By Lindsey Coulter

Safety at American schools is a constant talking point but concerns were raised further in 2020. The Government Accountability Office said 54% of schools in America were in “dire need of updates or complete building replacements.” A followed, claiming $1.1 trillion is needed to modernize and replace America’s schools.��

Aging buildings and a high number of violent incidents have rightly given parents many structural and physical concerns about future school constructions. There are many boxes that need ticking. Educators, policy makers, architects and security experts are playing a role in building safer environments for students and staff.

What to expect from the future of American schools

1. Construction��

The hazards of poor structural integrity stretch beyond the risk of building collapse. Aging buildings put students at risk of exposure to harmful substances (lead paints, PCBs, dust, etc.), mold spores and poor air quality. COVID-19 added to these structural concerns, as viruses spread faster in poorly ventilated areas. Modern school construction actively addresses these hazards that put students in danger.

Future school builds will include:

• Climate-resistance materials to withstand extreme temperatures
• Smart hallway design to avoid overcrowding and crushing during an emergency
• Storm shelters in large areas such as gyms��
• Predictive maintenance sensors to inspect buildings’ structural health
• Buildings designed with a number of evacuation routes.

2. Security systems

America’s appallingly high rate of violence in schools demands nothing less than state-of-the-art . Security guards need technology to help them detect threats as fast as possible.��

Schools are one of the most difficult environments to protect. They are unique, complex buildings filled with thousands of students. In a loud and crowded atmosphere, it’s unrealistic for security guards to detect every security threat. World-class security technology buys security officers time and awareness to make decisions faster – decisions that could save many lives.

Modern school security systems feature:

• Smart security cameras: give guards a real-time assessment of crowded environments. Security guards are alerted to weapons, threatening behavior, large crowds, loud noises and loitering. Smart cameras tag people and objects, giving guards a clear view of the events happening on CCTV screens.
• Smart sensors: Today’s smart sensors can detect hazards such as toxic fumes, smoking/vaping loud noises and threatening language.
• Integrated systems: A security response is scuppered if officers need to jump between systems when a threat is detected. Cutting-edge technology products are built to integrate. This is required to keep a real-time view of incidents without losing time switching between security systems.��
• Cybersecurity: New schools focus on cybersecurity well before they’re open to students. As entry points, doors and evacuations are part of the Internet of Things (IoT), many steps are taken to prevent cyber attacks.

3. Adaptive environments

Future school construction is taking a proactive approach to account for multiple environmental and physical security threats. From dangerous weather conditions to violent intruders, environments must be built to handle the worst-case scenarios:

• Solar power backups are used to counter any outages caused by extreme weather conditions
• Smart floor maps are activated during emergencies, directing students and staff to safe zones depending on the type of security threat��
• to manage the threat of violent intruders. Bullet-resistant windows are being installed that double as emergency exits. Whiteboards that double as safe rooms are also installed, giving students a safe place to hide until the security threat is intercepted.

Conclusion

Parents across America are understandably worried about the state of our schools. Security concerns are consistently high in America, but they have been amplified in recent years. An alarming Government report in 2020 stated that 54% of schools were in urgent need of reconstruction. Students and staff are at risk of numerous hazards when buildings deteriorate. Future buildings must address several structural, environmental and physical security concerns to build schools that give students a safe place to learn.��

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TRENTON, N.J.��—��New Jersey Gov.��Mikie Sherrill delivered her inaugural budget address��earlier this month, outlining her��administration’s plan to��protect children’s futures��through a��$12.4 billion��investment in K-12 schools for FY 2027.

“My budget is focused on ensuring kids in New Jersey have access to the best education and brightest possible future,” said Sherrill. “The budget includes a record level of K-12 school funding, while acknowledging that much more work is needed to make sure students and taxpayers get the best return on our investment. It lays the foundation for future improvements – like stronger academic and mental health outcomes, shared services, and more efficient spending – to better support children from birth through graduation and strengthen schools statewide.”

The $60.7 billion budget includes a proposed surplus of $5.4 billion, while redirecting over 74 percent of the total budget back into New Jersey communities in the form of grants-in-aid for property tax relief, social services, and higher education, as well as state aid to schools, municipalities, and counties.

