Key takeaways

  • A good school safety checklist covers eight areas: planning, drills, staff training, visitors and access, reporting concerns, family communication, medical readiness and reunification.
  • Most items are not expensive. They are habits: a plan someone reviews, drills someone logs, training that repeats.
  • Use the federal school planning guide as your baseline, and confirm drill and plan requirements with your state and local fire marshal, because they vary.
  • Review drills and training monthly and the full plan at least once a year.
  • If you only have time for one thing this week, find your biggest gap first.

This school safety checklist gives heads of small private schools a scannable list of what a ready school has in place. Work through it with your planning team, mark each item done, partial or missing, and start with the gaps that would matter most on your worst day.

By the ProtectED team. Last updated: October 2026.

How should a head of school use this checklist?

Print it or copy it into a shared document. For each item, mark done, partial or missing, and write an owner and a date next to anything that is not done. The items follow the federal Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans and other federal guidance, adapted for a school without a dedicated safety director.

Is our emergency plan current?

  • We have a written emergency operations plan approved by the head of school or board.
  • A small planning team owns it, including staff, a parent and local partners (fire, law enforcement, emergency management).
  • The plan covers the threats and hazards our campus actually faces, based on an assessment.
  • It names who makes decisions when the head of school is absent.
  • It covers all settings and times: field trips, athletics, aftercare, evening events.
  • It includes procedures for evacuation, lockdown, shelter-in-place, accounting for all persons, communications, reunification, continuity, recovery, medical and security.
  • Teachers have a one-page summary of what they need to know and do.
  • Our fire department and law enforcement have a current copy, and we keep a record of who has one.
  • Every part of the plan has been reviewed in the last year, and none in more than two years.

Need to start or rebuild? Read how to write a school emergency operations plan.

Are we drilling enough, and keeping records?

  • We have confirmed in writing which drill requirements apply to us, with our local fire marshal and state education agency.
  • Our year includes fire, lockdown, shelter-in-place, evacuation, severe weather and reverse evacuation drills.
  • Drills are on the calendar before the school year starts.
  • Drills are announced and calm, with no simulations involving students, consistent with the 2026 NASP, NASRO and Safe and Sound Schools guidance.
  • Parents are notified before lockdown drills.
  • Every drill is logged the same day: date, type, duration, issues and fixes.
  • We debrief after each drill and fix problems before the next one.
  • We vary conditions: different times of day, blocked exits, key people absent.

See how often private schools should run safety drills for a sample calendar.

Is every staff member trained, and current?

  • All staff walk through the plan at least once a year.
  • Short refreshers happen through the year, not only at in-service.
  • Substitutes, coaches, aftercare staff and regular volunteers are trained, not just full-time teachers.
  • New staff get the essentials in their first week.
  • Staff with special roles (first aid, meeting responders) have the skills those roles require.
  • We know what share of staff are current on training.

Why this matters: one in-service day is not enough.

Do we control who comes into the building?

  • Every visitor checks in at one point, is identified and is badged or escorted.
  • Staff know what to do when they see an unescorted adult.
  • Exterior doors that should be locked are locked, and someone checks.
  • We have done a physical security review. CISA’s web-based School Security Assessment Tool walks schools through one.
  • Pick-up procedures verify that the adult is authorized to take the child.

Can anyone report a concern, including anonymously?

The U.S. Secret Service’s school threat assessment guide recommends a central reporting mechanism with these features:

  • There is at least one easy way to report a concern (online form, email, app or phone).
  • Reports can be made anonymously.
  • Students, staff and parents know how to report and what kinds of behavior to report.
  • A named person monitors reports and can respond immediately when safety is at risk.
  • Reporters can trust that reports are acted on and kept confidential.

Do families know what to expect?

  • Families know which protocols we follow, when we drill and how visitors are screened.
  • Families know the one official channel for emergency updates.
  • Families know what to do and what to bring during reunification.
  • We have plans for families who speak other languages or have limited internet access.
  • Public materials never include floor plans, staff emergency roles or response details.
  • We share student information only with people who need it. (FERPA generally does not apply to private K-12 schools that receive no Department of Education funds, but care still matters.)

More in what to tell parents about your school’s safety plan.

Are we ready for a medical emergency?

The federal guide’s medical annex suggests planning for these:

  • Staff know their role in providing first aid during an emergency.
  • We know where first aid kits and any AEDs are, and who maintains them.
  • We know which staff are trained in first aid or CPR.
  • Student medical needs (allergies, medications, conditions) are known to the right staff and go with students during evacuations.
  • We know how we would get counseling support after a serious incident.
  • We know how to report unusual illness or outbreaks to the local health department.

Can we reunite every child with the right adult?

The federal guide lists questions every reunification plan should answer:

  • Families are told about the reunification process in advance, including their role.
  • We can verify that an adult is authorized to take custody of a student.
  • Parent check-in and the student assembly area can communicate with each other.
  • Students cannot leave on their own.
  • Student and family privacy is protected from the media.
  • We have decided how often families will be updated.
  • We have an alternate site if campus cannot be used, agreed with its owner.

How often should each item be checked?

How oftenWhat to check
DailyVisitor check-in, locked doors, pick-up verification
MonthlyDrills completed and logged, staff training current, concern reports reviewed
Each termFamily communication updated, contact lists current, medical needs list current
AnnuallyFull plan review, staff walk-through, meeting with fire and law enforcement, physical security review
After any incident or major changeDebrief and update the affected parts of the plan

How ProtectED helps

ProtectED was built to keep this checklist done for small private schools. After about 10 minutes of setup questions, it drafts 11 core protocols from federal guidance for your approval, schedules a year of drills you run from a phone, sends staff a monthly 3-minute Safety Minute, and publishes a Parent Safety Page. It also includes anonymous concern reporting, visitor check-in and emergency alerts sent as push notifications to staff phones, where each person taps Safe or Need help.

It costs $99 a month on a 12-month school-year plan, or $990 a year paid up front. Parent-ready in 7 days or your money back.

Find your three biggest gaps in 12 minutes. The free Safety Snapshot asks about the same areas as this checklist. No account is needed, your answers stay private to you, and you get a readiness profile across eight areas, the three gaps most worth closing first and a one-page summary you can share with your board.

Frequently asked questions

What should be on a school safety checklist? At minimum: a current written emergency plan, a drill calendar and log, ongoing staff training, visitor and building access procedures, a way to report concerns (including anonymously), a family communication plan, medical readiness, and a reunification plan.

How often should a school review its safety checklist? Check drills and training monthly, and review the full plan at least once a year. Federal guidance notes that many schools review their plans annually and says no part of a plan should go more than two years without review.

Who is responsible for safety at a small private school? The head of school is ultimately accountable, but the work should be shared by a small planning team that includes staff, a parent and local partners such as the fire department and law enforcement. Name a backup decision maker for when the head of school is away.

Are there tools to assess school safety readiness? Yes. CISA offers a web-based School Security Assessment Tool for physical security. ProtectED offers a free 12-minute Safety Snapshot that profiles readiness across eight areas, with no account needed.

Does a school need an anonymous reporting system? The U.S. Secret Service recommends that every school reporting system include an option to share information anonymously, because students are more likely to report concerns when they can do so without fear of retribution.

Sources