Future of School Security Workshop
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Soft Target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality (SENTRY) Center of Excellence (COE) held a two-part, Future of School Security Working Group Meeting on July 19 and 22, 2022 with the goal of envisioning how a Virtual Sentry Framework supports a safe, learning-conducive environment in schools five to ten years in the future.
The SENTRY and PNNL team invited workshop attendees whose subject matter expertise could affect future school security. Participants included first responders; representatives from federal, state, and local government; industry technologists; school administration and security personnel.
The workshop was designed to be conducted virtually using the Mural platform to capture thoughts, ideas, and concepts in a fast-paced, high-energy forum. First, smaller breakout groups tackled specific topics, and then the entire group was brought back together to compare and contrast ideas. The two sessions used a hybrid systems engineering and design thinking approach to elicit information from workshop participants and build out potential solutions and viable components of a holistic solution.
As a feature of one of the sessions, Mark Pompano, Director of Security for Newtown Public Schools, presented a virtual walk-through showcasing the more critical aspects of the security enhancements and initiatives completed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut after the tragic events of 2012.
Through the sessions, participants noted a few potential obstacles or concerns about the proposed Virtual Sentry Framework within the school space:
- The technologies and systems need to be scalable in order to avoid bias against rural and inner-city schools that may have limited connectivity and/or budgets.
- Communication – meaning bringing as many stakeholders as possible to the table when designing and implementing a Virtual Sentry Framework.
- The innocence of children must be maintained; therefore, anonymization will play a large role in mitigating personal identifiable information concerns.
- Insider threat will continue to be a difficult challenge to overcome and must be considered when designing the Virtual Sentry Framework.
- Moving to a future where technology is more pervasive and connected will certainly require increased cybersecurity planning.
This workshop provided an opportunity for a variety of school security stakeholders to define what is acceptable and mandatory for a SENTRY Virtual Sentry Framework to do, as well as how it could work to support both school communities and first responders years from now to prevent violent intrusions.