Among plans to increase affordability and increase government accountability, the budget prioritizes investing in education. Sherrill proposes a record breaking $12.4 billion for K-12 schools in FY 2027, the largest amount in state history and a $370 million increase over last year’s funding. The budget also includes a record $1.4 billion for Preschool Education Aid. Sherrill added that she looks forward to working with the Legislature to modernize and stabilize the school funding formula.������

In preparation for New Jersey’s first cell phone-free school year this fall, the proposal includes $125,000 for the new Office of Youth Online Mental Health Safety and Awareness in the Department of Health. The office will research and make recommendations to guide responsible use of social media platforms among youth. The budget also includes $500,000 for a new Social Media Research Center at one of New Jersey’s higher education institutions.����

An allocation of $15 million for high-impact tutoring — double the amount of FY 2026 m— would help nearly 100 more districts and 13,500 more students, with the goal to accelerate learning and address academic achievement gaps spurred by the pandemic. The budget would also provide 21,000 schoolchildren with free meals through the Working-Class Families Anti-Hunger Act.��

The announcement reflects a continuation of policy choices aligned with Sherrill’s goals to modernize and stabilize the School Funding Reform Act, which provide the blueprint for New Jersey’s state aid formula. The budget limits reductions in state aid to no more than 3 percent, which will prevent the loss of an additional $188.4 million for school districts. Without a limit to cuts, some districts have faced losses of up to 60 percent of their state aid in recent years. These limits on reductions are offset by a 6 percent limit on state aid increases, ensuring overall stability while recognizing the need for annual adjustments.

The New Jersey Department of Education will use a three-year average when determining local fair share, which is the amount of funding a local school district is expected to contribute toward its own budget based on its property wealth and income. Using a multi-year average minimizes year-to-year fluctuations.

To ensure state aid reflects the real needs of districts, the NJDOE will use actual special education enrollment numbers to determine funding levels, instead of the approach used in years past of relying on a statewide average for all districts. State aid allocations are available on .

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By Jonathan Steel

From ChatGPT to Gemini and everything in between, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the dizzying array of possibilities introduced by large language models (LLMs). Bombarded by clickbait that polarizes, oversimplifies, and misrepresents complex issues, forming an informed perspective can start to feel like more effort than it’s worth.

Arcadis helps clients navigate this landscape so they can benefit from these powerful tools in focused, practical ways tailored to their specific needs. This work is anchored within the firm’s computational design team. Capabilities in this area long predate the public launch of the first LLMs. Rather than starting from scratch, the team has expanded an existing toolkit for processing large volumes of data by integrating LLM capabilities that accelerate sorting, categorization, and pattern recognition.

Understanding Computational Design��

So what is computational design, and why does it matter today? Put simply, it is a process for developing and evaluating high-performing options against a set of predetermined criteria using a combination of tools and technologies.

A simple way to think about it is baking a loaf of bread with no prior experience. Variables to experiment with might include oven temperature, bake time, the amount of yeast or how long the dough is kneaded. A computational design process models many combinations of these variables using available data to identify the settings most likely to produce a desired outcome. For example, a loaf with a soft interior and crusty exterior requires a different mix of variables than one intended to be evenly dense throughout. Computational design allows these trade-offs to be explored systematically, making it easier to understand how different inputs shape the final result.

Computational design truly comes into its own when datasets grow massive and the number of variables becomes so large that testing options through trial and error is far beyond what the human brain can manage within a reasonable timeframe. Unlike baking bread, these challenges cannot be solved through simple experimentation.

Consider the placement of stations along a proposed light rail line in a city. Decision-making must account for factors such as land availability, parcel costs, walking distances to nearby homes, access to services, and more. A computational design process can rapidly generate hundreds of thousands of possible scenarios and evaluate them against defined criteria in minutes, surfacing the options that best align with the chosen priorities and weightings.��

Using Computational Design for Portland Public Schools

A clear example of how these capabilities have been applied to increase the value delivered to clients is the recently completed Portland Public Schools Security Camera Upgrades project. As part of the initial approach, a computational design process was used to optimize both the layout and selection of cameras across upgrades to 86 campuses districtwide. As demonstrated throughout this work, computational design excels at addressing complex, interrelated, multivariable challenges.

The challenge was clear from the outset: how to develop a process that could generate optimal camera placement designs across each campus while meeting two core objectives:

1. Maximize coverage of the perimeter wall of any building.
2. Maximize coverage of the parking lots on each site.

Three types of security cameras were considered for this application, each with its own focal range, field of view, and performance characteristics: wide-angle, varifocal, and multisensor. By modeling these camera types, applying them to accurately developed site drawings, and accounting for visual obstructions that affect coverage of building perimeters and parking areas, the team was able to use an evolutionary model to iteratively solve for optimal layouts. This approach delivered a solution that met the project schedule while coming in 40% under budget.

