Billions Have Been Spent on School Safety. But Is It Working?

Parents and school personnel work to protect children while at school, yet the effectiveness of this billion-dollar safety industry is coming into question.

The Gist: More than 219,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, reports the Washington Post.

Compiled data released in April of this year from the San Diego Union-Tribune shows a total of 223 deaths since Columbine in a total of 85 school shooting incidents. This year, a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 14 and killed 17 students and staff members and injured 17 more.

Parents are terrified. School superintendents are scrambling to find the right safety measures. And more and more start-ups and businesses are trying to solve this safety problem with new inventions “guaranteed” to keep children safe. But the question remains, just how safe are they?

The Hardening of Schools

While the frequency of school shootings has not increased in the last few decades, the death toll has, reports Politico: “Since the mid-2000s, the incidence of mass public shootings on a per capita basis has been a bit higher than it was in the preceding 10 years,” it says. “But the rates over the past 10 years are no higher than in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

“What has increased over time is the number of people shot in these incidents. Looking at annual trends in the total number of victims shot in mass public shootings (on a per capita basis), you see the severity has recently increased, reaching a 40-year high.”

It is for this reason that schools are adding in new security measures. Once considered ‘soft’ targets, schools are working to harden their facilities against an attack.

Now schools can buy 300-pound ballistic whiteboards ($2,900 each); classroom-specific tourniquets; facial-recognition software; high-tech, armored classroom doors (at $4,000 each); guns that fire balls packed with pepper mixtures (which are most commonly used by U.S. troops in combat zones); and even an elaborate door-security and weapons-detection system, which includes a 2,500 pound aluminum-framed vestibule (all for $500,000 per system).

The list of protective equipment designed specifically for the classroom is endless. Home Depot and Walmart have even started selling $150 bulletproof backpacks alongside other back-to-school supplies each August.

“I know it’s a low occurrence rate, but it’s a high cost. [It’s] not just in dollar ways. It’s catastrophic — children getting killed and the unrest.” — Diane Howard, director of benefits and risk management for the Palm Beach County School District in Fla.

And schools are paying for it, too. The “education sector of the market for security equipment and services reached $2.7 billion in revenue in 2017,” reports IHS Markit, a team that tracks technology information and analytics. “As most schools have already implemented surveillance systems and access control systems, the market is expected to grow an average of just 1 percent annually, reaching $2.8 billion by 2021.”

Insurers and risk managers are working on new insurance solutions to protect entities in the event of a shooting as well, and while no policy can be the ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for mass shootings, a number of facilities have invested in active shooter insurance to cover losses.

“I know it’s a low occurrence rate, but it’s a high cost,” Diane Howard told Risk & Insurance® earlier this year. She is the director of benefits and risk management for the Palm Beach County School District in Fla. “[It’s] not just in dollar ways. It’s catastrophic — children getting killed and the unrest.” Mass shootings and other violent outbreaks have changed the way she looks at risk. “I have to expand my mind. Risks are changing.”

Is It Working?

The Washington Post conducted a survey of every school in its database that endured a shooting since 2012, including Sandy Hook Elementary, where a gunman killed 20 school children, ages six and seven years old, and 6 adult staff members.

Of the 79 schools surveyed, 34 provided answers to the questions focused on safety measures. When asked if anything could have prevented their school’s shooting, “nearly half replied that there was nothing they could have done,” reported the Post.

Other schools said they believed encouraging staff members to speak with students and develop trusting relationships could prevent an incident, because often staff will hear about threats before teachers. One school said safety technology might have made a difference, while many of the other respondents replied they already had security plans in place before their incident.

“Even if we would have had metal detectors, it would not have mattered,” wrote one respondent. “If we would have had armed guards at the entrance of the school, it would not have mattered. If we would have required students to have see-through backpacks and bags, it would not have mattered.”

As the Post puts it, this answer “highlights a theme that appears throughout the survey responses: No amount of investment in security can guarantee a school protection from gun violence.”

What Schools Can Do

Safety training is vital to minimize damage, experts agree. Having a school-wide safety plan in place and making sure each teacher, staff member and student knows what to do can not only save lives but might also deter a shooter.

For instance, the Post’s study found one high school, Florida Forest High, had made it through a shooting with only one injured party. The teachers and students had undergone safety training and knew to lock their classroom doors and barricade them with chairs and desks when an active shooter with a shotgun entered the building. The gunman shot through one door, wounding a student, but then surrendered after failing to get inside.

Schools can also invest in school resource officers, who “are members of the law enforcement community who teach, counsel, and protect the school community.” Resource officers offer an on-site, trained professional for protection in school. They act as one more set of eyes and ears walking around with students daily, sometimes forming relationships with the students. Their presence has been known to not only protect students from imminent danger but to also intervene in possible drug overdose scenarios.

Additionally, The Conversation highlights 10 other useful methods schools can enact in their facilities to further prevent an incident and take care of their students.

Learn More: Check out the Washington Post’s in-depth exposé on school safety technology for more informaiton: Billions are now spent to protect kids from school shootings. Has it made them safer? &

Autumn Demberger is a freelance writer and can be reached at [email protected].

How a Carrier Partner Can Help Navigate a Challenging Management and Professional Liability Market

A combination of a choppy economy with increased claims frequency and severity could lead to rate increases in the Management & Professional Liability market.

By: Risk & Insurance | April 3, 2024

Rates in the management & professional liability (M&PL) markets were on the rise from 2020 to early 2023 and are now falling rapidly.

