Tod Schneider
The
June meeting of the Willamette Valley Chapter of the Construction
Specifications Institute featured an important and informative presentation by Tod Schneider, one of the nation’s most
knowledgeable authorities in the field of crime prevention through
environmental design for schools. Tod has worked for nearly three decades as a
crime prevention specialist for the Eugene Police Department, and presently is
serving as the City of Eugene’s Veterans Homelessness Analyst. We are very
pleased Tod was able share his considerable knowledge and insight with us.
The
seemingly endless succession of senseless school shootings across the nation has
profoundly influenced how communities protect their children in the school
setting. Our small corner of the world hasn’t been immune: Many of us vividly
remember May 21, 1998, the terrible day when Kip
Kinkel shot two students dead and wounded 25 others at Thurston High School
in Springfield.(1)
The worst imaginable event for a parent of a child in a school has happened
here in our own backyard. The questions that arise in the aftermath of such an
event most often start with “why?” but also quickly move toward “what must we
do to prevent another Thurston, Columbine, or Sandy Hook ever happening again?”
We
certainly cannot allow ourselves to become paralyzed by such tragedies. Experts
like Tod have learned from them and have for decades now been disseminating
best principles for preventing their future occurrence. As a nationally
recognized authority on the subject of safe school design, Tod consults
regularly to school districts around the country, focusing on safe, healthy,
and positive school design, as well as the application of security
technologies.
Terror and mayhem: the Columbine High School shooters caught on the school's security camera video.
I
have a general familiarity with Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED),
which emphasizes the importance of natural surveillance, access control, and
territorial enforcement to deter criminal behavior. Natural surveillance and access control strategies limit
the opportunity for crime. Territorial reinforcement promotes social control
through a variety of measures. Many
of the CPTED strategies have become ingrained in how my colleagues and I approach
the designs of our projects, particularly the schools we work on. We often consider
CPTED at the very outset of the design process as a matter of course.
There
is a risk associated with focusing too much upon the goal of “hardening” our
schools. We don’t want them to appear like fortresses—cheerless, foreboding,
and lacking the ideal attributes of places for learning and socialization. We
don’t want to design our schools with a disproportionate emphasis upon our fear
of possible threats. This is why Tod emphasizes a balanced approach to keeping
students safe, one that places equal emphasis upon providing healthy and positive
school environments. Tod refers to this as the S.H.A.P.E.D. or 2nd generation CPTED philosophy.
S.H.A.P.E.D.
Overview
Safe
schools do incorporate three fundamental CPTED concepts:
- Natural surveillance (the ability to see what’s going on)
- Natural access control (the ability to control who gets in or out of a facility)
- Territoriality/maintenance (the ability to establish and send a message of turf ownership)
Natural access control limits the opportunity for crime
by taking steps to clearly differentiate between public space and private
space. This is achieved by configuring entrances and exits, fencing, lighting,
and landscaping in ways that limit access or control flow.
Territorial reinforcement controls behavior by fostering
a sense of ownership. This creates an environment where "strangers"
or "intruders" stand out and are more easily identified. By using
buildings, fences, pavement, signs, lighting and landscape to express ownership
and define public, semi-public, and private space, natural territorial
reinforcement occurs.
A
school’s main entrance is a location that lends itself well to the application
of effective CPTED strategies. Properly designed, the main entrance clearly
differentiates the public and private realms. It allows the front desk staff to
see anyone approaching the building. The staff maintains sight of the person once
he or she has entered the building, while electronic controls make it easy to manage
access. The resulting vigilance goes a long way toward establishing
territoriality. Architects can apply similar CPTED tactics unobtrusively
throughout the designs of safer schools.
Healthy schools provide clean water, air
and food, and exposure to natural light; are free of mold, toxins, vermin,
disruptive noise or unpleasant odors; use non-toxic building materials; are
well maintained and use equipment and designs that avoid creating trip, fall,
cut or other health hazards; encourage environmental awareness and
responsibility; and promote healthy student behavior. Initiatives like LEED, the
Well-Building Standard,
and biophillic design support and
provide touchstones for the design of healthy schools.
Positive schools
provide extensive reinforcement for a pro-social, affective environment. They
promote a positive school climate in which mutual respect,
support, cooperation, and connectivity between students, staff, the school, and
the community is the norm. These qualities are reinforced with positive
messages displayed throughout the school, in addition to functional facilities
(meaning space, furnishings and equipment are a good match for the intended use).
Classrooms
attuned to the affective environment minimize alienation, reinforce positive
attitudes and behavior, and increase academic achievement and motivation. A
positive school engages its students, celebrates their individuality, and values
all types of ability and achievement.
A safer school doesn’t have to look foreboding. In this illustration, an uncontrolled access point has been remodeled to protect kids on the playground without making it look like a prison yard. (illustration from Tod Schneider's website Safe School Design)
The appeal of the
holistic S.H.A.P.E.D. approach to achieving safer schools is that it is mindful
of what we’ve always wanted our schools to be: stimulating, healthy, and safe
learning environments. It does not necessitate sacrificing this goal in favor
school safety alone. The S.H.A.P.E.D. principles are also more generally
applicable—to the design of workplaces, for example—so architects of all
stripes would be well-served by embracing them.
Big thanks to Tod for
sharing his expertise at our chapter meeting!
* * *
* * *
The June meeting also marked the end of the annual WVC/CSI
calendar by recognizing those who contributed to the chapter’s success in the
preceding year. Outgoing chapter president Steven
Leuck, CSI, CDT, bestowed a number of honors to deserving
chapter members. The common thread tying all the awards together was the
recipients’ unstinting efforts to champion the benefits CSI has to offer
everyone in the construction industry.
(1) Springfield Public Schools had engaged my
firm, Robertson/Sherwood/Architects, to work on several projects at Thurston
High School at the time of the shooting. I was actually on my way to the school
for a meeting when I received a call on my cell phone to turn back because of
an emergency on the campus. I soon found out what happened and was deeply
affected by the tragic news.
