Imagine a medical system where we do not utilize highly trained professionals to diagnose and effectively treat illnesses and diseases. What if, instead, we allowed lay people to diagnose themselves by downloading a checklist off the internet, deciding what treatment they need, and allowing them access to whatever procedures or drugs they deemed necessary? Then, without professional oversight, standards, or policies, we used taxpayer funds to pay for whatever treatment they believed was required.

Chaos would ensue, violating the very concept of risk management. There would be no oversight of medical care, no rules, no regulatory compliance, no financial security in operating a medical practice, and no legal protection for health care providers.

Without a framework to make a proper diagnosis, a lack of trained professionals to perform and assess evidence from tests, and inadequate oversight from other professionals and organizations, medical outcomes would be disastrous, and the medical system would collapse.

Such is the state of school security.

Over the past decade, the rapid growth of online information access, coupled with the expansion of the school security vendor market, has led many administrators, schools, and communities to make purchasing decisions driven more by emotions than analysis, often in response to high-profile tragedies. This is in opposition to the preferred purchasing model — a deliberative, structured process based on risk assessment that aligns spending with specific, identified threats evaluated by likelihood and severity, rather than reacting to a single, high-profile incident in the news.

This becomes extremely important when insurance companies underwrite risk. For example, a professional risk assessment that identifies the need to establish a behavioral threat assessment team and classifies it as a short-term priority, based on the likelihood and potential impact of targeted violence, should carry greater weight in the decision-making process than a distant, isolated shooting that prompts reactionary calls for an “AI-powered” gunshot detection system.

Underwriters should have access to an unbiased assessment and collaborate with the professionals who prepared it to determine whether a school or district is improving its security posture through purchases and training, or inadvertently increasing its risk..

In the past, no professional standards existed to define best practices in school security. That changed with the August 2025 release of the ASIS International School Safety Standard, which provides a comprehensive framework for developing, implementing, and maintaining school security programs. This is significant for insurance underwriters because the standard helps quantify risk and guide premium decisions in three important ways:

1. Risk-Based Benchmarking: The standard helps schools identify and mitigate risks through structured assessments that underwriters can use to evaluate exposure.
2. Consistency Across Institutions: It creates a uniform baseline for comparing security readiness across schools, regardless of size or location.
3. Evidence of Due Diligence: Schools that follow the standard demonstrate proactive risk management, which may justify lower premiums or preferred coverage terms.

This shift supports data-driven underwriting rather than subjective assessment, and helps insurers differentiate between high-risk and low-risk schools.

The new standard changes how schools make decisions about security purchases. Rather than making purchases driven by perceived urgency, emotion, or vendor pressure, an underwriter can use formal professional risk assessments to help schools invest in solutions that address their most critical vulnerabilities.

Ignoring a formal risk assessment often leads to over purchasing products, buying misaligned systems, making biased purchases, failing to benchmark their current security posture, and investing in tools that are likely to be underutilized. Instead, schools can be held to a written mandatory standard that spells out what they shall do (requirements) and what they should do (recommendations).

An example of this is the appropriate building structure for implementing a single-option lockdown. Annex A of the document covers physical protection systems and measures for classrooms. In education, the tactical response for active shooters has included lockdown for almost 35 years, but the actual tactic was never meant for active shooters. It was adopted, but not adapted, from drive-by shooting and earthquake drills (Ed Week, January 27, 1993, by Meg Sommerfield). This is why lockdown plans do not include tactics for contact with a threat and do not focus on evacuation as a preferred response. Until now, there was no clear standard or recommendation for the physical infrastructure required to utilize this tactic.

• We know that active shooters often study other events and emulate the tactics of other criminals:In 2015, the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission report stated “…there has never been an event in which an active shooter breached a locked classroom door.” While this may have been true in 2015, by 2018, the statement came under scrutiny by several school security experts after the Parkland High School shooting. Even though the gunman did not “breach a locked door,” he did “breach” the windows of four locked classroom doors, killing and injuring 19 students.
• In 2022, an active shooter at the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis fired into a door lock, successfully breaching it, and killing a teacher sheltering inside the classroom with her students.
• In 2025, police confirmed that an active shooter at Borg Dreierschutzengasse High School in Graz, Austria, shot a locked classroom door open, wounding and killing numerous students in the room.

Because lockdown (or “hide” under the Run, Hide, Fight Federal Recommendation) remains an option, the new ASIS School Security Standard addresses this infrastructure shortfall. If a decision is made to insure this type of response, underwriters should consider whether the client meets these minimum standards. The ASIS standard includes three “shall” statements about classroom lockdowns and other classroom security issues to address this long-standing problem:

1. The school shall implement measures to harden classrooms; where the design of classrooms prevents the ability to harden, the school shall provide alternate secure spaces for students and staff.
2. The school shall provide two-way emergency communications in classrooms.
3. The school shall implement measures to prevent unauthorized access to classrooms.

The section also recommends options for consideration, including classroom doors, classroom windows, cover and concealment, connecting classrooms, labs, and shops, as well as classroom restrooms.

Professionals working in the field are trained and certified to make informed decisions, provide recommendations, and implement physical security measures in accordance with emergency plans and protocols. However, the average administrator, teacher, school resource officer, or government official is not equipped to perform these functions.  

Expecting untrained individuals to make complex security decisions is similar to allowing the average person to self-diagnose and manage their own medical care. While they may form opinions, they lack the expertise to reach an informed conclusion. The process itself can create unnecessary stress and lead to poor judgment.

Just as online pharmacies and treatment plans may not be legitimate or compliant with safety standards, security vendors can vary widely in quality and reliability. Without professional guidance, schools risk choosing ineffective solutions, delaying critical interventions, or overlooking essential protections. While active participation is valuable, expert oversight is essential to ensure informed security decisions.

Professional risk assessors collaborating with insurance underwriters bring specialized expertise that can help schools save money and time, reduce stress, streamline decision-making, and ultimately save lives. In the end, that’s what school security is really about.