Safe School Design

Conventional security measures are limited in scope. That's fine when you want to design a prison, because the primary purpose of the facility is security. But other kinds of facilities require a different approach, one that never forgets the primary purpose of the facility. A store, for example, needs to sell goods. An urban center needs to attract visitors. Schools need to inspire teaching and learning.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Safe, Healthy and Positive Environmental Design (SHAPED) for schools are approaches that maintain the focus on teaching and learning, while simultaneously integrating design features that contribute to environmental safety and security. Critical elements include natural surveillance, natural access control, territoriality and, at a more advancerd level, health and connectivity.

[For an in-depth introduction to CPTED, click here to see an article on school security and technology.]

Services include Customized seminars, inspections and consultations:

INSPECTIONS AND CONSULTATIONS

Quick, comprehensive, inspections or consults--Appropriate for most schools, where the affective environment is reasonable but the physical environment leaves room for improvement. In most cases I can inspect and write full reports on 2-3 schools in about one week.

Broader inspections or consults—where issues are more complex, and where violence, disrespect, alienation and boredom are significant problems, greater time can be spent on an objective assessment of the affective environment—how people treat each other, and how to turn it in a more positive and productive direction. This would involve interviews with a wide spectrum of people involved.

Design consults—involvement at the design stage is the most cost-effective strategy for integrating CPTED into new schools or major reconstruction.

Services can be purely preventive, targeted toward anticipated problems, as forensic examinations after incidents have occurred, or a combination of the three approaches.

SEMINARS AND PRESENTATIONS

In all the SHAPED seminars, the greatest benefit to your schools will be gained by bringing a broad cross-section of your school community to the trainings. This contributes to a greater understanding of multiple perspectives, a shared understanding of problems and restorative options, and a far stronger likelihood of generating broad community support when solutions are proposed. Teachers, administrators, support staff, architects, custodians, school resource officers, local police, elected officials, students, parents and board members should all be considered when selecting attendees.

Safe School Environments seminar (SHAPED 1) – This one-day foundation seminar for the SHAPED series (Safe, Healthy and Positive Environmental Design) covers fundamental concepts of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), and introduces Advanced CPTED and SHAPED perspectives. Sessions include lecture, an extensive slide show illustrating design strengths and weaknesses, an overview of inspection approaches and considerations, a tabletop exercise and field studies by students. Students will be able to provide a basic analysis of a site by the end of day one.

Healthy Environments seminar (SHAPED 2) -- A logical seminar to follow SHAPED 1, this workshop focuses on healthy physical environments, students and staff. The format includes lecture, an extensive slide show illustrating concepts and environmental features and field study by students. Students will conduct a basic environmental analysis of the surrounding neighborhood as well as the school by the end of this seminar. [This should ideally be presented in conjunction with local environmental and/or personal health professionals, to provide local expertise as well as to ensure that someone remains on site to “carry the torch.”]

Positive Environments seminar (SHAPED 3) – The third leg of the SHAPED trilogy focuses on the affective environment, sometimes referred to as Second Generation CPTED. Topics include violence, the process of learning to kill, alienation, and counter-measures that build pro-social skills and connectivity. The format includes lectures and an intensive slide show illustrating a multitude of promising and effective approaches to school management and curriculum that build positive environments. Visual cues and functional design features that reinforce pro-social attitudes and behavior are emphasized. Students will conduct field studies and interviews if possible, and provide a basic analysis of the affective environment by the end of this seminar. [Schools are best served by inviting a wide variety of individuals to attend, including teachers’ aides, SROs, students, parents, teachers and administrators, as well as anyone locally involved in promoting positive school environments. Ideally, attendees should have access to school students and staff to interview as part of the seminar experience. This seminar should serve as a catalyst for further discussion about improving school climate.]

SHAPED follow up sessions – Following SHAPED seminars, students can inspect schools in conjunction with instructor supervision and feedback, with the formatting customized to meet your needs. This can be integrated into other inspection and consulting services for your school district.

Confrontation Management seminar — This popular workshop covers dealing with difficult people, de-escalation and personal safety. It can be offered as a 60-90 minute seminar, a half day workshop, or customized to meet client needs.

Child Abuse seminar – mandatory reporting requirements, criminal justice system issues, and handling self-disclosures of child abuse or neglect. This is usually covered in a 60 minute seminar. Advance planning time is needed to optimize materials for local use. This can include working with your staff to create a customized guide for school personnel.

Second Step violence prevention curriculum classes and pro-social story telling for elementary students, based on the program created by Seattle’s Committee for Children. Second Step methodically builds empathy, anger management and problem solving skills at a preventive level. This program has been independently evaluated as an effective Best Practice, reducing referrals for misbehavior and improving school performance.

Customized presentations can be arranged to cover any of the above topics to meet your training needs in seminars or as keynote addresses.

Background:

Tod Schneider provides inspections, consulting and training on safe school design, within a context of Safe, Healthy and Positive Environmental Design (S.H.A.P.E.D.) for schools. His expertise includes Fundamental and Second Generation Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (C.P.T.E.D.) for schools, integrated with Positive Behavior Support, Green Schools, Smart Schools, Public Health, and other movements and areas of study.

Schneider's most recent writing project has been producing the Safe School Facilities and Technology guide for the Northwest Regional Educational Lab and the Hamilton Fish Institute (2007). He has been the primary consulting editor for the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities school safety inspection checklist--a comprehensive national model, available for free download at the NCEF website (2006.) He is the senior author of Safe School Design (ERIC 2000), contributing author for Safe and Healthy Schools (Oxford 2006), and a member of the International C.P.T.E.D. Association.

Tod presently serves as a police department crime prevention specialist and a nationally recognized authority on safe school design, personal safety, violence prevention, confrontation management, and related topics. He consults regularly to schools, educational groups and related government organizations. Recent work has included training for the Indianapolis Schools, the Hamilton Fish Institute School Safety Summit in Washington, D.C., and School and College Security Workshops in Baltimore, Maryland. He has consulted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on safety assessment design, and has worked with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools providing crisis recovery training and cpted consulting in New Orleans.

The C.P.T.E.D. field of study has been growing for over 40 years, tracing back to Jane Jacobs’ work on urban planning. At the fundamental level, C.P.T.E.D. focuses on issues of natural surveillance, natural access control and territoriality/ maintenance. Over the past decade, another dimension of study emerged, known as Second Generation C.P.T.E.D.. The latter addresses the affective environment. It examines connectivity within an environment, connectivity to the surrounding community, cohesion and culture.

As the field has grown, the acronym has become a pale reflection of the areas of study incorporated. C.P.T.E.D. in fact goes far beyond crime prevention. Second Generation C.P.T.E.D. has been a critical step forward, looking at not just crime, but human relations on a grander scale. At the same time, other areas of study, such as public health and positive behavior support, have brought additional perspectives to the world of school environmental design. A more comprehensive name for this broad area of study is Safe, Healthy and Positive Environmental Design, or S.H.A.P.E.D. for schools.