M&PL divisions manage a number of different insurance products including management liability (D&O), professional liability (E&O), employment practices liability (EPL), fiduciary liability policies, cyber, etc. In 2023 and into 2024, a big influence on the marketplace has been the extremely aggressive and softening public company D&O market.

Though these rates have been softening for management liability, that may change over the next few years as companies continue to adjust their business models motivated by economic uncertainty. Layoffs were up nearly 200% last year, Forbes reported, even as other recession indicators, like the inflation rate, improved. A recession could lead to an increased claim activity and force carriers to raise rates.

“Whenever there is a meaningful downturn in the economy, we tend to see claim frequency pop up,” said George Schalick, Jr., senior vice president of the Management and Professional Liability Division at Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY).

With continued fiscal uncertainty, businesses potentially already burdened with pandemic-related claims should seek a carrier with a long history in M&PL products. They will provide much-needed risk management guidance and be better positioned to support their insureds during market fluctuations.

Why Insureds Might See an Uptick in M&PL Claims

George Schalick, Jr., Senior Vice President of the Management and Professional Liability Division, Philadelphia Insurance Companies

The current soft market might come as a bit of a surprise as it does not track with previous underwriting cycles and economic conditions. Afterall, many privately held and non-profit organizations struggled during the early days of the pandemic with shutdowns and rapidly declining revenues. But the Government assistance programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program loans, helped keep many afloat during the tough times.

“During COVID many organizations stopped doing business until they were able to sort out all of the health and safety challenges,” Schalick said. “They were forced to lock down, but then all the government assistance programs allowed them to keep people employed. The increased volume of claims we anticipated we would see coming from the lockdowns and restrictions that were imposed upon businesses in the U.S. didn’t manifest at first.”

“Just because there wasn’t an onslaught of reported claims at the beginning of the pandemic, doesn’t mean the circumstances that would give rise to a claim being reported didn’t occur. Courts and the judicial system were closed or slowed and now that they are back open, we’re starting to see the circumstances that occurred during the COVID lockdowns becoming claims today,” Schalick said. “Litigation is progressing.”

Added to the delayed pandemic litigation is a concern over newer claims that might be filed as the country inches toward an economic downturn. Though a recession was avoided in 2023, experts think a soft dip could occur in 2024, with 76% of economists saying there’s a 50% or less chance of an economic downturn this year — that almost always results in more management liability claims.

“During the Great Recession in 2008, we saw an almost immediate spike in claims because of the economic conditions and the pressure it placed on organizations. They were making personnel changes with significant belt tightening almost immediately.” Schalick said.

What’s in Store for M&PL Policy Rates in 2024?

Despite an uptick in claims and increased economic uncertainty, management liability rates haven’t increased, resulting in market-wide pricing levels that may not meet the increased pressure of rising settlements and jury verdicts.

“Rates are going the other direction and settlement values are not falling,” Schalick said.

The mismatch between rates, claim frequency and severity is, in part, because carriers experiencing the dramatic soft market in the public D&O market are seeking premium gain in the private and non-profit market.

“In the public company market, the rates have been decreasing significantly. The rates were increasing in the private, not-for-profit market, and rightfully so, but there’s a desire to supplement overall mid-size D&O for carriers who also write private not-for-profit, and they see that as an opportunity to aggregate premium,” Schalick said. “So the always competitive landscape in the private, not-for-profit market has dramatically increased in the last 18 to 24 months.”

Still, companies of all sizes and types should be concerned about management liability rates in the future. Legal system abuse is resulting in increases in both the amount of litigation and the size of verdicts plaintiffs are receiving.

Certain areas of the country are particularly vulnerable to this type of legal system abuse. As a result, insureds in these localities are likely to be vulnerable to rate increases.

“The environment is so positive for the plaintiff that forces premium increases so carriers are able to stay in that market long term,” Schalick said.

Why a Tenured Carrier Partner Can Help Insureds Navigate An Uncertain Market

It’s clear that insureds are facing an uncertain M&PL market over the next few years. Fortunately, carriers with a long history in the M&PL space will be there to offer stability.

Philadelphia Insurance Companies has been supporting this market for 35 years. PHLY is committed to offering long-term rate stability, even as economic and claims trends start to push premiums upwards. They have an appetite for all sorts of companies, large and small, for-profit and nonprofit alike.

“We’ve been at this game for a long time and are one of the most tenured underwriters in this space,” Schalick said. “We like to stay very consistent.”

PHLY has worked with both for-profit and non-profit on management liability policies. With dedicated M&PL teams throughout the company’s 13 regions, PHLY provides the support agents and brokers are looking for on behalf of their clients. The teams know their regions well and can respond to local trends. They’re also dedicated to making the renewal process as easy as possible for their partners and policyholders.

“We have real confidence in our results, so we focus a lot on making the renewal experience as painless as possible for all agents and insureds,” Schalick said.

The company is also investing in tools to help insureds avoid losses. Earlier this year, they launched a new online risk management platform, PHLYGateway, which offers resources for insureds on how to create an employee handbook and trainings on issues such as recognizing workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.

If insureds have questions, they can consult a Best Practices Help Line, provided via the platform. That way, they can get on the spot risk management guidance to help them prevent claims.

To learn more, visit: https://www.phly.com/mplDivision/managementLiability/default.aspx.

This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Philadelphia Insurance Companies. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its preparation.