With the proliferation of school violence across the nation, legislators and school administrators are contemplating school safety plans that require massive long-term expenditures in capital improvements, including the installation of security cameras, metal detectors and the hiring of additional security personnel. 

But is this approach really going to make our schools safer? Or are we instead turning our institutions of learning and childhood development into places more closely resembling prisons? And given current state and local budget constraints, how can this vision realistically be implemented and paid for?

We suggest and offer a different approach to school safety.

For children to shine and develop to their fullest potential, school administrators must create a safe and comfortable learning environment — a place where teachers can teach and students can learn — free from threats and acts of violence.

The most important and often overlooked component of a comprehensive school safety plan is communication. We know that students are the best source of information for what is happening in schools. In fact, the Secret Service Safe School Initiative & Threat Assessment Study revealed that in four out of five school shootings, the attackers boasted about their plan to other students beforehand.

By bridging the communication gap between students and faculty thereby breaking the ‘Code of Silence’ ― a pervasive sense among adolescents that telling grownups that they or another student is in pain or may pose a threat to others violates an unwritten, but powerful principle ― school officials can proactively identify troubled students and avoid potentially catastrophic events by tapping into the best source of information on a school campus ― the students themselves.

AnComm’s ‘Talk About It®’ is designed to bridge this communication gap by allowing students to anonymously report issues and engage in safe dialogue with school personnel. Using any computer, PDA or cell phone, students can report threats of violence or communicate personal problems to school counselors, who can then intervene and safely resolve student issues before tragedy strikes.

Today, thousands of students in more than 100 elementary, middle and high schools across the United States rely on AnComm’s ‘Talk About It®’ to report problems and incidents ranging from bullying, gangs, threats of violence and cheating to drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, depression, stress, physical abuse, self-mutilation, and sexual harassment by using the Internet to allow students to reach out to school officials and seek help for their concerns ― without the massive, long-term capital investments in school infrastructure.

Learn how AnComm’s ‘Talk About It®’ can make your school and educational institution safer by calling us at (866) 926-2666.