National School Safety and Security Services is a Cleveland (Ohio)-based, national school safety consulting firm specializing in:
- school security and emergency preparedness assessments
- emergency preparedness and crisis response plan evaluations
- school safety strategic leadership support for boards, superintendents, principals, heads of schools, and other leadership team members on complex school safety issues
- evaluations of school security and police operations
- school safety, emergency preparedness, and safety-communications professional development
- litigation consulting and expert witness support services
- effectively communicating school safety, security, and emergency preparedness issues
*Our service descriptions are being updated!
Consultation Services
School Security and Emergency Preparedness Assessments
(School Safety Audits, Risk Assessments, Threat Assessments, Vulnerability Assessments)
Do you know what is missing from your school security and emergency preparedness plans? We do.
Our expert assessment services are contracted by public schools, charter schools, independent schools, and other private schools
Our security and emergency preparedness assessments provide educators with an independent appraisal of safety measures already in place, and recommendations for enhancing those measures with improvements at the building and district levels.
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School Safety Leadership and Management Consultations
Today’s school leaders face contexts of high ambiguity, uncertainty, and anxiety around school safety issues. Dr. Ken’s expertise is in supporting school leaders with strategic school safety leadership.
Whether evaluating long-term school safety plans for a large urban school district, advising leadership teams on managing responses to highly polarized and contentious school community positions on school safety issues, or providing professional guidance on post-incident school safety “next steps” and effectively communicating school safety messaging, we can help.
Sometimes school boards, superintendents, and their leadership teams need expert guidance from a district-level perspective that does not require traditional building-by-building physical security assessments or related services. They need guidance on their overall approach, structure, policies and practices, or other aspects of their school safety programs. They need school safety leadership and management evaluations, check-ups, and guidance from independent experts who can provide a new set of “eyes” to what they are doing, what they may need to reconsider doing, and what they should do to strengthen existing policies and practices.
Contact Ken Trump directly to discuss how we can help with your specific needs.
School Safety Virtual Roundtables: Virtual teleconference services for school leadership teams and safety/crisis teams
We provide unique opportunities via Zoom, Skype, or other electronic means to bring our experts to meet with you and your administrative leadership teams, safety/crisis teams, and/or public safety partners. Today’s technology can help superintendents, principals and boards tap into our decades of experience in school safety, security and emergency preparedness, through our School Safety Virtual Roundtable off-site consultation services.
You can bring experts with decades of national school safety, security and emergency preparedness expertise into your meeting room with your school safety planning and emergency/crisis teams, superintendents, principals, central office administrators, boards and/or public safety partners. We’ll share our latest insights on school security threats, best practices, and safety issues we see being played out in the courts of law and the courts of public opinion. We will help you problem-solve. We will take individual questions and have conversations that in the past you could not have without traveling to a national conference or paying travel costs to bring consultants on-site.
And we will do it at costs that fit your tight budgets while allowing you to strengthen leadership and problem solve on school safety challenges and planning.
Contact Ken Trump directly to discuss how we can help with your specific needs.
School emergency preparedness tabletop exercises
Facilitated exercises developed by our team of veteran safety experts for your school crisis teams and their community agency partners. These half or full-day professional development exercises help schools learn how their written crisis plans might work in a real emergency. Tabletop exercises provide a simulation of emergency situations in informal, stress-free environments. We provide event-driven scenarios to stimulate discussion and help school leaders assess and resolve preparedness and response gaps.
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Post-crisis school safety support services
We help school leaders deal with public relations issues after a crisis. We show you how to address parent and community concerns about security, while navigating tough questions from reporters and local political fallout.
Contact Ken Trump directly to discuss how we can help with your specific needs.
School security expert witness and litigation consulting
Ken Trump consults on lawsuits and provides support for lawyers handling school security, crisis preparedness, and related safety cases.
Presentations & Training Services
School security and emergency preparedness training, workshops, and conference keynote professional development presentations
Our new programs include sessions on strategic school safety and crisis leadership training for superintendents, school boards, principals, and other district leaders.
We also provide professional learning on proactive school security and emrgency preparedness best practices for frontline school safety/crisis teams, district and building administrators and support staff, and their community partners. Our training will improve staff response to emergencies, lockdown and evacuation procedures, crime prevention, and assessment of student threats. This nuts and bolts training emphasizes the human factor in school security. We look at the roles and limitations of security equipment, the impact of social media, and the fundamentals of school safety, based on real life situations from our experience across the country.
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School Threat Assessment Training (STAT)
Bomb threats and shooting threats sent by social media, rumors of violence spread by text messages, threatening emails sent through proxy servers, school fight videos that go viral on YouTube. School administrators, counselors and safety officials can increase their awareness of these threats and improve their response. Learn the best ways to deal with these trending school security challenges.
Customized emergency training for security teams, administrators, teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and others
Every school employee should be ready to spot trouble before it happens and intervene during fights and violent situations to protect children and co-workers. We teach skills such as verbal de-escalation, managing violence and situational awareness. Specialized on-site and off-site school safety services can be developed to meet the unique needs of school staff and the broader school community. Contact Ken Trump directly to discuss how we can help with your specific needs.
Security for central office and school board meetings
School boards and administrators face unusual risk. School central offices handle employee discipline and termination hearings, expulsion hearings, and emotionally charged board meetings. We focus on risk reduction, emergency planning, and reasonable steps to improve safety at administration centers, support sites, and board meetings.
Athletic and large event security
School events such as football games, pep rallies and parties can become targets for trouble. The right planning can keep these party-crashers out. Our strategies go beyond security screening and police staffing. We look at the psychology and dynamics of large events. We focus on staff training, policies and procedures and multi-agency coordination. Sample topics include: Coordinating security procedures with rival schools, transportation and locker room issues, how to identify hot spots for violence.
School safety policy briefings
“Dr. Ken” testifies at state and federal government hearings, as well as to professional associations, task forces, and other entities.
He shares his expertise and policy recommendations based upon more than three decades of experience with school safety policy and funding, including having worked through the nation’s largest school mass shootings (Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, and many others). Ken examines local, state and federal policies. He helps policy makers sort through the myths and the hype, and focus on the real priorities for school safety.
Contact Ken Trump directly to discuss how we can help with your specific needs.