The $19 million project spanned 86 campuses and focused on achieving near-complete building perimeter camera coverage. Rather than applying a standard template, the team used parametric tools alongside practitioner insight to account for variations in building footprints, existing coverage, site conditions, and incident hotspots across the district. As districts continue to prioritize safety in capital planning, this work offers a grounded view of how large systems are approaching security upgrades in practice.

The Future of Computational Design in Academic Environments��

Many everyday challenges are complex, interrelated, multivariable problems that are often solved in ways that are good enough rather than truly optimal. In most cases, this approach works. However, for businesses and public entities responsible for allocating significant resources to achieve specific outcomes, optimization becomes critically important.

Questions quickly emerge: What are the optimal routes and bus sizes to transport students across a school district? How can scheduling of classes at high school level best be distributed to balance minimizing travel distances between periods, maximizing credit availability, and minimizing teacher workload?�� How can food programs optimally meet student nutrition needs while minimizing food costs and preparation times, while maximizing appeal?��

These are just a few examples of challenges where computational design can drive meaningful impact and support better outcomes. The question is simple: what complex, interrelated, multivariable problems are being tackled today that could benefit from the application of computational design? The opportunities are endless.��

Jonathan Steel is a Principal and Business Unit Director, RIBA, ARB, for Arcadis.

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By Allison McKenzie and Todd Thackery

Over the last two decades, the A/E/C industry has seen safety and security become critical design priorities for K‑12 school buildings. With this shift, architects and designers are faced with a pressing challenge: Creating educational environments that are safe, secure and functional, without turning campuses into bleak and intimidating fortresses.

While physical design strategies for emergency prevention—think open sightlines, layered perimeter security, and reinforced doors and windows—are essential components of school safety, these measures alone are not enough. As architects, we must also consider how thoughtful design choices can protect inhabitants from active threats and facilitate effective communication in the event of a serious emergency or security breach, while simultaneously supporting the wellbeing of students and staff.

Thoughtful Design Ensures Emergency Preparedness

The best way to prepare your school against threats? Prevent them from getting into the building in the first place with comprehensive access control. The new standard in U.S. schools is a single, secure point of entry for the public, with all other exterior doors remaining locked from the outside. A secure vestibule with intercoms or camera systems at that main entrance should funnel visitors into the main office for vetting before they can enter the building proper. Front offices can be strategically located at this entrance with windows overlooking approaching paths, parking, and drop-off zones, giving administrators direct line of sight to observe anyone coming onto campus. If a bad actor manages to enter this area, electronic locks on these doors can be engaged remotely to prevent further intrusion.

Preventing an intruder’s entry to a school will always be a top design priority—but if a threat gains access to the building, it’s important to understand how internal design can passively deter or slow down that threat. Administrative offices and community spaces (like libraries or cafeterias) are often placed near the entrance, while classroom wings are set deeper inside or on higher floors. This zoning creates a buffer between the entrance and student learning areas; it also allows schools to welcome community use of certain areas after hours without exposing the entire school to potential intruders.

Separating students from threat

Compartmentalization is another key tactic that can save lives in an emergency. Hallways and building sections can be separated by fire doors or security doors that close during lockdowns to compartmentalize the building and contain a threat. This type of compartmentalization has the added benefit of creating smaller “neighborhoods” within a large school, which can make large buildings feel smaller and more comfortable for young students. New designs often incorporate multiple exits from each learning neighborhood, enabling students to escape the building without backtracking toward a danger point, if necessary.

Doors

To protect students if an intruder does attack, new schools are using target-hardening elements in a discreet way. Classroom doors are one such focus; modern designs require classroom doors that lock from the inside (often via thumb-turn or remote mechanism) so teachers can secure rooms quickly without stepping into the hall. Many districts have retrofitted older doors with magnetic or electronic locks for quick lockdown capability. These strategies must be carefully balanced, though, with the need for students to be able to quickly and easily exit the building in other emergency situations, such as fires.

Solid-core or bullet-resistant doors and frames are also becoming increasingly common for classrooms and offices, coupled with ballistic film or laminated glass on windows to slow down forced entry. In addition, design best practices now recommend that each classroom have a “shadow zone,” or safe corner out of the line of sight of door windows to increase protection when students are required to shelter in place.

