The safety and security of America’s schools has never been a greater priority—or a greater challenge. While educators, IT leaders and law enforcement have long been part of the school safety equation, one critical role has often been under-defined consistentlyr: the school security director.
In districts that employ them, security directors shoulder a complex and heavy mandate—managing physical security technologies, coordinating with school resource officers, guiding emergency preparedness, conducting threat assessments and advising superintendents on rapidly evolving threats.
Yet, in most states, no clear standards, no shared framework and no consistent professional development path for the role existed until now.
Why another school security professional association?
The National Council of School Safety Directors addresses this gap with a new national body for security directors. The council was founded on a simple, urgent premise: school security leadership should and must be professionalized and standardized at a national level.
Without a clear framework, security directors face challenges such as:
- Inconsistent expectations: Job descriptions vary widely across districts and states.
- Uneven preparedness: Some directors are former law enforcement officers, while others come from facilities, IT or education backgrounds—with no unified training.
- Reactive practices: Without shared best practices, many districts respond to incidents rather than proactively preventing them.
- Technology fragmentation: AI, access control, video surveillance, and sensors advance rapidly, but not all leaders know how to integrate them strategically.
The new council aims to provide structure, advocacy, and recognition for this pivotal role.
Moving toward a national standard
At the heart of the council’s mission is the development of a national standard for school security directors. This framework will:
- Define core competencies for the role
- Establish professional development and certification pathways
- Promote consistent policies and procedures across districts.
- Align with established safety frameworks such as PASS (Partner Alliance for Safer Schools), ZeroNow and ASIS International standards.
- Encourage collaboration between education leaders, security professionals and public safety officials.
By creating a shared standard, the council seeks to elevate the role of security directors to the same level of professionalism and accountability as superintendents, principals and IT directors.
Forging a community of leaders
Beyond standards, the council will serve as a national network, bringing together school security directors from urban, suburban and rural districts to share data, solutions and lessons learned.
Through conferences, working groups and online collaboration, the council will act as a clearinghouse for best practices and an advocate for school security funding at the state and federal levels.
“Our goal is simple,” says one of the council’s founding members. “Every student deserves a safe learning environment, and every district deserves a security director equipped with the knowledge, tools and authority to deliver that safety.”
The road ahead
The formation of the council represents a turning point in school safety. For decades, responsibility for school security has been shared across many roles—but rarely with a single leader tasked with oversight, strategy and accountability.
By defining and supporting this role nationally, the council hopes to ensure that schools are not only safer, but also better prepared for tomorrow’s challenges.
For school boards, superintendents and state leaders, the message is clear: the school security director is not optional. It is an essential, professional role that requires national standards, ongoing training and strong support.
Randall Dennis will emcee the FETC 2026 Safety & Security Technologies Summit on Jan. 11, 12 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Over a dozen nationally-recognized security experts will present at the summit.
