As educators and families get into the rhythm of a new school year, safety was on our minds, even before Wednesday’s tragedy in Minneapolis. We are saddened by such instances of violence in our schools and communities.
We are also more determined than ever to ensure that safe, supportive, and welcoming schools are a reality for every young person.
In addition to changing laws about weapons and how individuals are able to access them, we must work toward safer schools by investing in the people, policies and practices that research shows help to create safe and welcoming environments on a daily basis and help to reduce the likelihood of targeted school violence.
Schools need sufficient funding for evidence-based interventions, common-sense security infrastructure and educator support.
Below are free resources for schools and communities.
What Safe Schools Should Look Like for Every Student
A Guide to Building Safe and Welcoming Schools and Rejecting Policies that Hurt Students
It takes a multi-pronged effort, focused on relationship building, prevention and inclusion, to achieve this vision of safe schools for all. There are other important steps we must take to ensure schools are safe from social-emotional, cultural and other forms of physical violence. No one step is designed to work alone; rather, we must address the interconnected policies, practices, beliefs and systems that too often threaten the safety of young people in schools. This issue brief by Morgan Craven, J.D., provides a school safety roadmap for policy and practice.
Student and Family Engagement – IDRA Model Policy Package
Families can be their children’s strongest advocates for promoting quality neighborhood schools and to ensure excellent academic instruction – where children are safe, happy, learning and engaged. Strong student and family engagement leads to better academic performance, better attendance and more students pursuing college and career aspirations. IDRA’s package provides a template for policy language for states, school districts, and schools to adopt research-based student and family leadership and engagement strategies. It also includes family engagement resources for schools and an advocacy guide.
Family Engagement Toolkit
Few people question the value of parents being involved in schools. But many school leaders labor with traditional strategies that have little meaning or success. Families can be their children’s strongest advocates for promoting quality neighborhood schools and to ensure excellent academic instruction – where children are safe, happy, learning and engaged. This toolkit is designed to provide educators tools for embracing what, for many, is a new vision for engaging with families and community members.
Identity-Based Bullying – IDRA Model Policy Package
To develop safe and healthy school environments, schools must be able to respond to bullying and harassment appropriately and take deliberate action to prevent it. This includes incidences where the bullying taking place is based on or related to a student’s identity, such as their race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, religion or disability status. IDRA’s package includes a policy brief, model policy for state-level legislation, school board policy and an advocacy toolkit.
Interrupting Bullying & Harassment in Schools Toolkit
Bullying prevention does not happen without deliberate action. This toolkit is designed to give educators and school leaders the tools that they need to prevent bullying and harassment by fostering a positive school climate. This package includes five chapters, each with a video and supporting resources.