Training

Beyond the necessary physical safeguards, comprehensive training is an equally critical element of emergency preparedness. All staff should be included in active shooter training, which should be as realistic as possible; local first responders will ideally work with school staff members in active shooter role-playing that will allow them to create a mental database of appropriate actions in a crisis. Additionally, multiple staff members should know where to locate and how to use emergency medical bags in the event of serious injuries.

Maintaining a welcoming learning environment

Importantly, all of these strategies must be balanced with design decisions that make the building feel safe and welcoming. After all, a school can have secure doors and sightlines without losing the warmth, joy and creativity that define a learning space. Elements such as soft and natural materials (e.g., wood, warm fabrics), natural lighting and calming colors can all create a more comfortable, less institutional atmosphere. Spaces like small nooks, extended learning areas or even areas of diverse seating options within a larger space provide students with choice in how and where to engage with the building and others, giving them an important sense of autonomy. Meanwhile, visible and easily accessible support services (counseling and wellness centers) can encourage students to seek help early and address conflicts or mental health issues before they escalate to safety threats.

Read more about the value of clear and efficient communication in the event of a quickly evolving emergency, advanced security systems and more in the .

Allison McKenzie is vice president and director of Environmental Responsibility for SHP. Todd Thackery is senior vice president of SHP.

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By Mary Ruppenthal����

Creating safe environments is the top priority when it comes to designing schools. From an architectural standpoint, addressing both physical and psychological factors when it comes to safety is vital. After all, security isn’t simply a matter of creating a safe and secure campus perimeter and single point of public entry. It’s about fostering community and placemaking, empowering ownership and promoting positive interactions—all of which serve as a foundation for student and staff safety. Effective school design practices nurture belonging, flex to adapt to evolving learning styles and, of course, establish physical security.��

Belong: Safeguarding Openness and Inclusivity

Building community starts with framing schools as student-centered spaces. By minimizing secluded and isolated areas and maximizing passively supervisable open spaces for a variety of large and small group gatherings, designers can craft places that enhance positive connections while reducing stress and anxiety. Conversely, dark corners and unsupervised spaces tend to increase the potential for bullying and disruptive behavior. Clear sightlines matter, so that teachers, staff, and students can observe or engage across adjacent spaces.��

While students need to be seen in the literal sense, they also need to feel seen. Students are less likely to slip through the cracks when their learning environment delivers options for a variety of learning styles, including smaller gathering and break-out sessions, contemplative spaces and room to gather on a larger scale. Therefore, weaving collaborative spaces of different sizes throughout the environment is key to nurturing a sense of connection.����

Architects are also finding ways to shift teacher-student interactions from purely occurring in the classroom to more organic encounters throughout the campus. For example, by building administrative offices at the back of the student union, teachers and students naturally and informally interact as teachers pass through the communal space.��

On larger campuses, the idea of creating a school within a school is gaining traction. Designing educational environments to accommodate cohorts of 250 students or less can help nurture a sense of belonging. If students feel engaged and welcome in part, through a campus’ layout that’s an important step toward building pride of place. Technical elements, like comfortable seating and warm colors, help create an inviting atmosphere. Leaning into flexible spaces is also an excellent path to supporting a strong, inclusive culture.������������

Adapt: Enhancing Flexibility for Maximizing Learning and Community��

Accommodating different learning styles requires flexibility in terms of classroom and campus configurations. For example, kinesthetic learning requires ample space for movement and collaboration, ideally with plentiful wall and even interior window space for whiteboarding and wallboarding. Without losing connection to the main classroom, break-off spaces for varying levels of small-group lessons or contemplative study require passive supervision.������

The average 960-square-foot classroom can flex in a variety of ways to meet students where they are. For example, operable partitions can help reconfigure a classroom, creating smaller spaces or opening to a larger collaborative environment. Beyond the classroom itself, glass walls and windows to common areas allow visible connections to adjoining learning and gathering spaces. In the case of indoor-outdoor layouts, a glass garage door connection could provide a supervisory link to an exterior space where louder, messier or larger projects can take place.��

At the high school level, creating a multi-use, dynamic space rather than a siloed building not only enhances efficiency, but also checks all the boxes of a safe environment: passive supervision, pride of place and interconnectedness. For example, HED’s Yerba Buena High School’s new performing and fine arts classroom and theater building completely re-envisions and revives the visual and performing arts community on the campus. The design of multipurpose classrooms and stage space (divided by an operable partition as needed), replaces what was once a stagnant and rarely used theater at the end of its useful life and will, when complete, be dynamically full of student life with space to gather throughout the day, visual and performing art classes and display, performances, and community events.����

