Recommendation Steps

Review employment screening policy & procedure

• Does your screening process include volunteers, cafeteria workers, mechanics, bus drivers, and security, in addition to educational staff?

• Do your searchers do Social Security Number traces to identify any out-of-state venues that should be checked?

• Do your outside contractors use due-diligence screening procedures to check the backgrounds of their workers who regularly visit your school?

Review the physical security of bus yards and garages; review transportation security in general.

• Are vehicle garages alarmed, and are the alarms in working order?

• Are fenced-in areas gated, locked and adequately illuminated at night?

• Do drivers do “pilot inspections” of their vehicles before placing them into service each day? Is this
done again after each time the vehicle has been left unattended?

• Are bus drivers equipped with two-way radios or cell phones?


• Are drivers trained to be aware of and to report suspicious vehicles that appear to be following their
busses during their routes?

• Do drives keep a student roster for each bus route, to include student name, address, primary and secondary emergency contact numbers, and medical
authorization information?

Review the adequacy of physical security in and around campus buildings.

• Are alarm systems working and have they been tested? This should include main campus buildings as well as maintenance and storage facilities.

• Are keys to campus and administration buildings
adequately controlled?

• Are alarm pass codes changed when an employee leaves the school district? Make sure codes are not shared.

• Is exterior lighting working and is illumination adequate?

• Is interior lighting (night lighting) working and is illumination adequate?

Review access control procedures and heighten employee awareness

• Are doors that should remain locked from the outside during the day kept locked, and are these
doors checked periodically to make sure they are secure? Train all employees to check these doors but consider assigning someone to check them as well.

• Are staff members trained to approach and to “assist” strangers of any age who are observed in
and on school property? Report those who have difficulty explaining their presence.

• Has a visitor log and ID badge system been implemented?

Train everyone to recognize and report suspicious activities on campuses.

• Are persons taking pictures or filming campus activities questioned about their authorization to do so?

• Be alert for suspicious vehicles that seem to have no apparent purpose for being on campus, or that come, go, and then reappear again.

• Are specific individuals assigned to inspect the outside of campus buildings throughout the day, and
to report unattended packages or vehicles near building perimeters?

• Have you developed a plan to handle reports of suspicious activity?

• Is everyone trained to report unattended or otherwise suspicious packages found inside campus buildings? Is this specific issue placed on routine checklists for maintenance and janitorial personnel?

• Do personnel know what to do if a suspicious package is found?

• Have you considered a policy that requires staff and students to visibly identify backpacks, book bags, briefcases and gym bags with luggage style ID tags?

Promote Safe Schools Helpline

• Do you have a zero tolerance for verbal threats of any kind?

• Do all members of the school community know that any threat, or information about a potential threat, must be reported? And, do they understand that there is no such thing as a threat intended as
a joke?

• Do students and staff know that they are responsible for informing the building principal about any information or knowledge of a possible or actual terrorist threat or act?

• Have you communicated a hard stand on hoaxes intended to mimic terrorist acts? Do students know that these hoaxes are crimes in themselves?