Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies Launches National School Safety Study
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies recently announced the kick off a strategic alliance by inviting AASA’s members to complete a survey on school safety and security called the Risk Mitigation Assessment. The results of the assessment will be used to create the first-ever National School Safety Study, which is anticipated to have substantial implications for every community across America.
“Initially, we developed the Risk Mitigation Assessment as a tool that individual schools and districts could use as a means to benchmark their security progress against similarly situated institutions,” says Beverly Vigue, vice president of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, education vertical market. “Ultimately, we realized that this tool could be used to assess school security issues and standards nationwide. At that point, we approached AASA and their leadership team immediately understood the value this project would have for its audience and their stakeholder groups.”
“School districts are faced with the daunting challenge of protecting students and staff in our free and open society,” said Paul D. Houston, AASA executive director. “AASA is pleased to work with Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies to provide this national assessment, which will help superintendents protect and secure their school systems, and the National School Safety Study, which will provide important benchmarking data for the current state of security in our country’s schools.”
AASA members will need only 10-15 minutes to complete the 53 questions that comprise the instrument, which will be “live” through June 27. Results of the survey will be tabulated and an overview of the study will be delivered in early October at the AASA Center for System Leadership’s 2008 Safe and Secure Schools: Superintendents Lead the Way Conference for administrators, superintendents and district security directors from across the nation.
“AASA’s 2008 Safe and Secure Schools: Superintendents Lead the Way Conference is a natural venue for us to jointly present the findings of the study,” adds Vigue. “We expect significant media interest in the study and, as one of the sponsors of the conference, will distribute an executive summary to AASA members who attend the event.”
In addition, each survey participant will receive immediate and actionable information corresponding to their specific responses. The assessment will identify potential threats and suggest action items to better ensure the security of the participants’ school systems. Participants will also receive a “dashboard measurement” of their specific school or district’s level of security by number of students, region of the country and whether it’s classified as rural, urban or suburban.