How to Research School Safety Before Choosing a School District

Parents searching for “safe schools near me” usually want one thing:

A clear answer.

Unfortunately, school safety does not fit cleanly into one number.

A district can have a low suspension rate and still have serious climate problems.

A school can report more incidents because it has better reporting.

A high-police-referral rate can mean something very different from a high bullying rate.

A school in a low-crime neighborhood can still struggle internally.

A school in a higher-crime area can have a strong, orderly climate.

That means the safest way to research safety is to combine several types of evidence:

1. student climate;
2. discipline;
3. serious incidents;
4. attendance;
5. staffing and support;
6. local reports and school-level context.

The goal is not to find a fake “safety score.”

It is to find the risks and questions that deserve attention.

Start with school climate, not crime headlines

School safety is broader than crime.

A student's daily sense of safety can depend on:

• bullying;
• fighting;
• harassment;
• classroom disruption;
• relationships with adults;
• hallways;
• bathrooms;
• transportation;
• online behavior.

The National Center for Education Statistics' school crime and safety program uses multiple surveys because no one data source captures the whole issue.

NCES publishes national indicators on bullying, victimization, safety practices, and student perceptions.

For a local decision, your best source may be a district or state student climate survey.

Search:

[district] school climate survey

or:

[school] student survey safety

What does a suspension rate tell you?

Suspension data tell you how often students experience certain exclusionary discipline outcomes.

That is useful.

It is not a safety score.

A district may suspend often because:

• serious incidents are frequent;
• rules are strict;
• lower-level behavior leads to exclusion;
• support systems are weak.

Another may suspend less because:

• behavior is better;
• restorative practices are used;
• other consequences are preferred;
• reporting differs.

Read School Suspension Rates: What They Reveal About Discipline in a District before interpreting the number.

Look at expulsions separately

Expulsions are less common and more severe.

A district with few expulsions may still have many suspensions.

A district with an unusual expulsion rate deserves follow-up.

Ask:

• Which schools?
• Which reasons?
• Is the rate changing?
• Are certain student groups affected much more?

Do not turn a small count in a small district into a dramatic percentage without showing the denominator.

Law-enforcement referrals and school-related arrests are useful—but need context

The Civil Rights Data Collection includes:

• referrals to law enforcement;
• school-related arrests.

The CRDC publishes a referrals and arrests reporting module explaining how these measures are defined.

If a district reports a high rate, ask:

• Which schools drive it?
• What types of incidents are involved?
• Is law enforcement stationed in schools?
• How has the policy changed?
• Are rates concentrated among student groups?

A referral is not automatically proof of violent crime.

Read the definition.

Look at bullying and harassment data

Bullying is often closer to the experience families mean when they ask whether a school feels safe.

NCES reported that about 19% of students ages 12–18 said they were bullied during school in 2021–22 in national survey data.

That is a national estimate, not a local rate.

For local research, use:

• state school climate surveys;
• district surveys;
• CRDC harassment/bullying measures;
• school incident reports where published.

Ask whether students say adults intervene.

A written anti-bullying policy is not evidence that students feel protected.

Compare student reports with administrative reports

This is powerful when both exist.

Administrative data

Shows recorded events.

Student survey

Shows student experience, including events that may never become official discipline records.

If a school reports very few bullying incidents but students report high bullying, that gap deserves attention.

If both are low, that is more reassuring.

If administrative incidents are high but student climate is strong, ask whether reporting practices are simply more rigorous.

No automatic verdict.

Attendance is an underrated safety/climate signal

Students miss school for many reasons.

Chronic absenteeism is not a direct safety measure.

But if a school has unusually high chronic absence, ask whether:

• students feel connected;
• bullying is involved;
• transportation is unreliable;
• health needs are high;
• discipline removes students from school.

Use SchoolReality's attendance explorer.

Read Chronic Absenteeism in Schools: How to Compare Your School District.

Teacher turnover can affect climate

Stable staff do not guarantee safety.

High turnover does not prove a school is unsafe.

But school climate is partly relational.

Teachers and administrators need consistent systems for:

• behavior;
• supervision;
• communication;
• student support.

If a school has repeated principal changes and high teacher turnover, ask how behavior systems are maintained.

Read Teacher Turnover Rate: What It Can Tell You About a School District.

Counselor and psychologist staffing matter

When students face:

• conflict;
• anxiety;
• threats;
• bullying;
• crisis;
• attendance problems;

schools need adults who can respond.

SchoolReality's student-support explorer shows district-level ratios for counselors and other support staff.

A low ratio does not prove safety.

A very high caseload can tell you the support system is stretched.

Ask the school:

“If a student reports bullying or a safety concern, which adult handles it and how quickly can the student be seen?”

Ask about supervision

This is a very practical school-tour question.

Ask:

• Who supervises arrival?
• Hallway transitions?
• Lunch?
• Recess?
• Bathrooms?
• Dismissal?
• Buses?

Then observe.

A school can have excellent formal policies while unstructured spaces feel chaotic.

