Introduction

Perhaps there is no greater challenge today than creating safe schools. Restoring America's schools to tranquil and safe places of learning requires a major new commitment: School safety must be placed at the top of the educational agenda. Without safe schools, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn. Developing and implementing a safe school plan for each school is an essential part of this process. Safe school planning is now being recognized by school administrators as the first step in creating an appropriate learning environment for children.

A “safe school” is a place where students can learn and teachers can teach in a warm and welcoming environment, free of intimidation and fear of violence. A safe school provides an educational climate that fosters a spirit of acceptance and care for every child. It is a place where behavior expectations are clearly communicated, consistently enforced, and fairly applied. Although safe school planning can involve planning for responding to various emergencies, including natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes, in this chapter the discussion focuses on the prevention of youth violence.

Safe school planning is also about the “art of the possible.” Although all safe school plans share certain general features, each community should devise a plan that will best suit the needs of its schools. More than anything else, a safe school plan is a function of community will, priorities, and interests. The components are limited only by the imagination, creativity, energy, and commitment of the community. The key questions to ask are: (1) What is it we want to accomplish with regard to our schools? and (2) How do we want to make it happen?

Establishing a safe school plan is a long-term, systematic, and comprehensive process. A safe school plan addresses both the behavioral and property protection aspects of crime prevention. The best safe school plans involve the entire community: Teachers, students, parents, law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals, business and community leaders, and a wide array of youth-serving professionals should all be brought to the table. Safe school planning is an inclusive and cooperative activity (Stephens, 1994b).