Schools are pillars of our communities and often as the setting for the most formative experiences in a child’s life. In today’s environment, however, kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schools face an evolving and dynamic set of security threats, ranging from acts of targeted violence to cyber incidents. CISA’s mission is to lead the national effort to understand, manage and reduce risks to the cyber and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every day. As part of this role, we established the School Safety Task Force (SSTF) to help strengthen the safety and security of K-12 schools across the country.
Since its inception, the SSTF has worked closely with the broader school safety community to understand and address the unique needs of and challenges faced by the K-12 community. The program’s work centers around developing and deploying tailored and actionable resources, raising awareness about new and emerging threats and hazards, and coordinating federal government efforts to help schools and school districts create and maintain safe and supportive learning environments.
One of the program’s key initiatives was the establishment of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse). The Clearinghouse is an interagency effort among the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice, that was created in the wake of the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. The Clearinghouse’s public website, SchoolSafety.gov, serves as a one-stop access point for more than 750 resources, guidance and evidence-based practices on a range of school safety topics. The site also includes several tools to help members of the K-12 community prioritize school safety actions, find applicable resources and funding opportunities, connect with state and local school safety officials, and develop school safety plans.
To further enhance the these efforts, the Department of Homeland Security established the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board in 2024 to provide advice and recommendations on practical ways to enhance K-12 school safety and security.
SSTF’s work is driven by the larger school safety community and its specific needs. To that end, we’ve developed several capacity-building products tailored for school communities. These include the K-12 Bystander Reporting Toolkit, which offers strategies for how schools can encourage bystander reporting among students and members of the school community, and the K-12 Anonymized Threat Response Guidance to help schools and their law enforcement and community partners create tailored approaches to addressing anonymous threats of violence.
These types of products support K-12 communities in strengthening their prevention, protection and mitigation capabilities against some of the most pressing and prevalent threats. But it is not sufficient to just make resources available to the community. Ensuring the safety and security of schools is an imperative mission, and it requires continuous outreach, training and engagement. We aim to educate and equip K-12 communities with information on current and emerging threats through regular communications via social media channels, newsletters and publication of issue briefs on key school safety topics. In addition, we work directly with K-12 stakeholders through our field force across the country, participating in hundreds of local-, state-, and national-level conferences, and conducting trainings designed to address key school safety issues. We also annually convene the National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security, welcoming thousands of school safety stakeholders from across the country to share information on the most critical and timely safety issues and explore research-informed strategies for addressing security challenges and risks.
K-12 communities have made tremendous progress to enhance school safety, but we cannot afford to be complacent. As threats and challenges continue to evolve, CISA stands ready to support our country’s schools, districts, federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners in addressing their unique needs and ultimately creating safer learning environments for students and teachers.
