I took a personal interest in school safety after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018. This tragic loss of life, and how this event unfolded, deeply affected me. That year, my daughter started high school in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I began to closely follow town hall meetings and read the numerous commission reports of shootings across the country including the tragedies at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Nashville Tennessee School Shooting, and the Texas shootings, which included the Robb Elementary School shooting at Uvalde Texas.
Each critical review was driven by the multitude of concerns of their respective experience. The reports presented similar recommendations for strengthening safety and security plans, which consistently recommended areas where safety and security measures could be improved. However, there were unaddressed areas that I believe needed more attention to further reduce the risk of harm from targeted school violence.
So, after more than seven years, I finished writing a book on the subject of school safety to address these areas. My friends and colleagues who have worked in DOE’s nuclear defense industry will recognize these ideas and their importance in protecting human life.
Having seen firsthand the challenges and lessons learned in ensuring human safety from the hazards of high-risk facilities, I have come to believe that any enterprise that poses significant risk to people, where incidents can result in serious injury or death, should adhere to a shared value system guided by proven safety management principles. These principles should be upheld in any context where there exists a risk of significant harm to human life.
I hope that those responsible for school safety, or advocating for it, will also recognize the value of applying these safety principles to K–12 schools, as I have.
John Menna
