Schools in the U.S. reportedly spend upwards of $4 billion each year for physical security measures. So, why don’t students and families feel safe?
That question sits at the center of a growing challenge for district leaders, and the answer has real implications for how schools invest and communicate with their communities.
The problem isn’t that districts aren’t doing enough to keep students safe. Instead, the problem is that communities aren’t aware of the measures in place.
School security paradox
Safety, security, and student behavior were the lowest-rated dimensions of school climate for three consecutive year, according to the Sogolytics 2025 State of School Climate Report.
Despite increasing investments, favorable parent/guardian perceptions of school safety only moved from 72% to 76% between the 2022–2023 and 2024–2025 school years. Among secondary students, the shift was smaller: 65% to 67%.
District leaders are facing a paradox: they are increasing spending on safety measures, but perceptions of safety are not improving. Doing things that look safe is not the same as creating conditions that feel safe.
RAND’s 2025 review found that while schools continue to invest heavily in physical security measures, students and families often see them as intrusive rather than reassuring. Artificial intelligence has impacted this trend significantly.
Districts across the country are adopting AI-powered surveillance tools that monitor student devices, flag potential threats in communications, and use advanced camera systems for threat detection.
While these technologies promise stronger security, a NASEM study in 2025 found that greater use of security cameras inside schools was associated with lower student perceptions of safety, equity, and support. Several examples of district implementation of AI surveillance increased feelings of safety-related stress among students.
When community trust wavers, it has the potential to derail safety initiatives and negatively impact perceptions of safety.
How Foxborough did it differently
Foxborough Public Schools in Massachusetts offers a more impactful approach.
Between the 2022–2023 and 2025–2026 school years, favorable safety perceptions among Foxborough parents/guardians rose 14 percentage points, from 70% to 84%. Among secondary students, the gain was 12 points, from 68% to 80%. Those results are six times the national rate of improvement.
Foxborough didn’t get there by adding new security infrastructure. The district’s safety practices such as emergency protocols, law enforcement partnerships, and mental health supports, were already in place. What changed was how those practices were communicated to the community, and how trust was intentionally built.
For example, when survey data revealed gaps on items related to how staff respond to bullying, the district responded with increased communication that focused on policies and procedures related to student behavior. As a result, 76% of students said that staff are responsive to reports of bullying this year, 12-percentage points higher than 2022-2023 and 13 percentage points higher than the current national average.
The district intentionally increased visibility of these practices through an annual School Safety letter co-signed by the Superintendent, Chief of Police, and Fire Chief, giving every family a clear confirmation that their children’s safety was at the forefront of safety planning.
The district created a localized “Foxborough-ify” Standard Response Protocol with examples that reflect the district’s own community. They also implemented a new communication model for lockdown drills that told families what drills would look like and provided guidance on how to talk to their children about them.
The improvements showed up in the data: 87% of Foxborough students said they feel safe at school, compared to 70% in the national benchmark.
The district’s approach to School Resource Officers followed the same community-building mentality. Officers were integrated into the school by teaching classroom lessons, joining grade-level meetings, and sharing lunch with students.
Student agreement that SROs are important and necessary in their school rose 18 percentage points over the case study period. Staff agreement rose 21 points, and parent/guardian agreement rose 11 points. Those numbers reflect trust built deliberately over time.
What this means for your district
The impact of Foxborough’s improvement actions is clear: safety perceptions improve when communities understand and trust what’s being done, not simply when security infrastructure grows. It is a replicable model that doesn’t require new infrastructure to begin and needs far less financial and technological investment.
For district and safety leaders, the starting point is simple: 1) Do you know how your community currently feels about safety in your schools? And 2) does your community know what safety practices and resources you already have in place?
Districts that build lasting trust around school safety are the ones that intentionally engage families and students through outreach, feedback, and consistent communication and then use that feedback to guide meaningful action, rather than relying on the next new investment to create change.
