https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/ School safety reporting and analysis from Max Schachter. en-us Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/we-called-it-progress-it-lasted-8-months/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/we-called-it-progress-it-lasted-8-months/ Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter 2025 had the fewest school shootings in 5 years. Counting January to December, the way the national trackers do, 2026 passed it by early September. The new school year is only a few weeks old. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-perimeter-ends-at-kickoff/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-perimeter-ends-at-kickoff/ Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter We spend millions hardening a building. Then on Friday night we move ten thousand people to a field behind it, and every dollar of that protection stays locked inside, guarding an empty hallway. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-threat-was-on-the-payroll/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-threat-was-on-the-payroll/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter A school employee posted a shooting threat from inside an elementary school. She was arrested within hours, and that is the good news. The bad news is that an arrest is the only tool we have for adults, and it only ever works afterward. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/your-vest-doesnt-cover-your-front-door/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/your-vest-doesnt-cover-your-front-door/ Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Nobody hacked the judge. A stranger bought her home address, watched the house, then rang the bell. Her 20 year old son answered it. The same file exists on you, and no one in your agency owns it. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/it-flagged-a-bag-of-chips-it-missed-the-gun/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/it-flagged-a-bag-of-chips-it-missed-the-gun/ Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Police drew their weapons on a 16 year old over a crumpled bag of chips. Months earlier, the same company's system sat watching a Nashville cafeteria and never saw the handgun. Districts are spending millions on this, and we should talk about what it actually buys. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-audit-is-not-your-enemy/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-audit-is-not-your-enemy/ Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Officers across the country are being charged over license plate reader searches, and the mood in the profession is that the tool has turned on its own. I want to make the opposite case, because the tool is worth saving. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/eight-years/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/eight-years/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter An appeals court just ruled that the Broward Sheriff's Office cannot hide behind immunity for what its deputies did on February 14, 2018. For every agency in this country, the line the court drew is worth reading carefully. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/safe-on-paper/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/safe-on-paper/ Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter A school bus killed a 5 year old boy in Boston. Investigators later found 42 fatal crashes missing from the bus company's federal safety record. This is what happens when the data is wrong. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/they-made-a-celebrity-of-the-man-who-killed-my-son/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/they-made-a-celebrity-of-the-man-who-killed-my-son/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter There is an online subculture that turns mass murderers into idols, and it is pulling in a generation of children. The ADL just mapped it. Here is what every parent needs to understand, and why I still have hope. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/nobody-just-snaps/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/nobody-just-snaps/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter The ADL published 2 timelines tracing the online lives of 2 teenagers before they became school shooters. What they show is not a mystery. It is a map. And we keep refusing to read it. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/one-in-ten/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/one-in-ten/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Nearly 1 in 10 students will be sexually abused or harassed by a school employee before they graduate. We have known that number for more than 20 years. We still refuse to count it. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/who-is-protecting-the-teachers/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/who-is-protecting-the-teachers/ Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter On back to back days in June, a 38 year veteran was attacked in his own classroom and two teachers were stabbed at dismissal. This is not rare. And we are still treating it like it is. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/we-are-guarding-the-wrong-door/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/we-are-guarding-the-wrong-door/ Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter A Bloomberg investigation this week put a name to a threat most parents have never heard of. Here is what every family and every school needs to understand about 764. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/after-a-hurricane-fema-comes-after-a-school-shooting-who-does/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/after-a-hurricane-fema-comes-after-a-school-shooting-who-does/ Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter We have a coordinated federal response for almost every kind of disaster in this country. For school shootings, we do not. There is a bill that would start to fix that, and most people have never heard of it. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/it-wont-happen-here-is-the-most-dangerous-sentence-in-school/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/it-wont-happen-here-is-the-most-dangerous-sentence-in-school/ Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Recently I left a community that believes it is immune. They would not even run drills, because drills are scary. Let me tell you what is actually scary. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-laws-did-not-write-themselves-they-came-out-of-a-room-part-2/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-laws-did-not-write-themselves-they-came-out-of-a-room-part-2/ Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter The story almost no one tells about Florida's progress: the law enforcement leaders, school officials, and grieving parents who built it together, year after year. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/8-years-9-laws-here-is-what-florida-actually-built-part-1/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/8-years-9-laws-here-is-what-florida-actually-built-part-1/ Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Most places hold a vigil, pass one bill, and move on. Florida came back to school safety every single legislative session for 8 straight years. Here is each piece, in plain language. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/he-was-released-from-a-psychiatric-hospital-three-days-before/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/he-was-released-from-a-psychiatric-hospital-three-days-before/ Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter The Cambridge Memorial Drive shooting was not a mystery. There were warnings. There were calls. There were flags. The failure was not a lack of information. It was a failure to act on it fast enough. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/vanderbilt-just-put-drones-in-the-air-to-respond-to-active/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/vanderbilt-just-put-drones-in-the-air-to-respond-to-active/ Tue, 26 May 2026 16:18:56 GMT Max Schachter When seconds matter, real-time eyes in the air can be the difference between a coordinated response and chaos. Vanderbilt figured that out. Most schools have not even started thinking about it. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/a-colorado-school-district-ran-a-safety-audit-found-153-imminent/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/a-colorado-school-district-ran-a-safety-audit-found-153-imminent/ Tue, 19 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Jefferson County parents just found out about a safety audit that uncovered thousands of digital threats, including a hit list with 15 names. They found out through a records request. Not from the district. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/florida-is-spending-528-million-on-school-safety-this-year-here/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/florida-is-spending-528-million-on-school-safety-this-year-here/ Tue, 12 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Nine school safety bills. Half a billion dollars. Real programs with real funding. Florida figured something out that most states have not, and I want to tell you what that is. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-warning-signs-are-there-here-is-what-to-do-when-you-see-them/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-warning-signs-are-there-here-is-what-to-do-when-you-see-them/ Tue, 05 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter What 764 recruitment looks like in real life, what to do if your child has been contacted, and what schools and lawmakers need to build right now. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/your-childs-favorite-game-is-being-used-to-hunt-them/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/your-childs-favorite-game-is-being-used-to-hunt-them/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter Most parents have never heard of 764. The FBI has more than 450 open investigations.Here is what every parent needs to know right now. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/nobody-should-walk-this-path-alone/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/nobody-should-walk-this-path-alone/ Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter At the Advancing School Mental Health conference, four mental health practitioners working in recovery across four school shooting communities shared lessons learned from their work supporting communities after school violence. In our conversation, they reflected on how heavy this work can feel in isolation, and how much lighter it becomes when carried with the support of others. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-cameras-leave-the-families-dont/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-cameras-leave-the-families-dont/ Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter After Parkland, one person stayed. Her title was Family Liaison. Most communities have never heard of the role, and almost none of them fund it long enough. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/i-had-a-career-i-walked-away-from-it-the-day-alex-was-murdered/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/i-had-a-career-i-walked-away-from-it-the-day-alex-was-murdered/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter What it actually means to make school safety your life's mission, and why I have no intention of stopping. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-shooter-had-70-warning-signs-the-school-reported-zero/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/the-shooter-had-70-warning-signs-the-school-reported-zero/ Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter How schools hide the data parents need most, and what threat assessment is actually supposed to do. https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/florida-just-made-every-school-safer-heres-how/ https://www.safeschoolsforalex.org/newsletter/florida-just-made-every-school-safer-heres-how/ Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Max Schachter And why what happened in one state is a blueprint that can work everywhere else.