July 19, 12-4:00pm ET and July 21, 12-4:00pm ET
The Future of School Security Workshop

This event is conducted by SENTRY and organized and facilitated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
DHS awarded a $38M research grant to SENTRY, located at Northeastern University in Boston, to address the challenges associated with protecting soft targets (e.g., schools and places of worship) and crowded places (e.g., stadiums and transportation hubs).
SENTRY’s vision to address these challenges is a suite of systems called a Virtual Sentry Framework that will function semi-autonomously with the capability to rapidly integrate and process data to provide real-time decision support to decision makers as they interact with first responders to detect, deter, and respond to mitigate targeted violence.
This will be the second event conducted by SENTRY on this topic. The first consisted of a panel of five school security stakeholders who discussed the inherent challenges associated with school security in April of 2022.
SENTRY has assembled around 50 stakeholders having experience and expertise in securing soft targets and/or schools. Each participant is being asked to provide their perspective on what they envision a safe learning conducive environment should look like in 5 to 10 years from now for grades K-12. Participants included representation form the following groups:
- SENTRY, START, NCITE Researchers
- First Responders – Local Police, Fire, Emergency
- School Security Personnel
- Teachers
- School Administration
- Psychologists and Social Workers
- Technologists (Vendors/Industry)
- Architects
- DHS: Representatives from, S&T, TSA, CISA, SS Reps
- Parents
- School Facilities Personnel
This event will address the challenges discussed in the April School Security Event and imagine the realm of possibilities in the future of school security. The two sessions include facilitated discussions, interactive dialog, and activities. This event is virtual using Zoom and the Mural platform.
Boundaries for the event:
- This event is limited to K-12th grade campuses.
- This is not a discussion on gun laws.
- This is not a discussion on mental health laws or the psychological state of the killer.
- The discussion will be limited to discussions on making schools safe in the event of violent intrusions such as: active shooters, hostage-taking, and explosives.
At the beginning of Day 1 there will be a presentation on the rebuilding of Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut following the deadly school shooting in 2012 in which 26 people were killed. Please access the following link to familiarize yourself with the security features of Sandy Hook Elementary: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/26/new-sandy-hook-school-designed-prevent-unwanted-intrusions-kind-news-architecture
At the end of Day 2 there will be an exercise that will require familiarization with several events involving school security. Information focusing on three potential school security use-cases of the future: active shooters, hostage-taking, and suicide bombings will be provided. These hypothetical scenarios are based on historical attacks and are intended to provide generic information to calibrate potential current threats as well as help postulate future protection challenges to school safety and security.
Day 1
- Opening Remarks – Michael Silevitch, Director of SENTRY
- Sandy Hook 2022 – Mark J. Pompano, Director of Security, Newtown Public SchoolsWorkshop Primer
- Ice Breaker
- Break
- Requirements, out brief from teams
- School of the Future, out brief from teams
- Closeout
Day 2
- Overview
- School of the Future Review
- Workshop Primer
- Ice Breaker
- SENTRY Review
- Overview of Rest of Session
- Break
- DETER, DETECT, RESPOND for SENTRY, out brief from teams
- Mapping Technology to Schools, out brief from teams
- Closeout
One of the stated missions of SENTRY is to conduct stakeholder-informed research to advance knowledge to transition to industry for development of Virtual Sentry technology for use by those who protect Soft Targets and Crowded Places at every scale, both public and private.
The information provided from this session and the previous session will be compiled into a written document that will be assessed by the SENTRY researchers to identify components that might make up a Virtual Sentry Framework for school security. The next steps will involve selecting a few school systems in which to conduct research, testing, and evaluation, using industry partners and technical experts.
Progress towards the development of a Virtual Sentry Framework for school security will be continually monitored by DHS and other stakeholders.