Step 1: Understanding Your Audience

The superintendent is the top administrative official within a school district. They are responsible for overseeing all operational aspects of the public schools within the district. Superintendents usually report to the school board and are crucial leaders in your school district.

The superintendent’s responsibilities often include implementing policies set by the school board, managing the district’s budget, as well as ensuring compliance with local, state and federal regulations. They also lead initiatives to improve student well-being and achievement across the district, including school and gun safety initiatives. Superintendents shape and implement district-wide school and gun safety protocols, processes and programs. Ensuring the safety and security of all students, staff and visitors is paramount among a superintendent's responsibilities.

Because superintendents oversee the operations of all schools within a school district, they are often more removed from the day-to-day events and decisions within schools and rely on school administrators like principals to understand the happenings in individual schools. For this reason, it will likely not be as effective to go to your superintendent first for a conversation on school and gun safety at your child’s school. If you are just beginning this advocacy, consider first hosting conversations with decision-makers within your school, like your principal or teachers, and building consensus and coalition to then bring to your superintendent.

When it comes to school and gun safety, your superintendent’s job is to keep all students, employees and school visitors in the district safe. While superintendents do face some limitations in their ability to make change, they have a strong ability to pull together all the interested parties in a school community, and they’re a key figure when it comes to implementing district-wide school and gun safety measures and decisions. As noted above, meeting with a superintendent is likely going to be a step you would take after meeting with your teacher or school principal or other administrators.

Your superintendent’s school and gun safety efforts may already be outlined and publicly facing on the school district website, and it’s important to familiarize yourself with them. If this is your first time broaching this topic (or even meeting) with your superintendent, you might consider starting with an introductory 1:1 call or meeting to get a basic understanding of all they currently do to promote school and gun safety. In doing so, you may learn about the unique pressures your superintendent faces when it comes to promoting school and gun safety. We also recommend looping in engaged teachers, parents, principals or other school administration into the meeting to make sure they are informed and can contribute their voice to the discussion. Some superintendents may tell you they unfortunately have too little time to focus on the district’s school and gun safety issues during the day and that when they do, it is often time spent out of work. Whenever possible, helping to address your superintendent’s unique pressures will increase the likelihood of them working to address your school and gun safety needs.

Step 2: Preparing for Your Conversation

When you’re ready to facilitate a meeting with your superintendent, reach out to them by finding their contact information on your school district’s website or by calling your school district office to schedule a meeting.

Prior to a meeting with any school employee, it is important to familiarize yourself with the work already underway by reviewing the district website and any resources the district or any of its individual schools have sent to families on the topic of school and gun safety. Consider inviting other concerned parents to join the meeting as it will not only emphasize the importance of school and gun safety in the community but also show your superintendent they have a group of parents willing to support them in advancing the school district’s safety measures.

Prepare and send an agenda to the participants prior to the meeting, especially to your superintendent. Ideally, the agenda should include topics for discussion and questions you have related to school and gun safety in the district. An agenda template is provided in another tab of this blueprint. Feel free to customize the template to meet your and your community’s needs. Make sure to also review PTA's official positions on this topic for language you can use in your conversations. 

Step 3: Discussion and Further Action

Remember that this conversation is an opportunity to provide feedback and build a relationship with your superintendent around school and gun safety issues. Take notes, ask questions, listen closely and commit to continued conversation, collaboration and action alongside your superintendent.

There are many ways you can collaborate with your superintendent beyond this initial conversation on school and gun safety. Consider suggesting these relatively simple next steps:

• Schedule another meeting, perhaps bringing in more families from the community or other important voices like students.

• Invite your superintendent to speak at a PTA meeting to share existing school safety measures, discuss gun violence reduction strategies and elicit feedback from families.

• Ask your superintendent to highlight school safety in regular communications to district employees, community members and families. If possible, offer to help gather resources to share in those communications, particularly around gun safety.

Or consider these more complex, next steps:

• Ask your superintendent if their office would host a community forum or survey to get feedback on safety needs from the whole community. Offer to help design questions and provide feedback on making the survey or event accessible to all families in your community.

• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper or speak at an upcoming school board meeting advocating for specific school and gun safety measures. You could also write a letter signed by parents in your community (or written on behalf of your PTA if you are in a leadership role) on this issue and share it with your superintendent and local newspapers.

