Trending Security Threats for the 2024-24 School Year

School security is a nationwide concern, but Texas schools face unique challenges such as rapid population growth, recent legislative mandates, budget constraints, and a gap in mental healthcare capacity. Here is an overview of current security threats and strategies that schools can implement to address them.

1. Social Media Threats

Social media platforms have become a significant venue for harassment and threats. In fact, nearly half of teens have experienced cyberbullying, according to Pew Research. Social media harassment can have severe psychological effects on students, and it sometimes escalates into real-world confrontations.

Administrators must also consider the potential for misinformation to spread quickly on social media. This includes false threats of violence, which too often stress the community, waste emergency response resources, and disrupt education. This fall, multiple school districts in Michigan closed in response to threats of violence that circulated on social media.

Best Practices and Strategies

Schools increasingly use monitoring tools to detect potential threats on social media platforms early. Educating students about responsible social media use and the danger of spreading false information is also a key preventive measure. Parents are encouraged to discuss online behavior and safety with their children.

Compliance Reminder

David’s Law requires school districts to adopt a policy that prohibits in-school and out-of-school bullying, prohibits retaliation against a person who reports bullying, and establishes a procedure for students to anonymously report bullying.

Related Resources

• Texas Education Code 37.0832 addresses bullying prevention
• TASB Policy FFI addresses bullying, and Policy FFH addresses discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
• This TASB Legal Services resource addresses bullying, cyberbullying, and hazing.
• This CISA infographic provides social media threat guidance for school staff and administrators.

Fund members with Liability coverage benefit from two online courses (login required):

• Bullying: Recognition & Response (Includes Cyberbullying)
• Special Education: Bullying and Students with Special Needs (Essentials)

2. Swatting Incidents

Last school year, multiple Illinois schools went into lockdown in response to calls claiming active shooter threats. The tips were false. Making false emergency calls to provoke a heavy police response is called swatting, and it can be dangerous. In Massachusetts, an officer accidentally fired his gun while responding to a swatting incident at a high school, and a Florida officer shot himself in the leg while responding to a false report.

Best Practices and Strategies

Law enforcement agencies are enhancing protocols to verify threats quickly. For example, police dispatchers are being trained to recognize the signs of a potential swatting call. Schools can do their part to manage risk:

• Update your emergency response plans and protocols to address the increase in swatting incidents.
• Train staff and campus police to identify swatting red flags.
• Coordinate with local emergency responders to respond to swatting calls.
• Educate students and the community about the consequences of swatting, including legal repercussions.

3. After-School and Athletic Events

After-school activities and athletic events often draw large crowds, presenting unique security challenges. These events are usually open to the public, increasing the risk of altercations, unruly behavior, or even targeted violence. In fact, gunfire has sent crowds running before, during, or after a game every week of the high school football season since 2022.

Best Practices and Strategies:

Control access. Schools are implementing stricter access control measures at events, such as bag checks and clear bag policies, ticketing systems, and increased security personnel. Surveillance cameras are used to monitor key areas within event venues as well as parking lots.

Plan for emergencies. Detailed emergency response plans should be developed specifically for after-school and athletic events. Make sure your plans include coordination between schools and local law enforcement and emergency services. Tabletop exercises put plans into action and enable schools to identify gaps.

Train athletic staff and security personnel. Athletic events pose unique challenges for a variety of reasons: large crowds, confined spaces, limited access for first responders, personal firearms brought on-site. Comprehensive training, tailored to the venue and level of risk, is critical. Training should include best practices in event planning, safety measures in place during the event, and post-event debriefing.

Related Resource

This Texas School Safety Center toolkit provides resources that help schools create a facilities access management annex for their emergency operations plan. Your annex should address safety and security during after-school activities.

4. Political Unrest and Social Tensions

Political and social issues, such as racial tensions, immigration policies, and debates over gender identity, can create a charged atmosphere in schools. These tensions can spark conflicts or disruptions during events such as board meetings, as well as when schools are used as polling locations.

Best Practices and Strategies

Schools are fostering inclusive environments through open dialogues and supportive policies. These initiatives help students navigate complex societal issues safely and respectfully. The TXSSC Polling Place Appendix outlines steps that schools should take before, during, and after an election to maintain security.

5. Mental Health Crises

Student mental health is a growing concern that can contribute to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Approximately one in six school-aged youth experiences impairments in life functioning, including impacts on academic achievement, due to mental illness, according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). 

Best Practices and Strategies

The TEA notes that outside of a student’s home, schools are the most likely place where mental health concerns will be detected. In the face of factors such as the pandemic, social media pressures, and academic stress, schools are expanding mental health resources, including on-site counselors and partnerships with local health organizations.

Training staff to recognize signs of mental distress and providing avenues for students to seek help are also critical components of these support systems. Remember that all employees who regularly interact with students must complete evidence-based mental health training by the beginning of the 2028-29 school year.

Related Resources

The TEA offers resources to help schools support students’ mental and behavioral health. The resources include an FAQ, the Project Restore video series, and 8 components of a comprehensive school mental health system. Schools can also leverage the Mental and Behavioral Health Recommended Best Practices and Programs Repository. The repository is a resource list compiled by the TEA, ESCs, and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

 6. Active Violence and Gun Violence

Gun violence, including active shooter incidents, remains one of the most significant threats to school safety. These incidents, while statistically rare, have a profound impact on communities and drive the implementation of stringent security measures.

Best Practices and Strategies

Schools are investing in physical security upgrades such as metal detectors, secure entrances, and comprehensive active shooter drills. Behavioral threat assessment teams are also being enhanced to identify and mitigate potential threats early. Remember that House Bill 3 assigned additional security requirements to schools, including facility standards and armed personnel on every campus.

Developing an Adaptable Framework

From social media threats and swatting to the impacts of political unrest, mental health crises, and the risk of active violence, schools must be vigilant and proactive in their safety measures.  But security-related concerns are not the only risk that schools need to prepare for. You should develop an adaptable emergency preparedness and response framework that includes these core elements:

• Make sure your emergency operation plan addresses the spectrum of risk that could impact your schools. Examples include fires, natural disasters, communicable diseases, and school violence.
• Train your employees on your emergency response procedures.
• Comply with mandated drills and exercises.
• Update your EOPs to reflect changes in resources, risks, property, and personnel.

 Don’t Miss Our Next Webinar

Fund members can learn more about trending school security threats during our September 25 webinar titled Back to the Classroom: A Focus on School Security.