Mary Ruppenthal is an architect and Education Market Sector leader at ��

��

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As resilient design takes center stage, the demand for life-safety structures is reshaping how public buildings are planned, especially in regions vulnerable to high-wind events. Architects and engineers are increasingly tasked with integrating safe spaces into everyday environments, balancing code requirements, funding opportunities and functional design. The issue hasn’t gone unnoticed by the K-12 educational community. Across the U.S., more K-12 schools are incorporating storm shelters into their designs. Wells alone has built more than 50 storm shelters throughout the Midwest in the last four years. In addition to meeting 2018 IBC building code requirements, schools are also addressing concerns of student and staff safety, with the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events like tornadoes and hurricanes.��

The Growing Threat of Tornadoes and Hurricanes

Each year, hundreds of tornadoes and severe storms impact the central and southeastern regions of the country, threatening communities and the infrastructure that supports them. Schools play an important role in supporting the community; many are particularly vulnerable, operating in older buildings without adequate protection.��

Quick Facts:��

• The U.S. experiences more than 1,200 tornadoes each year, which is more than any other country in the world, according to the US National Science Foundation.��

• There is a significant upward trend in tornado frequency in portions of the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast portions of the U.S. since 1979, according to NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science��

• Hurricanes are becoming stronger and more destructive, with the most damaging U.S. hurricanes being three times more frequent than 100 years ago, according to the Environmental Defense Fund��

These realities are prompting a shift: More districts are investing in storm shelter spaces that can protect students, staff and the community when disaster strikes.��

What’s Driving the Trend Towards Storm Shelters?

The increase in storm shelter construction in K-12 schools isn’t coincidental. It’s the result of evolving building codes, expanded funding opportunities, growing climate concerns, and a stronger commitment to occupant safety from both public and private stakeholders.��

Updated Building Codes: With the advent of the 2018 IBC Code Requirements for ICC 500 Storm Shelters, all Group E occupancies in designated risk areas with an occupant load of 50 or more are expected to have an extreme-wind storm shelter that can withstand winds speeds of 250 mph.����

Federal and State Funding Initiatives: At the same time, funding mechanisms have expanded to support resilient infrastructure. Programs like FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM), and the newer Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) initiative offer critical financial support for school districts looking to offset the cost of storm shelter construction. These grants have made it possible for many communities—especially in rural or lower-income districts—to implement safety measures that may otherwise have been financially out of reach.��

Climate Awareness and Risk Assessment: The increasing frequency, intensity, and unpredictability of severe weather events has raised public and professional awareness. Tornadoes in non-traditional areas, shifting hurricane paths, and longer storm seasons are pushing school districts and other public support entities (like ) to rethink how buildings are designed and used in emergencies. What was once considered an isolated risk has now become part of long-term planning for educational and civic infrastructure.��

Community Dual-Use Planning: More jurisdictions are creating storm shelters as multi-functional community assets. These spaces—often gymnasiums, cafeterias or auditoriums—are designed to serve both day-to-day educational needs and emergency preparedness functions. When designed properly, they meet life-safety standards without compromising programmatic space or aesthetics.��

Prefabricated Concrete Storm Shelters

There’s a clear rise in the number of K-12 projects requesting storm shelters across the central and southeastern U.S., and for many school districts, prefabricated concrete has become the most practical solution for creating a building that lasts.����

Even before the 2018 IBC code implementation, prefabricated components were a material of choice for school systems in more northerly climates. In Minnesota, for example, precast has been a popular building material in educational settings for nearly 30 years. Voter referendums are typically passed in November, giving contractors a short 19-month window to complete the project, sometimes less. Precast enables them to work through the winter season, since manufacturing occurs indoors, and installation can take place in any weather. The same can’t be said for cast-in-place, brick, and block construction, as wrapping and heating the worksite, often necessary in colder climates, is cost-prohibitive.����

In part due to the ICC code, precast is now making significant inroads into other regions that have historically relied on other building materials. Schools such as Roosevelt High School in Hays, Kan.; Maple River K-12 in Mapleton, Minn.; Life School in Carrollton, Texas; and Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, all chose a total precast solution for their storm shelters in a departure from more traditional materials.����

What did they get in return? In short, a stronger and more durable, sustainable concrete roof and wall system that offers wind and fire resistance, superior thermal performance, design flexibility and greater control over the schedule.������

