Flagstaff K-12 schools continue developing measures to secure their campuses

An audit of safety measures in Arizona schools published in December found gaps in the design and implementation of emergency operations plans throughout the state.

Every Flagstaff school has a basic plan in place to keep students safe and prevent school violence as well as respond to other hazards, such as natural disasters: locked doors with intercoms and sign-in systems for visitors, regular drills teaching students what to do in an emergency, and training for school staff.

Most follow a similar template, with variations based on the school’s size, location, campus layout, and other specifics.

Though there have not been any local incidents of school violence so far this academic year, several Flagstaff schools have experienced some form of a lockdown.

Flagstaff High School and surrounding schools delayed dismissal on a Friday in November in response to a report that was later believed to have come from outside the U.S. to multiple Arizona locations. STAR School had its first lockdown later that month in response to online threats related to a TikTok video. At the higher education level, Coconino Community College closed two of its campuses for a weekend in September after threatening messages were sent to several local groups.

FHS Lockdown

A heavy police presence is seen outside Flagstaff High School on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, during a lockdown for almost two hours due to a safety threat.

At other times, schools had to secure campuses that were in proximity to unrelated police situations throughout the city. This happened twice at Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) institutions in 2024 and once so far in 2025.

Most school leaders said they don’t think the number of incidents is increasing, and a few said schools were becoming more responsive.

Safety Audit Findings

The Auditor General report on school safety was published on Dec. 9, 2024, and focused primarily on emergency operations plans (EOPs) through a review of selected charter and district schools across Arizona (as well as the Arizona Department of Education, the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, and Arizona State University).

The audit found gaps in how schools are putting respective EOPs into action.

“None of the school emergency operations plans we reviewed fully met the state’s EOP Minimum Standards, and none of the schools we reviewed had fully implemented and tested their plans," according to the report's introduction. "Additionally, student safety could be enhanced statewide through efforts to provide more guidance to schools, review and update the EOP Minimum Standards, monitor compliance, and clarify the role of emergency responders.”

One section in the report analyzed physical infrastructure, based on visits auditor staff made to 47 school campuses across the state. Staff noted some potential areas of concern, including that “authorized visitor access procedures were not always present or effective.”

“We observed that nearly all schools we visited had established some security measures to prevent unauthorized access to areas where students would be present, such as requiring visitors to check in at the central office,” the report said. “However, a few schools either lacked procedures for limiting access or their processes were ineffective, and we were able to access campuses without checking in.”

The website for Arizona's School Facilities Board includes a document with school safety recommendations for their physical buildings.

This was the result of a review of nationally recommended best practices, with input from law enforcement agencies, school security experts, and state departments of education, among others.

The report cites a national program called CPTED, or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It highlights three features to use in school design: access control, natural surveillance, and territorial reinforcement. The last means designing school campuses so their layout conveys a sense of their boundaries.

It described the ideal school campus as having several layers of security to prevent potential risks.

“The recommended approach would be an outer layer of campus perimeter security; the second layer, a controlled point of entry; and finally, a classroom security layer in case an assailant attains a complete campus breach.”

Secure Entrances

Placement of administrative offices in a well-marked location at the front of the school was one of 11 recommendations made in that document to achieve CPTED features and prevent visitors from wandering the campus in search of the office.

“The ideal configuration for school security is to create a single point of entry onto the campus after the school day has started,” it said, adding that all other access points should be secured and that the main entrance should be a secured vestibule.

That means having an entrance with a locked door on either end. The facilities board document recommends these entryways should have “a window for administration personnel to identify all visitors and a single entry into the administration area through an access-controlled door.”

Justin DiNardi, FUSD’s former director of operations, described the district’s approach in a similar way (this was in September; he has since left the district for another role).

At FUSD schools, students enter through the main doors, which are unlocked and staffed as the school opens for the day, but they remain locked during school hours.

Entry to the school is only allowed through this main entrance, and all other exterior doors to the school buildings are kept locked during school hours.

For schools with modular classrooms, DiNardi said the school will unlock and staff doors during passing periods but keep them locked the rest of the school day.

At each school site, the public receiving areas are accessed by isolated entryways that lead to the administrative area. Each school has a paging system that is linked to a video camera and intercom, so the person at the desk can see and speak with the person asking for entrance before unlocking the door. Once inside, FUSD schools require all visitors to sign in.

DiNardi said this system is set up so people can be stopped from accessing the school by its main entrance.

“It’s really just having control over who’s coming in beyond our exterior doors,” he said. “If you have intent to meet with anybody, we have a means of meeting you virtually before we bring you in.”

He said this type of entrance has been retrofitted into all of FUSD’s school buildings, following an engineering and construction review. For some schools with high ceilings, DiNardi said all that was needed was to add a partition wall, while others required moving walls or relocating the administrative center closer to the primary access.

BASIS charter schools also have this style of vestibule entrance, and BASIS Flagstaff’s has been there since the building was constructed in 2011.

This “has been one of the school safety and security best practices for several years now,” said Bob Erspamer, the head of school safety and security across all BASIS schools. “... It’s just one of those extra layers.”

He said each BASIS school does regular assessments using both the national CSTAG (Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines) and CPTED standards, and that BASIS leaders work with school administrators to address any vulnerabilities found.

The charter school also uses a screening process called Raptor Visitor Management.

“We are a closed campus, so nobody sets foot on campus unless they are staff or have fingerprint clearance or go through a mini background check and are accompanied into the building as a visitor with an appointment,” said Kellie Hintze, head of school.

Both she and Erspamer mentioned the importance of “the human factor” in addition to physical security when it comes to school safety, as did FUSD.

According to the district, building relationships is key to preventing violence on school campuses.

