According to the National Association of School Psychologists, general ways principals can make students feel safe in school include keeping a presence in the hallways, greeting students, visiting classrooms and communicating safety procedures and prevention efforts to both parents and students. Administrators can also encourage teachers to include things like character building, violence prevention, relationship building and conflict resolution skills in the curriculum.
Bullying is a problem in many schools and can create a hostile, unsafe environment. According to the article "Bullying Prevention and Intervention" by school psychologist Ted Feinberg, between 15 and 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying. Principals can make schools safer from bullying by assessing the problem with input from the school community, establishing clear-cut student expectations, following up with consistent consequences, training staff to recognize and handle bullying and having a system in place for students to safely report incidents.
The National Crime Prevention Council outlines several steps that principals can take to help prevent school violence. Rewarding good behavior, creating zero-tolerance policies for weapons, increasing parental and community involvement and working with law enforcement officials to train staff and address concerns are just a few of the ways principals can reduce violence on their campuses.
A nationwide survey in 2013 found that while most teachers feel safe in school, 31 percent do not feel protected against gun violence. Principals can work to change this by increasing security measures, such as using automatically locking doors and ensuring safety drills are held on a regular basis. The study also showed that a large majority of educators who work on campuses with armed security officers feel safer at work.