A School Leader’s Dilemma: The Safety Crisis We Can’t Ignore
You start your morning with the weight of the school day ahead—not just academic achievement and staffing shortages, but the increasing violence, threats, and crisis-level behaviors affecting students and staff alike.
Your inbox is flooded with concerns: a fight that erupted in the hallway, a student caught making a threat on social media, a report of self-harm, another urgent threat assessment meeting to determine if a student is at risk of harming themselves or others.
You take a deep breath, knowing that the old ways of responding—suspensions, security cameras, zero-tolerance policies—aren’t enough. You’ve increased supervision, refined your discipline code, and even brought in outside experts, but the problems persist.
Deep down, you know the truth: We can’t discipline our way to a safe and supportive school.
It’s time for a different approach—one that doesn’t just react to problems but transforms the conditions that create them.
This is the journey toward becoming a resilience-focused school district, one that prioritizes proactive solutions over reactive discipline, and builds a culture where students feel safe, valued, and supported—before a crisis occurs.
Beyond Security Measures: The Need for a Resilience-Focused Approach
As school leaders, we all want the same thing: fewer fights, fewer threats, fewer incidents of harm to self or others while we focus on improving holistic student outcomes. We need real solutions that decrease violence and improve school climate, but here’s what research and experience tell us:
✔ Students who feel disconnected are more likely to engage in risky, harmful, or violent behaviors.
✔ Fear-based discipline (suspensions, expulsions, exclusionary practices) doesn’t deter misbehavior—it often escalates it.
✔ Schools with a culture of connection, trust, and proactive support see fewer crises and higher academic success.
That’s why leading districts across the country are shifting toward a universal, proactive model rooted in resilience—one that goes beyond just responding to safety concerns and instead creates the conditions where students feel safe, supported, and less likely to engage in harmful behaviors in the first place.
What a Safe and Supportive School Really Looks Like
Safety isn’t just about preventing the next crisis—it’s about building a foundation where students don’t feel the need to engage in high-risk behaviors, threaten others, or harm themselves.
A truly safe and supportive school environment is one where:
✔ Students feel seen, heard, and valued—reducing the need to seek attention in negative ways.
✔ Threat assessments become less frequent—because students have the tools to regulate their emotions before they escalate.
✔ Staff feel empowered and supported—knowing they have strategies to de-escalate situations and prevent harm.
✔ Fights and violent incidents decrease—because students develop a sense of connection, belonging, and responsibility to their school community.
This transformation isn’t theoretical. Schools that commit to resilience-focused practices report real, measurable improvements, including:
✅ Significant drops in office discipline referrals
✅ Fewer fights and physical altercations
✅ Lower suspension and expulsion rates
✅ Increased student engagement and attendance
✅ Better staff morale and retention
The Power of a Proactive, District-Wide Approach
Traditional school discipline often focuses on the behavior we can see—the fight in the hallway, the online threat, the refusal to follow rules. But these behaviors are symptoms, not root causes.
A resilience-focused school asks a different set of questions:
🔹 What is this behavior telling us about what the student needs?
🔹 How can we address the underlying factors before they escalate into harm?
🔹 What proactive systems can we put in place to build connection, trust, and self-regulation?
The Resilient Schools Project offers a universal, multi-tiered approach that integrates:
✔ Trauma-informed, resilience-focused training for all staff—from bus drivers to teachers to district leadership.
✔ Restorative practices that build accountability through relationships, not punishment.
✔ Sensory-enriched environments with calming spaces, movement breaks, and tools for self-regulation.
✔ A strong focus on student voice, belonging, and proactive supports to prevent crises before they happen.
Why Traditional Punishment Isn’t Working—And What to Do Instead
The instinct to tighten discipline policies, increase surveillance, and issue harsher consequences is understandable. When students make harmful choices, we want to send a clear message.
But here’s what we’ve learned:
🚫 Suspensions and expulsions don’t “fix” behavior—they often make it worse. Research shows that exclusionary discipline increases the likelihood of future misbehavior, disengagement, and even justice system involvement.
🚫 Reactive discipline doesn’t prevent the next crisis. Punishing a student after they’ve made a threat or engaged in violence doesn’t address why they felt the need to do so in the first place.
✅ Instead, we must create school environments where students learn self-regulation, accountability, and connection—before they reach a breaking point.
A Call to Action: The Leadership Our Schools Need
As district leaders, we set the tone for what’s possible.
This is not about ignoring discipline—it’s about rethinking safety as a proactive, relationship-based approach that prevents harm before it occurs.
Every district has a starting point on this journey. Whether you’re facing increasing fights, escalating threats, or students struggling with mental health concerns, transformation begins with a commitment to something better.
So, what’s the next step?
✔ Assess where your district is now. What’s working? What’s not? Are reactive measures dominating your response to student behavior?
✔ Engage your staff, students, and families. A culture shift requires buy-in from everyone. Start the conversation about what safety really looks like.
✔ Commit to proactive, resilience-focused practices. Whether through professional development, restorative approaches, or district-wide initiatives, choose to invest in prevention over punishment.
🌟How trauma-informed and resilience-focused is your school? Find out with our Trauma-Informed Schools Questionnaire. Schedule a consultation today to dive deeper into how this tool can support your journey toward a trauma-informed, resilience-focused school!
The Future of School Safety is Resilience
We all want to reduce violence, prevent harm, and create safer schools.
But safe schools aren’t built through fear—they are built through trust, connection, and a commitment to resilience. As leaders, we have the power to make that commitment today.