Standard prefabricated concrete safe rooms can easily and economically be designed to exceed the 250-mph windspeed requirement. The standard panel already comes close to the ICC storm shelter code, as they’re typically designed to a 7,000-psi standard, which can exceed 10,000 psi after curing. To comply with the ICC code, Wells increases the size of our insulated panels from 12 inches thick to 14 inches thick—all prestressed with vertical strands to compress the panel. NOTE: Variations in the design might be necessary when windows are present, as the glass transfers additional wind load into the precast. Along with prefabricated wall panels, Wells can manufacture Double Tee roof panels with up to 100-foot spans for a high school gymnasium.����

Usually, the gymnasium is designated as a school’s storm shelter. While it may seem counterintuitive to design such a large space to storm shelter requirements, the reasons are grounded in the ICC code itself. Beyond the obvious fact that gymnasiums can hold more people and are easily identifiable, a storm shelter must be capable of taking the collapsed load of any taller structure nearby. Smaller spaces can be more difficult to design to the ICC standard, making them less feasible.����

As weather events become more frequent and severe, school districts are responding by investing in resilient infrastructure. The rise of storm shelters—particularly those built with prefabricated concrete—is a trend rooted in safety, durability and smart design. Ultimately, they’re successfully achieving the dual goals of protecting students and responsibly managing public funds.��

Learn More About Wells

Visit the to learn more about the company’s education expertise and to see featured K-12 projects including:

Gary Pooley is a regional sales manager for Wells and has been in the precast industry for nearly four decades. With a wealth of experience, including thousands of projects, he brings a unique and valuable perspective to the industry with inventive solutions for finish designs. Pooley is actively engaged in various construction organizations, currently serving as a board member of Minnesota Prestress Association.��

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By Lindsey Coulter��

Clayton County Public Schools will unveil a first-of-its-kind educational facility for Pre-K students at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Designed by the nation’s largest K-12 architecture firm,��, the��Riverdale��Early Learning Center (Riverdale ELC) introduces new opportunities for young learners in the Atlanta metro area.������

Tailored to early learners,��Riverdale��ELC is designed to provide students with a safe and secure space that is accessible and functional, while also remaining playful. Offering��outdoor learning opportunities, the campus will include an accessible playground, amphitheater and four classroom clusters—each focused on a different geographical region in Georgia.��In addition to a media center, STEM lab and rooms dedicated to art, music and play, Riverdale ELC will even offer wraparound services for community members such as vision and dental care, employment services and social services. This inclusive approach meant the PBK design team needed to carefully balance safety and security for students and educators without compromising a playful and nurturing environment.��

“We were approached by Clayton County Public Schools to help get their enrollment rates back up,” said Bayleigh Kempainen, AIA, managing principal of PBK’s Sugar Hill, Ga. “The district lost a lot of students during COVID, and they found that a lot of their students weren’t graduating.”��

As research shows that early exposure to fun and engaging learning environments increases the odds that students will successfully matriculate from high school, Kempainen explained, the purpose of the early Learning Center was multi layered. The project aims to meet the county’s pre-kindergarten education needs while reengaging students that had fallen off the radar and increasing their long-term educational success. The 24-classroom facility will serve an estimated 500 students; however, the project won’t just focus on young learners

“It’s more than just a Pre-K center,” Kempainen said. “It also includes wrap-around community services.”��

These services include a daycare center, health clinic, counseling services, observation rooms that allow parents to watch their children engage in play therapy sessions and more. However, with the additional focus on community engagement and creating a true community resource, safety and security for students specifically was key.

The PBK design team took a multi-pronged approach to security, creatively working safety considerations into the structure without making the campus feel like a fortress. This included an awareness of sightlines into learning areas, integrating security technology and durable door hardware, and building discrete layers of security around students, starting at the classroom level and moving outward to the six-classroom pod level. The team considered how individual pods could be locked down to prevent access, if necessary, but maintained a sense of the pods as being a sort of welcoming home base for students. ��

“[Safety] was one of the top priorities, but we also balanced it with our interiors, creating engaging spaces where students can use their imaginations, get outside and have fun at school,” Kempainen said. “We were very careful not to allow any access to the Pre-K center from inside the building. From the outside, it all looks like one campus, but on the inside there’s no path from one [area] to the other.”��

