Abstract
School safety continues to be a contentious issue in American society. Teachers|employed in two different high schools, one located in Illinois and the other located in Alabama, were surveyed in order to ascertain if the presence of school safety technology and a high frequency of lockdown drills influenced their perceptions of safety. Survey questions consisted of 19 Likert scale questions, as well as three open-ended questions. Fisher’s exact tests and independent t-tests were used to analyze survey results. Open- ended survey questions were analyzed for trends related to teachers’ perceptions of safety. The results of the analyses showed teachers reported higher perceptions of safety when more school safety technology was present in their schools. The frequency of lockdown drills did not yield statistical significance. A set of recommendations was constructed to assist school leaders in evaluating current school safety plans. The set of recommendations may assist in reducing casualties in the event of an active shooter situation.|Keywords: School safety, School violence prevention, Elementary and secondary education, Active shooter, Student behavior, Teacher preparedness, K-12 education