Efforts to keep students, staff, and property safe and secure have changed dramatically over the past generation. When most schools were built in the 20th Century, ensuring that each classroom and the school entrance doors had a strong lock was typically sufficient to meet the community’s expectations. Over time, installing fencing with gates at entrances to parking lots and pedestrian walkways became standard practice. 

In the past decade, in response to previously unimaginable tragic incidents of school violence, there has been significant increases in the vigilance on maintaining student safety. Having a single point of entry at schools with identity verification for all visitors has become a common best practice. In addition to the changes to the architectural design and movement of people into and out of buildings, expectations for having entrances secured, doors locked, and scanner and alarm readiness checked on a regular, if not daily, basis have become the norm.

Facilities Safety Checks Are No Longer Optional

While best practices have long recommended that staff conduct routine checks on school facilities, the expectation has now shifted to require that these checks be formalized within standard operating procedures. This includes documentation that is recorded, archived, and auditable. Beyond district-level policies, many states have enacted statutory requirements mandating these safety checks and procedures. 

For example, the state of Texas now requires districts to conduct weekly exterior door sweeps for all schools and to submit formal proof verifying compliance with safety protocols on a recurring basis. These weekly inspections must ensure that all exterior doors are properly closed, locked, and latched. Any deficiencies–including malfunctioning hardware or unsecured access points–must be promptly reported to the school’s safety and security committee and the campus principal. In addition to these checks, schools are required to maintain up-to-date site plans that clearly identify and number every exterior door. These plans must be shared with local emergency responders to facilitate faster, more coordinated responses in the event of an incident. The Texas model exemplifies a growing national trend toward codifying safety procedures and elevating them from informal practices to formalized, legally mandated operations.

Paper Documentation is Not Sufficient and Puts Students at Risk

In order to meet these requirements, most schools and districts have instituted practices based on what has been used for bathroom and cafeteria inspections for years: paper checklists with times, dates, and initials eventually being stored in a file folder so that they are available for manual searching when needed. 

This approach, however, is incredibly labor-intensive and has many shortcomings in terms of the needs of students, schools, and districts. This kind of system has no built-in verification mechanism to ensure tasks are completed as required. It is prone to human error, misplacement, or loss. There are no automatic alerts or reminders if a check is missed or left incomplete. And when documentation is needed, retrieving it relies entirely on individuals searching through paper files–assuming those forms were properly stored and organized initially.

Technology Can Transform Outdated Safety Protocols

Utilizing technology to create a systematic approach to these kinds of security checks can be a game changer for districts in their ability to ensure the safety of their students and staff. By implementing a digital system, districts can move from a reactive approach to proactive safety management. Doing this ensures that critical protocols are followed and can be verified and documented. By implementing a digital system, districts can: 

• Reduce Human Error and Oversight: By utilizing digital checklists, staff are automatically notified when a task is due and missed or otherwise incomplete. This minimizes the risk of critical safety tasks being overlooked, delayed, or inconsistently completed, particularly during busy transition periods or when staff shortages require duties to be reassigned on short notice.

• Accelerate Response and Resolution: By using a system that tracks and automatically flags incomplete tasks or failed safety checks, districts can ensure that when a door does not lock properly or an alarm test fails, real-time notifications are immediately sent to maintenance teams or designated safety coordinators.This ensures that issues are addressed quickly and dramatically reduces the time students and staff may be exposed to potential vulnerabilities.
  
  
• Support Consistency Across Staff: Whether a substitute custodian is covering a shift or a new assistant principal is onboarding mid-year, by using a digital system, all staff can access the same protocols, step-by-step instructions, and compliance timelines. This removes guesswork and ensures continuity regardless of who is completing the task.
  
  
• Create a Transparent Audit Trail: By implementing a system that logs when each task is completed and an associated timestamp and user credentials, districts have a secure and traceable record of compliance. This is critical when responding to audits, investigations, or parent concerns.
  
  
• Enable District-Level Oversight: With centralized dashboards, district leaders can track compliance across all campuses in real time. They can identify trends–like recurring issues at specific schools–and target resources or training where it’s needed most.
  
  
• Streamline and Automate Compliance With State Mandates: As states continue to strengthen school safety laws, having a digital system in place means districts can easily demonstrate compliance with time-stamped reports and exported records. This can protect districts from liability and improve funding eligibility tied to safety performance.

Strengthening the Culture of Safety and Accountability

Building safer schools is not just about policies and protocols; it is about creating a culture where safety is a shared responsibility. When staff understand that their efforts contribute to a transparent, responsive system, it reinforces a safety-first mindset across the entire organization. Digital tools play a critical role in this shift. They reduce the burden of remembering, tracking, and reporting, and empower staff to focus on executing their responsibilities with fidelity, efficiency, and transparency. By modernizing how safety is managed, districts do so much more than meet compliance requirements–they build community trust, strengthen accountability, and create safer learning environments for every student.