School Security and Safety Checklist

Walk the playback for the main entrance, bus loop, cafeteria, and gym corridor. Confirm retention is at least 30 days per district policy and that timestamps match the bell schedule. Note any blind spots created by recent landscaping or portable classroom moves.

Pull the last 90 days of Raptor sign-ins and cross-check against the sex-offender registry hits, custody alerts, and any vendor badges that never signed out. Front desk should flag patterns of after-hours pickups.

Capture the headline result and attach the walkthrough photos. A 'Critical' finding triggers the work-order escalation later in this checklist; routine findings go to the regular facilities queue.

Verify the filter (Securly, GoGuardian, Lightspeed, or equivalent) is enforcing on student devices both on-network and off-network. CIPA non-compliance puts E-rate funding at risk.

Pull the role report from PowerSchool (or Infinite Campus / Skyward) and the LMS. Disable accounts for staff who left at the last close-out, and confirm substitutes only hold limited-scope roles.

Pull the MFA enrollment report from ClassLink or Clever SSO. Any staff member with SIS or grade-book access who is not enrolled gets a personal email and a 5-business-day deadline before the account is locked.

Pull the list of new apps requested by teachers since the last review. Each app handling student PII needs a signed Data Privacy Agreement (DPA) on file before classroom use. The common gap is a teacher signing the class up for a tool whose TOS has no school-consent path.

Don't trust the green checkmark — pick a test record and confirm the most recent backup actually restores. The IT director keeps the restore log; attach the latest entry below.

Pull the opt-out list and confirm yearbook, athletics, and PTO communications honor it. A photo of an opted-out student in the yearbook is a textbook FERPA complaint.

Spot-check the registrar's last 20 transcript releases against the custody flags in the SIS. Releases to non-custodial parents without consent are the most common FERPA breach in transcript workflows.

State retention rules typically require cumulative folders held until the student turns 26 (varies by state). Premature shredding is a violation; over-retention is a privacy risk. Confirm the records officer signed off on this year's destruction list.

Pull the HR clearance report. State rules vary; many states require renewal every 5 years. Substitutes whose clearance lapsed cannot be in classrooms — give Frontline (Aesop) the do-not-assign list the same day.

Vector Solutions (SafeSchools) tracks completion. Every staff member must individually understand that the CPS reporting obligation is personal — telling the principal does not satisfy the law. Document the cohort completion rate.

Front desk handles the highest volume of records-release requests and is the most common breach point. Cover directory-information rules, custody flags, and the no-link-sharing rule for student spreadsheets.

Coordinator, investigators, and decision-makers need current training documented and posted publicly per the regulation. Confirm which framework (2020 or 2024 rules) currently applies in your jurisdiction.

Confirm the CSSP reflects current building layout, current admin team, and current SRO assignment. Outdated room numbers and stale staff names are the typical findings during a state safety review.

Send a silent test page to phones, classroom speakers, and digital signage. Verify the test reaches portables and the gym, the two locations where notifications most often fail.

Coordinate with the SRO and notify the district before the drill. Time the door-securing, debrief with staff, and capture which classrooms had latch or radio issues for the facilities work order list.

A failed drill requires a re-drill on a tight timeline. Notify the district safety director, document the gap (radio dead zone, locked-from-outside classroom, missing roster), fix it, and re-run.

If the building is unavailable, the SIS, payroll, and communications must come up at the district office or the cloud-hosted DR site within the RTO. Verify the last failover test date with the district IT director.