The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) has released its Revision 6. PASS updates its guidelines every two years to keep pace with evolving technology and school security challenges. In general, the updates include:
- More focused best practice recommendations to identify needed areas of improvement by separating the tier continuum practices that are already required by federal law or regulation or are already uniformly implemented throughout the United States.
- Tiers redesignated for clarity, recommending that all schools and districts work toward Tier One measures regardless of location, budget, or risk profile. If Tier One measures are in place, all should work toward Tier Two. The need for Tier Three and Four measures depends on an assessment from the core security team.
- Enhancements to the classroom security section, which is a critical area for school safety. It’s simplified and updated with current terminology, illustrations, and recommendations consistent with modern, code-compliant door hardware, and access control equipment.
- A new Enhanced Technologies section that details solutions under consideration by many schools and districts. These solutions show potential for significant improvements to school safety but may still need to be widely adopted. These include newer technologies in weapons detection, analytics, emergency communications, and biometrics.
The new guidelines can be accessed here.
