SPOA_Spr_2010:SPOA_Template.qxd
5/5/2010
5:07 PM
Page 32
World-class school buildings BY MICHAEL DORN
Far from a typical school in Vietnam, this Saigon school pictured here is a truly remarkable example of how the right approach to creating compelling and positive body language can dramatically improve the safety, effectiveness and climate of a school. This school will be highlighted as a case study by Michael Dorn at the International School Safety Design Conference in Denver this April. Photographic credit: ©2010 Michael Dorn - Safe Havens International Inc.
The wait at Calgary International Airport offers an excellent opportunity to write an article I had promised to finish some time ago. After two days of presenting to students, school officials, parents, community service agency professionals and public safety officials in Taber, Alberta, my mind is racing from the productive dialogue that occurred among the many awesome individuals I had the good fortune to meet and interact with during the whirlwind experience. With seven different presentations, which had been tailored for various groups, the days flew by, and many great people exhibited genuine care and concern for school safety. The numerous flashes of brilliance in their astute observations, questions and suggestions during the sessions made the visit even more impactful. As with my previous keynotes in Canada, I learned new ideas that can now be shared with school and public safety officials in other countries.
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Ops Talk • Spring 2010
One of the most recurrent themes of each session was the discussion about how much school design can influence safety, security and emergency preparedness. Every school building speaks to those who enter it. The body language of a school can be a powerful, positive influence or conversely, it can inadvertently send clear negative messages to students, staff and visitors. Neutral building body language is also very common in schools and can be viewed as a missed opportunity to improve school safety and school climate. Creating a close connection between the place and the people who utilize it for teaching, learning and socializing can be a huge asset to school officials seeking to create and maintain a safe school climate that is conducive to learning. While we can find many instances of successful schools with relatively poor body language, the school leaders who create superb places of learning have to work
considerably harder to overcome the challenges building design can create. Like most schools anywhere we travel, every school I visited in Taber had incorporated numerous excellent examples of positive body language, such as thoughtful statements of encouragement in the form of posters, banners, school mission statements, student artwork, colour schemes, trophies and awards. Between presentations, short building tours with key personnel allowed an opportunity to explore how these important and powerful concepts could be even more effectively utilized in the division’s schools. The various groups tasked to work together to further enhance the level of safety, security and emergency preparedness discussed how policies, practices, human interaction and child advocacy can serve as tools to make schools safer and more pleasant places. To make those strategies even more effective and to reduce the amount of effort needed to
