The "poli-tricks" of #schoolsafety: A district's #schoolsecurity director pushed back against #weaponsdetection systems based upon concerns with fidelity of implementation of such a program. The district has a gun incident. The #schoolboard wants weapons detection (aka: "shiny object syndrome" response) and wants the security director fired. The #superintendent announces retirement. The school board announces new weapons detection systems.
Of course we don't know all the facts, but the public-facing side of this fits patterns of how school security directors and other #schoolleaders face not only school security challenges, but political challenges as well. A few takeaways:
1. Your job as a school security director may quickly become at risk when some (not all) school boards and superintendents do not respect your professional recommendations and instead make decisions based upon political and image concerns.
2. Your job as a superintendent may follow the same path as above. (Numerous superintendents have lost their jobs in recent years directly or indirectly related to school safety issues.)
3. When media and parental pressures increase, superintendents and school boards need to have the leadership and courage to make decisions based upon a comprehensive assessment of their security and emergency preparedness needs, not to pander to politics.
There are ways to manage the politics and school community relations issues around school safety, in addition to the primary job of managing the school safety issues themselves. But it is a skill school security directors, and increasingly superintendents, need support and training in to survive potential storms.
As a footnote, the second chapter of my first book in 1998 is called, "The Politricks of School Security." It stayed in subsequent books. A lot of it still applies in 2024.