A statement from the district sent by the Flagstaff Police Department (FPD) said most violent incidents at FUSD come from disagreements between current students—though it added that it couldn’t speak to national trends.

“Research shows that in 80% of school violence incidents, three or more people had prior knowledge,” according to that statement. “By fostering strong connections, students are more likely to confide in a trusted adult or use tools like the anonymous alerts reporting app to share concerns, which can help prevent potential violence.”

It also referenced layers of protection, in this case referring to a combination of securing school buildings and emergency drills in preventing violence.

Northland Preparatory Academy (NPA) Principal Jay Litwicki said his school emphasizes relationships in its safety measures through developing a positive school culture. He said most incidents of school violence come from those already associated with the school.

“The No. 1 thing for NPA and all of my training for school safety is having a positive school culture,” he said. “... We’re a school that has small class sizes; I feel safe saying that every kid in school has an adult that they can feel comfortable talking to in a time of crisis.”

NPA currently doesn’t keep the main entrance to either of the buildings on its campus locked during the school day, though the side doors are kept locked. NPA is in the process of adding a third building for STEAM education, and it is unclear whether that will have a secured entrance. According to Litwicki, the building was designed with security in mind, but he said he is not the person to ask about specifics.

“Students move between the buildings,” he said. “They always have to, and they always will.”

He added, “We do not have automatic doors, like you might find at the district schools, and things like that. We have secretaries at the doors for people signing in and out, but we don’t have automatic doors with a button that pushes to open. Every secretary has a panic button at their desk. ... We have many doors, and it’s a significant expense, and, as I said, I believe the best thing you can do for your school is have a positive culture.”

Modular Campuses

Other area schools have campuses with several modular buildings that students move between during the school day.

Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy (FALA) is in the annual process of reviewing its safety plans. Its director of student support services, Jennifer Netzky, said the school is "doing its best to follow research-based practices and train their students and staff in those practices."

Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy

Hand-painted, brightly colored native birds in flight decorate the exterior walls of Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy.

The school has an open campus with classrooms across modulars and buildings with access using outdoor hallways.

Netzky said the classrooms are not typically locked during the school day. She said part of FALA's safety planning has been understanding and training staff on the most effective ways to lock classrooms quickly during an emergency.

"I’ve worked in many, many campuses over the past 25 years, and each have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the potential of a real crisis event," she said. "... [FALA is] an open campus, so it's teaching the students, if, say, during lunch there is a lockdown, how to get everyone outside into a safe place as quickly as possible."

She also said FALA trains its staff "to be vigilant" and report if someone they don't recognize is on campus. The school has also been working with local law enforcement, who Netzky said have done a walkthrough of campus to give suggestions on security measures.

Lockdowns at FALA are communicated using the intercom system and a blast text to its teachers. Staff would then use their training from drills to secure the classrooms with the students inside.

"It really is about muscle memory in the moment," Netzky said. "You need to practice so if you're in—God forbid—that situation, that muscle memory takes over. That's why policy and procedure is so important, because when you know that in a crisis you can fall back on that, you're not trying to recreate the wheel in the moment."

STAR School, which has a modular campus to the northeast of Flagstaff and teaches younger students (from preschool through eighth grade) than FALA, takes a different approach to securing its classrooms.

Director Jeannie Gross said STAR had been preparing for security concerns even before November, through schoolwide drills and improvements to its buildings and school safety plan.

Classroom teachers keep their doors locked even during school hours, Gross said in late November, and the school recently added film to its windows that will prevent them from shattering in the event of a gunshot.

STAR also changed the locks on the doors so they are quicker for staff to open with a key. Gross said the school had decided against applying for a resource officer grant in 2024 but that they were now reconsidering this.

Locking Down School Buildings

NPA has precautions for unauthorized entry—according to Litwicki, there are reception desks near the entrances to both buildings that have panic buttons that alert emergency services in case of emergency. A loudspeaker system can also be used to call a lockdown.

When there’s a lockdown, Litwicki said, teachers are able to lock their classroom doors, and there has been training to make sure that happens quickly. NPA’s classrooms have specially designed doors that are able to lock quickly, and all classrooms remain locked when a lockdown is in place, he said.

Flagstaff Junior Academy (FJA) currently has two single-building campuses and is in the process of constructing a new modular campus for its middle school.

“When an emergency occurs, students could be on the playground, in the courtyard, or in classrooms,” wrote Carissa Morrison, FJA's executive director. “Whether it be going into a secure status or an official lockdown, our goal is that everyone knows how to quickly and orderly follow different protocol guidelines. … This preparedness is the foundation for quick and consistent action.”

Part of FJA’s protocol is for adults to lock the outside doors after bringing everyone inside.

“In addition to these training measures, we have designed exterior doors and entry points at both campuses in a way that teachers can move into lockdown in a matter of seconds,” she said.

Settling Into a New Location

Flagstaff Junior Academy students walk through the halls of the South Beaver School in this April 2024 file photo. FJA is renting the building while its new school is being built on Switzer Mesa.

FJA’s elementary school went into “secure mode” (also called a modified lockdown) during the November incident at FHS. According to a message sent to FJA families early the next day, the school was locked down for 75 minutes on Friday, Nov. 1, because of FHS’s proximity to FJA and was in communication with both FPD and NAUPD during the incident.

“For the time that the Cedar Campus was in a ‘secure’ status, students who were outside were brought inside, all exterior doors were locked, and staff increased their situational awareness (checking messages, listening to walkie-talkie communication, etc.). During this time, students did not go outside of buildings, but they did continue with typical learning activities indoors,” Morrison said.

The full school safety audit is available at azauditor.gov/arizona-school-safety-emergency-operations-planning.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.