• Work with your superintendent to help secure more local, state and federal funding to address school safety needs and participate in the annual district budget process. 

Sample Meeting Agenda

Below are some sample questions you might consider discussing during a meeting with your superintendent. Feel free to customize these questions to meet your community’s needs.

• Introductions. Briefly share who is in attendance, what their role is and their relationship to the school district.

• Personal Story. Explain why the issue of school and gun safety is important to you and/or share a brief (1-2 minute) story about your experience with this issue. Personal stories not only increase credibility but are often the most memorable and compelling for a superintendent and will underscore the importance of your requests later in the meeting. They will not remember every statistic you share, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

• Concerns & Incidents. What is the district-wide process for students, teachers and families to report concerning behavior, and how are behavioral threats assessed? What are the district’s protocols for responding to these concerns across different schools? In what situations would a referral be made to a mental health professional or to law enforcement? When an incident occurs, such as a student bringing a weapon to school, what is the district’s protocol for responding to and communicating with families about the incident?  

• Training & Drills. How are district staff (and staff at individual schools) trained to respond to emergencies or when they witness violence or other concerning behaviors? Do they receive training? In what topics? How about bullying prevention, trauma-informed care, identifying warning signs, etc.? Are there opportunities for families and community members to participate in any of this training? What is the district’s policy on and approach to active shooter drills? Does the district communicate with families when an active shooter drill is scheduled? How does the district assess whether active shooter drills are effective or improving? Are those assessments publicly available?  

• Emergency Operations Plan. Does the school district have an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)? How about for each school in the district? How do families participate in the development of these plans? When do families have an opportunity to provide feedback on the plan? Are EOPs shared with families at the beginning of the school year or made publicly available?

• Recovery. What is the district-wide protocol for supporting staff and students after a school and gun safety incident? Who are the personnel in the district that provide support to affected students? What channels can students and staff use to seek out more support? 

• School Buildings. What physical security measures are in place across the district to promote school and gun safety without undermining the school environment or causing psychological harm?

• After/Outside School. What programs are in place in the district—or special measures taken—to keep students safe on their way to and from school, during summers, after school and in extracurricular activities outside of school? 

• Staffing. Which school district staff spend the most time developing school and gun safety plans? Which staff in the district help students who exhibit concerning behavior? What is the protocol for referring students to external resources and staff? How many counselors do you have on staff? What are their responsibilities? What are their caseloads?

• Data. Do you have data you can share on safety in schools across the school district? Do you have data you can share on the social and emotional well-being of the students and educators in the district?

• Budget. In what ways does the district budget invest in school and gun safety? Can you walk us through the line items in this year’s budget that contribute to school and gun safety? How are resources allocated to different schools based on their unique safety needs? How does the district support schools with fewer resources in meeting safety standards? Will there be an opportunity for families to give feedback on next year’s budget? If you had limitless funding, how else would you spend it to further promote school safety and well-being? How can we and other families help you secure more funding? 

• Policy and Compliance. How does the district ensure compliance with state and federal safety regulations and laws? Are there any district-specific policies that go further than state and federal requirements? How are policy updates communicated to all schools and families within the district?

• Inter-School Coordination. How does the district facilitate coordination and communication between different schools on safety issues? Are there district-wide safety drills or training sessions that involve multiple schools? Are there any plans to standardize safety equipment and protocols across all schools in the district? 

• Community Partnerships. How can the community get involved in supporting district-wide safety measures? What partnerships does the district have with local law enforcement, emergency services and community organizations to enhance school and gun safety? 

• Transparency and Accountability. How does the district ensure transparency in its safety measures and decisions? What mechanisms are in place for accountability and continuous improvement? Are safety audit results and incident reports shared with the public? How?

• Thank You & Next Steps. 

Checklist for Working with Superintendents on School Safety

• Review the school district’s publicly available school and gun safety information (see Step 1).

• Develop a trust-based relationship with your superintendent (see Step 1).

• Schedule a meeting with your superintendent (see Step 2).

• Draft and distribute an agenda in advance of the meeting (see Step 2). 

• Assemble a list of school and gun safety related questions, concerns and requests (see Step 2). If helpful, use the resources listed below.

• Meet with your superintendent (see Step 3 and PTA’s helpful tool).

• Commit to next steps with your superintendent (see Step 3).