Additionally, the building’s angles create interior playgrounds, which further helps to control access, and most windows are positioned to look into the interior play spaces rather than to the building’s exterior. These spaces are also directly viewable from the principal’s office and teacher work rooms for added monitoring.��

According to Kempainen, many of these safety and security tactics are client driven. ��

“Our responsibility as designers is to bring up the latest and greatest and trends that we see. That might be security detectors or double doors. We recommend these things��but ultimately, [the client is] going to tell us what sort of technologies they’d like us to use. I feel like as we progress in the safety and security world, it is all becoming more technologically advanced.”��

Learn more about the project in the , which focuses on more safety and security topics and trends.��

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As the Florida State University (FSU) community grapples with the horrific violence and loss of life experienced on April 17, �Ӱ�ԭ��ҕ�l remains committed to promoting school and university design, construction and innovation that helps students and educators thrive and ensures their security.����

While design, construction and materials are critical campus safety components, crisis training is paramount for staff and campus police. In the case of FSU, campus police were prepared to immediately respond and neutralize the violence, quickly communicating with and receiving assistance from other local agencies. All responding agencies were thanked for their speed and support by FSU President Richard D. McCullough in a press conference following the incident.��

“We’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence that occurred on our campus earlier today,” McCullough said. “Our hearts go out to our students and the victims of this terrible tragedy. I have to say that our law enforcement, our FSU police officers, [are] absolute heroes in this regard.”��

While �Ӱ�ԭ��ҕ�l annually dedicates its May/June digital edition to Safety and Security, these topics remain a daily concern. Many design, construction and technology professionals are actively working to fortify education environments without sacrificing student comfort or campus culture. With advanced technologies, stringent access controls, and thoughtful design improvements, design and construction leaders are pioneering safer educational environments.����

Visual Alerts as a School Safety Strategy��

In a 2024 article for �Ӱ�ԭ��ҕ�l, Corey Shelton, vice president of product at Vivi, advocated for visual alerts as an essential campus safety component, providing a critical layer of communication during emergencies so that swift and clear messages reach everyone involved. These systems use clear, attention-grabbing messages to guide students and staff to safety. They are also crucial in settings that serve diverse populations, including English Language Learners or those with hearing impairments.������

Alerts display instructions across screens placed strategically throughout classrooms and common areas, guiding everyone on campus towards clear next steps without confusion. The technology not only enhances the speed of response but also minimizes panic.  In the case of FSU, the university used its existing alert system to direct recipients to shelter in place and later to confirm that the campus was safe.��

“By allowing emergency management systems to trigger statuses in a digital signage and visual alerts system, schools can create a unified network that issues timely alerts using a variety of delivery formats and directs both students and staff during emergencies,” Shelton said. “This coordinated approach speeds up response times, making every second count when safety is crucial.”��

Synchronization of these technologies facilitates rapid reaction to emergencies and bolsters daily communication. It supports consistent safety drills and routine operations, building a strong culture of preparedness. Such integrations support the underlying safety infrastructure, offering peace of mind and allowing the school community to focus on education. ��

Access Design and Emergency Exits��

The May/June 2024 issue also included insights from John Kately, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies, on the shift away from open campuses and toward buildings with more limited access points equipped with a camera, intercom and buzzer system to screen initial contact with visitors. In some cases, schools add another technology layer via keyless badges that work on specialized entry door hardware, or integrate keypads are used that require code access to all classroom and staff doors.��

“Practical improvements to entrances are also important,” Kately wrote, offering the example of Chino Valley Unified School District, which integrated thick tube-steel members with concrete footings, heavy-duty door closer and welded hinges to some school sites.��Exterior emergency exits are required to have panic doors that are designed for a swift and easy exit in case of evacuation, but those same doors designed for fleeing must be outfitted with mesh screens to prevent someone on the outside from reaching over or around the narrow space and opening them.”

Communications and Surveillance����

Additionally, many schools rely on two-way communication systems between floors, classrooms and offices, which can be critical during emergencies.����

“If the need arises, [administrators] can start a lockdown sequence, sealing all campus doors,” Kately said. “This emergency procedure may be due to flagging an intruder who managed to enter without permission but was picked up on one of the many security cameras installed throughout the school.”��

Closed-circuit TV systems have also evolved into state-of-the-art cameras, strategically placed throughout a campus, and of the highest image resolution. An administrator can quickly assess situations using multiple views on their computer.����

To prevent campus shootings in particular, some institutions are aiming to detect and identify violence in the briefest time possible via gunshot detection systems, which pick up on a combination of specific sound, percussion and infrared flash that is the signature of a gunshot.����

“Once detected, the system calls the police directly, not waiting for a shellshocked person on the scene to make that alert,” Kately wrote.��

Watch for more school safety and security innovations in the upcoming 2025 May/June edition of �Ӱ�ԭ��ҕ�l, available in late June.��

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SUBLETTE, Kan. – PublicSchoolWORKS (PSW) and Southwest Plains Regional Service Center (SWPRSC) recently announced their partnership to help Kansas school districts meet state and federal safety training mandates even with limited staff or budgets.

