School Crisis Response series and Pandemic Planning for Schools. John is an award-winning writer and co-author of The Eyeball Killer, a true crime Book of the Month and firsthand account of his capture of Dallas' only serial killer which has been featured on numerous television shows and his screenplay is currently being made into a feature film. His latest book Mass Shootings: Six Steps to Survival examines four decades of these deadly crimes and presents an easy-to-remember model for survival. For over twenty years John has served as a law enforcement analyst for both CNN and FOX NEWS providing analysis on breaking public safety stories ranging from mass shootings to terrorism and school safety to law enforcement/community relations. As a Texas lawman, entrepreneur and writer, John garnered a host of awards. He was named Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer and was awarded a Certificate of Commendation from the Texas State Senate. He received numerous awards from the Dallas Police Department including Certificate of Merit, Life Saving Award, Certificate for Civic Achievement and the Police Commendation. He has been honored with the ACE National Education award, and both the Texas and International Downtown Association awards for building public/private partnerships. He has received three ACE National Entrepreneurship awards, an INC. 500 award, a Venture 100 award, and a Texas Press Association award for column writing.