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Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, district administrators and safety leaders have been concerned about how students would cope with returning to the classroom. Quarantine time at home, less structure, limited social interaction, and economic and family stresses were expected to impact student behavior and lead to significant challenges in the school learning environment.

We have certainly seen a rise in school safety incidents. The daily news headlines remind us that our society is experiencing increased violent behavior, and that trend is playing out in our school communities.

While the news focuses on the extreme safety incidents in schools – such as active shooters, neighborhood threats, and others – our experience providing incident response for schools tells us that everyday safety incidents – such as medical and behavior situations – are rising dramatically.

In this Fall 2021 School Safety Trends Report, we provide a comparison of several trends over three periods: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021. The highlights include:

1. Student behavior incidents increased 250%
2. Medical incidents increased 130%
3. Safety incidents per school increased 150%
4. Number of staff requesting help increased 100%
5. Staff called for help 22% more often

We hope this data can help quantify the impact these incidents are having on the learning environment. We know that teacher retention is critical for districts of all sizes.

What does this mean for educators and school districts?

For some time, educators have appropriately focused on increasing safety and security in their schools. “In my 12 years as an educator, my first priority was always to keep students and staff safe. If we didn’t get them home safely at the end of the day – nothing else mattered.” Dr. Roderick “Rocky” Sams, Chief Development Officer, CENTEGIX and a former teacher and principal.

Now more than ever, we see that material investments need to continue in the prevention, preparation, and response layers of safety and security programs.

Our CrisisAlert data confirms that students struggle with returning to the classroom and the broader implications of the COVID pandemic. We see this in the dramatic increase in everyday safety events – especially behavioral and medical emergencies.

The trend in the data suggests that these elevated levels of everyday incidents will continue, and teacher retention rates may suffer as a correlation. The stress of classroom management that comes with an uptick in behavior incidents and violent acts are two reasons teachers are leaving the classroom. Teachers want to feel empowered to keep the learning environment safe with an effective method to get help quickly, easily, and discreetly for any emergency or safety incident – anywhere on campus.2

Our innovative, award-winning CrisisAlert solution equips teachers and staff with the fastest and easiest way to call for help in emergencies from the everyday to the extreme.

CrisisAlert is unique for its ability to deliver precise alert location, immediate audio and visual incident notifications (including lighted strobes, screen messages, and intercom integration) for campus-wide incidents, and 100% full campus coverage. With the simple push of a button on a wearable badge, an alert instantly reaches administrators and responders.

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