We are now more than a year out from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and as the vaccine rollout continues, more establishments and even some entire states are slowly reopening and loosening restrictions.
This includes the reopening of many K-12 schools after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its physical distancing guidelines from requiring students to be 6 feet apart to requiring students to be 3 feet apart — a more realistic undertaking for many schools with limited space and overcrowded classrooms.
While reopening schools will undoubtedly benefit many children, particularly from an emotional standpoint, unfortunately, the regathering of people on various types of campuses means more potential for violent incidents. This was apparent when pulling this month’s most read Campus Safety articles for the month of March.
View March’s Most Popular Stories
Out of the 10 most read articles, three were about fatal campus shootings — two on college campuses and a third at a high school. Another article was about a fraternity hazing incident that took the life of a college student.
These tragedies emphasize the need for K-12 schools and colleges to thoroughly review campus security plans, especially since many might be a bit “dusty” due to schools being closed to some capacity.
Overall, the article that received the most views — by far — was our site assessment quiz. The article consists of photos from actual K-12 site assessments and asks if the reader can spot the safety mistake in each photo. Site assessments, often referred to as security and vulnerability assessments (SVAs), are also a great way to review your campus’ safety and security procedures.
We were pleased to see that one of our March podcasts about using CARES Act funding to pay for upgrades to campus HVAC systems and other technology solutions made the top 10 as well. However, we weren’t surprised since schools are scrambling to make upgrades that limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The interest in more information about available funding was also apparent in this week’s webinar titled “How to Access COVID Relief Funding to Improve Safety and Comfort on Your Campus.” At the end of each Campus Safety webinar, we host a Q&A with our presenter(s). While we often get a lot of questions from our listeners, this webinar generated an unprecedented 40 questions.
If you have questions or concerns regarding available funding but missed the live webinar, you can watch the archived version here.
