Frank Storch: Working Towards Safer Schools

After news of the horrifying massacre which took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School became known, Frank Storch immediately began to write the 44-page guidebook to school safety, “Keep Your School Safe.” Twenty-six people were murdered in that event, perpetrated by a lone gunman. Among the dead were 20 children, in most cases as young as 5 or 6 years old. The impact of that slaughter was enormous, and it propelled Frank Storch to take action. Spending hundreds of hours in preparation, finally the guidebook to school safety was releases, sent to thousands of Jewish schools across the country and available for free on-line. It is Frank Storch’s goal, and his dream, that no such tragedy such as what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, will ever happen again.

Is Your Classroom Safe and Ready for a Crisis?

Frank Storch recently completed a very important handbook for school safety. Called Keep Your School Safe, the handbook offers very easy to follow guidelines for preparing a school for added safety. There are checklist sections where a school can evaluate its current safety measures and implement new recommendations offered by Frank Storch.

In one section, for instance, the handbook asks schools to evaluate their classroom safety. Questions in the checklist include:

1. Is a lockdown procedure checklist posted in every classroom and office?

2. Do all classrooms and offices have clearly marked room numbers outside the door so that emergency responders can easily locate them if necessary? Do the teachers know their classroom number(s)?

3. Do all classrooms and offices have a diagram that shows where the room is located within the building, and clearly indicates the locations of emergency exits, escape routes, and safe rooms?

4. Are all classroom and office doors and windows lockable? Is all locking hardware in working order?

This is an example of 4 of the 19 questions that they offer for schools in the classroom section of the handbook.