The landscape for school safety and insurance has changed dramatically—and schools are feeling it. What once felt like a compliance exercise is now a high-stakes balancing act between protecting students and staff—and meeting the evolving expectations of insurers.  

For every school, issues of safety seem to lurk in every corner, from the physical structures to who’s on staff and how student interactions are handled.  

Insurance carriers are placing greater emphasis on how schools manage safety, culture, and preparedness. As risks grow more complex and underwriting becomes more selective, schools that adapt their approach to safety and risk management will be best positioned to stay protected and insurable. 

Keeping students and staff safe is paramount for many reasons—one of which is that ours is an especially litigious era—and safety practices make a big difference in how schools maintain insurance coverage cost-effectively. Read on for five critical ways schools can keep students and staff safe.  

When doing the right thing becomes the mode of operation, everyone benefits. Building a culture of safety and responsibility means putting policies in writing and not just passing out a handbook but providing students and staff regularly education and updates. It also means you encourage reporting by ensuring that students and staff are rewarded rather than punished for speaking out about any unsafe or inappropriate activity they witness.  

Building that culture takes time and a lot of regular reinforcement until it becomes part of the DNA of a school. Culture starts at the top, but it depends on everyone within your organization feeling empowered to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.  

Insurance carriers gravitate to organizations that can demonstrate not only that they’ve put in place the guidelines for a culture of safety but that they are regularly reinforcing that culture with meaningful updates, reinforcement of expectations, and swift action to address issues.  

Schools exist for students, but students have very little power within them. Because this dynamic makes students vulnerable, state lawmakers have sought to protect their well-being by expanding legal remedies for abuse of power. Settlements for abuse cases, especially repeated abuse or instances where reports of abuse went unaddressed, are extremely costly for schools—in terms of payouts and reputation.  

With so much at stake for students and schools, putting policies in place—especially for one-on-one interactions between adults and students—and enforcing them are imperative to building a strong, responsible culture. From screening job candidates to enforcing policies that protect students, like keeping office doors open or leaving door windows uncovered during interactions, and especially when it comes to responding to accusations of abuse, schools are well-advised to establish and maintain protective measures.  

Make sure you also can demonstrate with clear, thorough documentation that you’ve done your due diligence in terms of screening candidates, training employees, and reinforcing policies.  

Schools can’t be expected to impede natural disasters like tornadoes and wildfires, but as these major weather events increase, keeping buildings in good shape is essential (although admittedly also tougher than ever given the sharp uptick in the costs of materials and construction).  

The most effective way forward is to make sure maintenance tasks don’t fall short so that buildings have their best chance of weathering a storm—but also to keep all kinds of damage to a minimum. When maintenance is prioritized, shortcomings are addressed more quickly and cost-effectively.  

Your insurance carrier will want to know that your maintenance schedule is protecting you both. Clear documentation of those facility updates completed over time and planned for the future are important for underwriters to see. 

Budgets being what they are, catching up on a maintenance backlog may require, at a minimum, creative problem solving, but the good news is that you’ll likely be able to quickly demonstrate the effectiveness of dedicating funds to maintenance.  

Having a school resource officer (SRO) can support safety on campus, but it’s important not to lean too heavily on this limited resource. An SRO can help de-escalate altercations, prevent or stop vandalism, handle minor threats, and in many ways be an important part of your safety culture.  

Still, building relationships with your local law enforcement offices amplifies the effect of an SRO and helps in situations that require broader attention. When more complicated issues arise—and of course many people’s minds go to an active shooter situation, but schools encounter numerous less urgent but troubling situations—you should find resolution from coordinating with law enforcement, and it certainly won’t hurt to have your issue on their radar in case of later escalation.  

Having a strong partnership with your local law enforcement—and having your staff trained and informed when to engage and rely on their expertise—is a critical step toward instilling a culture of safety and responsibility. 

Your insurance carrier can fully support you when you engage with them right away. If an incident arises despite your best efforts to create a culture of safety and responsibility that protects everyone within your school, timely claims reporting helps mitigate damage.  

Engage your insurance carrier as part of your immediate due diligence, which not only helps you avoid reputational damage but supports your defense by providing additional evidence that you’ve created a culture of safety. Your carrier can help investigate the claim, provide advice, support with public relations guidance, and show that you really have built a culture where safety is prioritized.  

These five points are important, but they’re not the full story of protecting a school environment and the people within it. Contact us to learn more about how you can best position your school for the coverage and rates you need.