Keeping Schools Safe During Tight Budget Times - Essay Example

Parents can be able to understand and forgive educators and stakeholders in the education sector if they fail in their performance, but they find it difficult to forgive if their children are hurt through accidents or incidents which could have been avoided through strategic management or planning. The media and attorneys, also support parents in their initiative. These groups advocate for educators to be proactive even during tough economic times and stringent financial times. In today’s post-Columbine era, school safety has brewed a potent storm that has seen a number of events threaten the progress and reforms made on security, school drug and violence prevention, and emergency and disaster preparedness.

In July 1, 2010, the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program was eliminated, and the U.S department of education for the financial year 2011 proposed a new school safety program. The Title IV segment of the program was eliminated despite its strong agitation for strategies aimed at preventing drug and violence in schools. The new program proposed by the U. S department of education is shallow and fails to integrate the diverse programs that were incorporated in the Safe and Drug-Free Schools, which provided strategies to school for a decade (Trump, 1).

A raging economic recession has seen cutbacks being imposed to local school budgets in an effort to channel finances to other areas that are deemed more strategic and intricate. The uncertainty of the future coupled with hasty decisions on school budget cuts may negatively impact future planning and accrue more costs. School leaders assume that the budget cuts on security, prevention, and other safety programs will be shifted to other agencies. Police, community based programs, and social service also face the same economic hard times.

Moreover, education leaders and legislators have shifted their focus from school safety to performance, reforms, and meeting other state and federal expectations. School safety funding has been overridden by a focus on lobbying for academic funding and policy. In the long term, schools are most likely to face elimination of programs and staff involved in implementing school safety and prevention programs. Programs such as Youth Development Programs, Student Assistance Programs, and Professional Development Programs are will be adversely affected, as well as staff layoffs.

These programs are crucial towards ensuring a safe and healthy environment. Staff reduction ultimately leads to student behavioral problems and increased security threats. This is highly because of the dramatic shift from a proactive approach to a reactive approach in school safety and prevention efforts. Consequently, the quality and quantity of services decline. This has been confirmed by a detailed report prepared by the Department of Education (Trump, 2). Schools are at the risk of declining awareness and disaster preparedness mainly because of a profound decrease in professional development programs.

However, despite these impending damages, school leaders can keep their schools safe through implementing effective school safety communication channels within the institutions. Schools can create and update a safety Web page. This provides parents with tips and information on where to drop-off or pick-up their children. The page should have a link to the district’