We can prevent casualties in school shootings—if we change how we plan for school safety. With the right system, harm in school shooting scenarios may be prevented. This field guide adapts proven high-reliability practices to K–12 security, giving school administration a consistent, equitable way to secure schools.

Instead of focusing emergency preparedness on past shootings, John Menna—a veteran in safety engineering—presents the forward-looking Principled Safety® method, replacing guesswork and piecemeal “best practices” with a scenario-based planning system that increases student safety, not just those behind a locked classroom door.

Stop reacting after school shooting violence and instead learn to analyze credible threats, design layers of protective measures, and verify performances so protective measures work under pressure. Short, visual, and practical, the book gives school administrators, boards, facility planners, parents, policy makers, and districts a consistent level of protection across every school in the system.

Learn:

• A standards-based framework that prioritizes prevention over damage control and guides district policy.

• A scenario library covering classrooms, common areas, entrances, outdoors, and off-campus spaces when threat assessments fail to foil a plot.

• Clear criteria to translate best practices into tested controls for communications, access, and crisis response.

• An actionable gap analysis to target budgets, strengthen plans, and document decisions for boards and communities.

• Drill-ready requirements for SRO programs: coverage, keys and access, comms reliability, and time-to-engage.

If you’re responsible for school safety—or advocating for it—this book gives you a plan to invest wisely, document decisions, and protect every student, teacher, and staff member. Before the Next Tragedy is a disciplined, system-level approach with an emphasis on an equitable level of protection, school to school. We have the power to prevent further tragedy now—is your school ready?