Over the years, schools have conducted endlessfire drills, tornado drills and even—in the heyday of nuclearthreat—“duck and cover” bomb drills in an ongoing effort to makethe learning environment safer. Today, in the wake of schoolshootings, a growing number of schools are conducting “activeshooter” drills in connection with law enforcement.

In states such as Illinois and New Jersey, drills are requiredby law—and several more states are considering similar legislation.Even when not legally required, many school districts are mandatingactive shooter drills as a best practice in school safety and riskmanagement.

“It's definitely been a changing legal landscape” since lastDecember when the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, says Robert Groff,Philadelphia Insurance Cos. assistant vice president. “We'remonitoring the actions taken by the states and school districts andcontinue to refine our underwriting approach.”

Another key concern related to the issue is an increase in thenumber of schools with armed staffers. Several states allow or areconsidering allowing faculty members to carry firearms. “Needlessto say, that has really concerned a lot of people,” says Groff.“We're getting a lot of questions from schools, teachers, andagents regarding what our position would be if they purchased afirearm to defend students.”

Before this year, those questions had been raised primarily bycolleges; today, more inquiries are coming from public schools.Some carriers have strict “no armed faculty” policies. Forinstance, in July, EMC Insurance Cos.—the largest insuranceprovider for schools in Kansas—announced that it would not providecoverage to schools that allow teachers to possess firearms.

Groff says that Philadelphia has “very stringent” underwritingcriteria and evaluates the armed security exposure on arisk-by-risk basis. “We are definitely recommending to schools thatit's a much better solution to contract a reputable securityservice with appropriate indemnification provisions, obtain acertificate of insurance and be added as an additional insured tothat service's policy.”

From a risk management perspective, schools need to establishprotocols and procedures for assessing and dealing with threats atschool. “How easy is it for intruders to gain access to yourfacilities?” Groff asks. “How are vehicle and pedestrian accesscontrolled?”

Traditional Concerns Still Linger

The issue of guns in schools isn't the onlyone on risk managers' minds. Philadelphia fields an increasingnumber of questions regarding policies and procedures around abuse,molestation and bullying.

“Risk management around abuse or molestation really breaks downto fundamentals,” says Groff. “Are schools doing background checksnot only on everybody who works there, but everybody who volunteersthere? Are they providing the right training and education to thosestaff and volunteers?”

Philadelphia offers its school clients reduced-cost backgroundchecks, as well as an online abuse prevention training program thatincludes sexual abuse awareness training, policies and procedures,screening resources and systems for tracking compliance.

Bullying claims—including traditional bullying andcyber-bulling—can fall under GL coverage if there is bodily injuryinvolved, or under educator's liability or directors & officerscoverage for failing to prevent bullying. Increased awarenessresulting from anti-bullying campaigns has served to increase thenumber of claims in recent years and heightened the urgency toclearly address the situation in schools' risk managementprograms.

“Schools must establish and enforce policies and rules thatclearly outline how students are expected to treat each other tohelp prevent bullying and cyber-bullying,” says Groff. “The policyshould also define the consequences for violations of thepolicy.”

And exposure to cyber claims, whether caused by hacking, fraudor even inadvertent release of private information via cybersources, is a growing concern.

“Schools have more exposure to cyber claims than they realize,”says Groff, referencing one well-publicized incident involving theLower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. The school paid morethan $600,000 to settle lawsuits for remotely activating webcams onschool-provided laptops while the computers were in students'homes.

“There is a real need to get the IT person or staff in a schoolmore involved in assessing the school's vulnerability to cyberbreaches,” he adds. Philadelphia offers its policyholders access toonline tools and resources to help understand the exposures,establish a response plan and minimize the effects of a breach.

One thing is certain: the need for schools to be vigilant intheir quest to provide a safe learning environment will only becomemore complex in months ahead. Adds Groff, “The exposures schoolsface continue to evolve.”