For younger children, recess and bathrooms may matter more than a district-level crime statistic.

For high school, hallways, entrances, transportation, and after-school areas may matter more.

Ask how the school handles fights

Do not ask simply:

“Are there fights?”

Almost any large school can have some.

Ask:

1. How often?
2. Where?
3. What happens afterward?
4. Are repeat conflicts common?
5. How are families notified?
6. Are students separated when needed?
7. What prevention/support exists?

Specific questions get more honest answers.

Ask how bullying reports are handled

Use a hypothetical.

“If my child says another student has repeatedly threatened or harassed them, what happens in the first 24 hours?”

You are listening for a process.

Good answers should explain:

• who receives the report;
• documentation;
• immediate safety steps;
• investigation;
• family communication;
• follow-up.

A vague “we take bullying very seriously” is not enough.

Look at subgroup discipline

Safety and fairness are connected.

The Department of Education's CRDC has documented disparities in discipline involving race and disability nationally.

A local gap does not prove discrimination.

It is a reason to ask how rules are applied and whether supports are adequate.

Use SchoolReality's student-group gap explorer for academic context and future discipline subgroup views when available.

Weapons and serious incidents need careful interpretation

If a state publishes serious-incident data, use it.

But avoid sensational ranking.

Small numbers can create large year-to-year percentage changes.

Ask:

• number of incidents;
• enrollment;
• incident type;
• trend over several years;
• school location;
• response.

One incident in a small school and one incident in a 3,000-student high school produce different rates.

Counts and rates should both be visible.

Security measures do not equal safety

A school may have:

• cameras;
• metal detectors;
• locked doors;
• school resource officers;
• visitor systems.

These tell you about the security approach.

They do not directly tell you how safe students feel or how often incidents occur.

Do not create a score that rewards the number of security devices.

Ask whether the measures match the school's needs and whether students experience a calm environment.

Neighborhood safety and school safety are different

Parents often use crime maps around a school.

That can be useful for:

• walking routes;
• transit;
• after-school travel.

But neighborhood crime data do not directly measure what happens inside the school.

Keep the two layers separate:

School environment

Incidents, climate, discipline, support.

Surrounding environment

Neighborhood crime, traffic, transit, routes.

If you combine them, label them clearly.

Online reviews: useful only as patterns

Safety reviews can be emotional.

One family may describe a serious incident.

Another may say the school is perfectly safe.

Look for repeated themes.

Examples:

• fights in one location;
• bathroom supervision;
• bullying response;
• dismissal problems;
• principal communication.

Then test them against official data and current parent conversations.

Do not publish accusations from anonymous reviews as facts.

Visit at the right time

A quiet tour at 10 a.m. can tell you little about dismissal.

If possible, observe:

• arrival;
• class change;
• lunch;
• dismissal.

Look for:

• adult presence;
• student behavior;
• entry procedures;
• congestion;
• tone.

You are not conducting an inspection.

You are trying to understand the normal environment.

Questions to ask current parents

Avoid:

“Is the school safe?”

Ask:

1. Where do kids have the most problems?
2. How does the school respond to bullying?
3. Are fights common or unusual?
4. Do students trust adults enough to report problems?
5. How quickly does the principal communicate after serious incidents?
6. Is dismissal orderly?
7. Are buses calm?
8. What changed in the last year?

You will learn more.

Questions to ask the principal

1. What safety/climate measure are you trying hardest to improve?
2. What does the latest student survey say?
3. Where do incidents occur most often?
4. How are repeat conflicts tracked?
5. What is the counselor caseload?
6. How many security/support positions are vacant?
7. How are families notified about serious incidents?
8. What changed after the most recent climate data?

A principal who can discuss weaknesses specifically can be more reassuring than one who insists there are none.

Compare two districts with a safety worksheet

Do not total the columns.

Write:

“The safety question I still need answered is…”

That is the point.

What parents should be able to find

A strong safety page should avoid a single red/green badge.

Instead show separate evidence:

Discipline

Suspensions and expulsions.

Law enforcement

Referrals and arrests.

Climate

Bullying/harassment and survey data where available.

Support

Counselors, psychologists, social workers.

Attendance

Chronic absence.

Trend

Multiple years.

Student groups

Where data allow.

Then link to official sources and definitions.

This is far more transparent than inventing a “9/10 safety rating.”

How to use these figures carefully

There is no single statistic that tells you whether a school is safe.

Use a group of signals:

What do students report? How often are students suspended or expelled? How often is law enforcement involved? Are there bullying concerns? Do students attend consistently? Are counselors and psychologists available? What do current families see?

Then ask the school to explain the patterns.

A parent does not need a perfect safety score.

A parent needs enough evidence to know where the risks are and whether the adults running the school respond well.

Sources and further reading

• NCES: Crime & Safety Surveys
• NCES: Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety
• NCES: Student Bullying indicator
• U.S. Department of Education: Civil Rights Data Collection
• CRDC: Referrals to Law Enforcement & School-Related Arrests
• SchoolReality: Student Support