The School Safety Question Parents Don’t Know to Ask
When was your school’s last comprehensive school safety assessment?
Ready, Set, Safe! launches Every School Assessed, a national awareness campaign, to help make regular, comprehensive school safety assessments the expectation, not the exception.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ready, Set, Safe! today launched Every School Assessed, a national awareness campaign and free toolkit designed to build awareness of comprehensive school safety assessments and help make regular assessments the norm.
More than 55 million children attend nearly 130,000 K–12 schools nationwide — yet there is no consistent national system for tracking student injuries and deaths at school. By comparison, injuries involving adults, including school employees, must be reported under OSHA. No equivalent requirement exists for students.
The gap is significant: the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 10%–25% of childhood injuries occur at school, and a national study of U.S. emergency department data found that 17% of injury-related ER visits among children ages 5–19 were for injuries sustained at school. Much of the risk isn't violence — it's aging infrastructure. The average public school building in America is 49 years old, just shy of its 50-year design life, raising concerns tied to stairs, flooring, playgrounds, gates, and fencing.
“Every day, millions of parents trust that schools are doing everything possible to keep children safe. What many don't realize is that there is no consistent national expectation that schools regularly conduct comprehensive school safety assessments," said Samantha Lasky, Executive Director of Ready, Set, Safe! "Every School Assessed is about changing that. Our goal is to make comprehensive school safety assessments the expectation—not the exception—by helping families ask informed questions and helping schools identify hidden hazards before children are injured.”
The campaign's goal is simple: every school should regularly conduct comprehensive school safety assessments. To help make that happen, the free online toolkit gives parents practical resources to better understand these assessments and start informed conversations with school leaders. Resources include FAQs, a customizable letter, questions for school leaders, a self-guided campus walk-through, a glossary, and other educational materials.
Ready, Set, Safe! was founded by Dayna and Eric Quanbeck after their seven-year-old son, Alex, was killed when a gate fell on him at school. Their advocacy has since helped strengthen national gate safety standards through the International Code Council. Every School Assessed builds on that work, extending it from a single hazard to a broader push for regular, comprehensive safety assessments.
"Our work to improve gate safety continues, but we've learned that gates are only one example of the hidden hazards that can exist where children learn and play," said Eric Quanbeck. "Regular, comprehensive school safety assessments help identify risks before someone gets hurt. That's the kind of prevention every child deserves."
"After Alex died, we learned that some of the greatest risks to children are the ones no one sees until something goes wrong," said Dayna Quanbeck, co-founder of Ready, Set, Safe! "If this campaign helps one parent ask an important question, one school identify a hidden hazard, or one child avoid a preventable injury, it will have made a difference."
The campaign and toolkit were developed with guidance from Ready, Set, Safe!'s Board of Directors and Advisory Council, including nationally recognized leaders in K–12 safety, comprehensive school safety assessments, emergency preparedness, facility risk management, and education.
Families, school leaders, and community members can learn more about the Every School Assessed campaign and access the free toolkit at www.readysetsafe.org/schooltoolkit.
About Ready, Set, Safe!
Ready, Set, Safe! is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping ensure children are safe everywhere they learn and play. Founded after seven-year-old Alex Quanbeck was killed when a gate fell on him during recess at his elementary school, the organization works with families, schools, safety experts, industry leaders, and policymakers to identify hidden hazards, promote regular, comprehensive school safety assessments, strengthen safety standards, and advance policies and practices that help prevent injuries before they occur. Its work includes ongoing advocacy to improve gate safety nationwide.
