09-10-26 Are Fear-Based Approaches Making Our Schools Less Safe?
What if some of the things we’re doing to make our schools safer are actually making them less safe?
That’s the uncomfortable question at the heart of my conversation with school safety expert Dr. David Riedman, creator of the K–12 School Shooting Database. As the mother of a six-year-old murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I have spent nearly 14 years thinking about school safety. And I’ve become convinced that we need to ask harder questions not just about how we respond when violence happens, but how we prevent a child from ever getting to the point of wanting to hurt themselves or someone else. David has spent years studying the data, and what he’s finding challenges some of the conventional wisdom about school safety.
Here’s where our conversation gets really interesting. Have we become so focused on protecting kids from danger that we’re unintentionally taking away some of the things that help protect them in the first place? Connection. Belonging. Community. Independence. Real-world relationships.
David challenges the billions spent on hardening schools and asks whether some fear-based measures actually create unintended consequences. Even more concerning, he describes a disturbing new phenomenon he calls “influencer extremism,” where vulnerable young people who don’t feel seen or valued in the real world can find recognition, belonging and even status in online communities that glorify violence.
This conversation changed the way I think about school safety and I think it will challenge you, too. Because keeping our kids safe can’t only be about locks, cameras, drills and what happens after a threat emerges. We have to look upstream. We have to create places where kids feel connected, valued, empowered and hopeful. And most importantly, we have to be willing to question what we’re doing when the evidence tells us it isn’t working. If you’re a parent, educator, administrator or simply care about the future of our children, please listen to this conversation. School safety belongs to all of us, and we can all be part of the solution.
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