LAST WEEK, I WORKED WITH a school district that has experienced some safety problems. During our site visits, it became apparent that two recently constructed high schools have serious design flaws from a safety standpoint. Though beautiful buildings, the design flaws make them a nightmare for school

staff to operate in. The real tragedy is that both schools were almost built correctly. Architects and planning teams can build a better school, reduce civil liability, and better satisfy those who will use the building by using a safety design team approach. Taking a few extra steps can make the difference between a good school and a great school. It can also shave $50,000 to $500,000 off the cost of a new school construction project while creating a more positive school climate and reducing common headaches for school administrators down the road.

Involve Public Safety Officials in the Design Phase

One low cost and often incredibly effective way to improve the design of a school is for the architect, building planning team and, if already selected, an administrator from the new school to meet with district safety and security as well as area public safety officials to discuss planning concepts early in the design phase. Having a fire service professional, security professional, law enforcement officer, emergency management official and a public health professional meet with the planning team early in the design phase, as well as later in the process, can make a dramatic difference in the level of safety for the finished school while significantly lowering the exposure to civil liability for the architect and the client organization. I had one client district, where a new eight-story school board office had been recently built, hire me to find solutions to a series of safety incidents soon after the new building was opened. In spite of a million dollar plus security camera system, large security staff and other measures, it was clear from the incidents that were taking place that the facility had many inherent dangers. The assessment revealed that more than $250,000 would need to be spent to correct the access control problems resulting from a design gap that could have been easily averted by a careful assessment of the design by a security professional. As it turns out, a school resource officer with extensive formal training in physical security had asked the district to be allowed to serve on the design team only to be rebuffed. After all, what could a cop teach an architect? From my interaction with this officer, I doubt seriously he would have missed the gap. This $250,000 goof is typical of what we see in many schools, not only in the United States, but in other countries as well.

As we can see, it is very common to see a finished school that is dangerous, sometimes even incredibly dangerous, in a manner that would have been quickly spotted by local public safety officials. For example, one large Atlanta area school system built six cookie cutter elementary schools that lack any semblance of adequate severe weather sheltering space. The schools were designed with suitable sheltering areas for less than 15% of the student population. An emergency manager would rarely miss this type of oversight. An attorney won't either, should a tornado ever strike any of these six schools while they are occupied.

Parking Flow

To build on this approach, consider asking an officer from a local police department traffic division or the nearest state police barracks to help assess the proposed parking, student pickup and drop-off areas in conjunction with the bus loading area(s). Too many schools are built with extremely dangerous and terribly inconvenient parking areas and approach drives that could be avoided with more careful thought and perhaps input from an experienced traffic officer.

Use Design Checklists

There are a variety of school design checklists that can help avert simple but troublesome design flaws such as easy rooftop access. The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (www.edfacilities.org) has a very detailed checklist and Safe Havens International offers a more concise and also free school safety design checklist at www.safehavensinternational.org.

Contract for an Independent Design Review

There are a number of highly qualified CPTED experts who can review building designs to give a second opinion to the primary architect and planning team. While this is an expensive approach, it is still often money well spent and will almost always result in significant enhancements on school design.

Train a Team on Safe School Design

Another approach is to have a local team trained by top experts in concepts such as CPTED, Second Generation CPTED and a newer design and usage concept developed by Tod Schneider called SHAPED--Safe Healthy and Positive Environmental Design. For example, the Indianapolis Public School District recently held a training session on all three of these topics with funding from the United States Department of Education. A team of facilities personnel, technology technicians, grounds personnel, school district police officers, administrators and area architects who were invited by the district attended an interactive training session with practical exercises. The goal of this training is to help the district and the architects who design their new school construction and renovation projects develop long term internal capabilities to incorporate these concepts into existing schools and support facilities as well as new construction projects. The training was so useful that the coordinator noticed several occasions where architects attending the training used their breaks to call colleagues and change building designs for projects that were already under way!

The Future

More architects and school officials are realizing they can significantly improve school designs through this type of team approach. Savvy architects are improving client satisfaction thus making their firms more competitive through a willingness to engage in meaningful collaboration with some non traditional partners in the design process. School districts are realizing they can shave significant sums off the cost of school building and renovation projects while creating more appealing and safer schools. The team approach to safe school design is not only good for the safety of kids and school staff, it is smart business, use it to build better schools for less money.

About the Author: Michael Dorn is the Executive Director of Safe Havens International Inc. an international non profit school safety center. Safe Havens analysts have worked in two dozen countries and their training videos are in use on every continent. Dorn regularly trains architects, security, school facilities personnel and others in the concepts of safe school design. He can be reached through his web site at www.safehavensinternational.org