FACED WITH THE ever-present threat of violence in schools, education leaders must go beyond providing physical barriers to school violence. They must go beyond trauma-informed practices and focus on healing-centered engagement.

At the Jennings Public Schools, a district situated between the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson, Mo., we achieve that through our 3H approach to school safety.

The Heart
First, we touch the hearts of our students each day by saying in word or action, “We see you, we support you, and you are significant, sufficient and resilient.”

Students see themselves in the halls of their schools, in the curriculum we teach and in the relationships we build. Educators support students’ academic and behavior goals, but they also take an interest in their personal goals and career pathways.

Just as physical activity strengthens students’ heart muscles, character-building opportunities build their heart resilience and capacity. Through mentoring, service learning and apprenticeships, we help students learn who they are and partner them with a caring adult who helps them get where they are going.

Strong relationships promote school safety. They also defend against violence, as students are the preemptive ears, eyes and intelligence for emerging acts. When relationships are strong, students feel comfortable sharing information with the adults in the school.

The Head
Knowledge is power. Sharing knowledge distributes power. We distribute knowledge and power to strengthen our communication, training, planning and partnerships in an effort to ensure everyone is safe while in our care.

The key difference-makers in our district include:

» Mental health and trauma-informed practices to increase student and staff awareness and wellness. In our district, each school has at least two therapists and two counselors who help students build self-knowledge and resilience.

» 4E training (educate, evade, escape, engage) and active shooter simulations with trained school resource officers. These activities provide staff and students with training and practice running, hiding and fighting so they are prepared for any emergency situation.

» Real-time intelligence whereby the local police have access to schools’ live video feed and communication tools such as Facetime. We identify and empower all staff who have had police or Army training to serve as part of the security action teams.

The Hand
We move past trauma-informed practices to healing-centered engagement that focuses on empowering action steps for overall well-being. We partner with agencies that offer meditation activities, community health fairs, fitness classes and even assistance with paying bills.

In addition, a federally qualified health center reimbursement from the Bureau of Primary Health Care and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services helped us establish the first elementary school-based health clinic in Missouri.

We now have two clinics for preK-12 offering free medical, dental (cleanings), vision (prescription eyeglasses) and mental health services.

Beyond Security
Putting more school resource officers and trained school security officers in schools and deploying action teams as a first line of defense in the event of an active shooter situation may help, but it cannot be the only solution to providing safe schools.

This snapshot of our 3H approach offers some strategies to keep our schools, students and staff safe. It is by no means comprehensive. It’s up to all of us to share our best practices with our colleagues to promote smarter, stronger school safety. Together, we can do more to ensure no more lives are lost.


ART MCCOY is superintendent of the Jennings Public School District in Jennings, Mo. Twitter: @DrArtMcCoy