After Texas school shooting, should schools worry about graduation and prom security?

Houston’s KHOU wades through what they’ve been able to verify about the Santa Fe High School shooting and what’s just rumor.

As the school year ends and students prepare for graduation and prom, another high school shooting Friday reignited national debate over school safety when a gunman fatally shot 10 people at a Texas high school.

With worries running high since the Parkland high school shooting in February — especially over special events like prom and graduation — security experts say there’s no new cause for heightened concern for special events this year.

Unless a school faces a specific threat or conflict between students, “there’s no need to overact,” said school safety expert Kenneth Trump.

Author of Proactive School Security and Emergency Preparedness Planning and president of National School Safety and Security Services, Trump has worked with educators for 30 years across the country to ensure schools have thorough safety plans in place in case of an emergency.

“The more we find people focused on grasping for extreme security measures and increased perceptions of security, the less prepared they are in the fundamentals of security,” he said.

For example, having chaperones spread throughout a room rather than clumped off in a corner or using walkie-talkies for instant communication rather than cell phones that require service can make a huge difference in case of an emergency, Trump said.

At Santa Fe High school, where nine students and one adult were fatally shot Friday, students were preparing for a graduation scheduled for June 1.

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Security expert and author of Security Expert’s Guide to Premise Liability Litigation, Chris McGoey stressed the importance of controlling building entrances and exits for special events. “If you have any additional security, have them outside the event,” he said.

In many cases, proms are held off-campus at rented sites and graduations are often held in large gyms or outside on school grounds. While off-site situations make security more difficult, having someone scope out floor plans ahead of time can bolster safety, McGoey added.

There’s no crystal ball for event security, and schools need to follow the plans they already have in place, McGoey said. “You can’t protect at the extreme level at all schools at every event,” he said.

For Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 students and teachers in a Valentine’s Day rampage, prom honored the victims with memorial service for the seniors who would have shared the special night with their classmates is planned.

Parkland students voiced their support for the victims and survivors of the Santa Fe shooting on Friday — the last day of school for Parkland seniors.

Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller

A version of this story was published April 28, 2018

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On – 18 May, 2018 By Ryan W. Miller