What is this?

Ultimately school safety is about the quality of our learning environments. The extreme acts of violence that plaster our headlines and shatter our heart lines are the result of decades of systemic issues. Our response must emerge from a deeper understanding of what is needed. This book aims to guide that essential exploration.

For three years, the d.school’s K12 Lab has been investigating the role design can play in helping make schools safe and joyful spaces for learning. This work has taken many shapes: a graduate student group research project, a pop-out, a fellowship, a full course, a podcast, a Washington Post op-ed, and the design and distribution of 20,000 packs of post-it notes featuring questions school communities should be asking about school safety.

Changing the Conversation About School Safety is a guidebook that offers answers to some of those questions. Written for parents, teachers, students, administrators, and everyone invested in safe schools, the guidebook is centered around three big values that transcend strategy:

Community

Equity

Wellbeing

And three strategies to bring those big ideas to life:

A Place for Safety

Technology and Systems

People and Protocols

We hope this guidebook and our broader portfolio of work on reimagining school safety helps make schools safer and more delightful learning environments for communities everywhere. We hope you find meaning and utility in the guidebook’s pages. We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note.