PublicSchoolWORKS has created a program consisting of 18 different online training courses to specifically address key staff training requirements driven by federal or state mandates, best practices in safety and areas of high liability exposure.

These courses run the gamut��from legislation-mandated courses such as Bloodborne Pathogens training and Jason Flatt Act-mandated suicide prevention training courses as well as popular but non-mandated courses such as a Slips, Trips and Falls Prevention training and Ladder Safety training.

The SWPRSC serves 81 districts across Kansas, many of which are extremely rural and experience staff shortages. School districts with less than 100 employees can qualify for the program and receive a discounted rate through PublicSchoolWORKS partnership with SWPRSC. If a district meets this requirement – they can register by contacting Mike Ronen, the CFO of Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, who will in turn direct them to PublicSchoolWORKS for implementation.

“There is great value being provided to help our small districts,” said Ronen. “They can now provide staff with critical training without taking time away from their regular duties and can easily ensure everyone completes training. It is taking a load off of districts because it is managed for them. All they have to do is register for the program, get it set up with PublicSchoolWORKS, and start completing courses. It’s that easy.”

Once the district is enrolled, the PublicSchoolWORKS Staff Training System auto-emails employees to take their training courses, which they can conveniently access at all times and locations.

Additionally, if districts do not finish their training by the deadline, employees are notified with automated reminders to complete their training and designated administrators receive a report of employees who have not completed training so they can follow up directly. All training transcripts are saved online in the PublicSchoolWORKS system, which makes it easy to reference all training.

“We are proud to collaborate with the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center to increase access to quality safety training for small Kansas districts that before might have felt it was cost prohibitive,” said Tom Strasburger, vice president of strategic alliances at PublicSchoolWORKS. “Our vision is to enhance school safety by developing innovative programs that completely address specific safety needs or requirements, and we’re excited to see SWPRSC help its districts on the path toward making these goals a reality.”

Contributions to this report include information from

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PARKLAND, Fla. – In the wake of the February 14^th Parkland school shooting tragedy, the Broward County School District is presenting new security measures as a new school year approaches for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High (MSDH), site of the mass shooting.

The district initially sought to require students to wear transparent backpacks to school, an idea which was met with both skepticism and criticism of its overall effectiveness.

Presently, the school has made changes by requiring students to wear identification badges, increasing campus security and reducing the amount of entryways. Now, the campus will be introducing their next safety solution.

The district will no longer be pushing the formerly proposed clear backpacks and will instead be installing metal detectors into MSDH to clear all students upon campus entry.

A district spokeswoman, Jaquelyn Calzadilla stated that Miami-Dade County has “a districtwide random weapons search program that is conducted with metal detector wands and is exploring the feasibility of expanding the program based on school size and student population,” adding that the district is also exploring the possibility of stationary metal detectors.

Metal detectors being used as a security tool is nothing new in schools, with the technology frequently implemented in metropolises. Various school districts, including ones in South Florida, have long rejected this solution, putting their focus on mental health and possible warning signs in students.

MSDH will also add ��officers, more school resource officers, an extra 52 cameras and more gates and locking mechanisms.

MSDG student, Gabriella Figueroa����that she feels a lot safer since no one is going to bring [weapons] when the schools has metal detectors.

The League of Cities Task force ��that it “strongly recommends” that the district consider metal detectors countywide while tackling the challenges of ensuring the fairness and consistency of their use.

“The physical deployment of these must be uniform across the district,” the report says, recommending the district study how the detectors are used in other districts with large schools. The report said the district should create methods to check students, while maintaining respect for their privacy and personal belongings.

Drew said the district will not violate student privacy by requiring all students to go through the metal detectors to ensure efficiency and impartiality.

District officials haven’t yet clarified exactly how the metal detectors would work, including whether students will walk through them or be scanned with portable wands. It’s also uncertain whether the district would begin installing them in other schools.

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