Shocking news headlines remind us that educational establishments are among the most vulnerable to deadly weapons attacks. Although it is not possible to make premises entirely secure, the importance of being prepared and swiftly moving to the aid of those affected was demonstrated following an attack at Palm Beach Central High School.

The incident occurred in the campus parking lot adjacent to the school’s football stadium while a game was in progress. Two adults were shot. Still subject to investigation, it is suspected that the shootings were gang related. Although those directly involved with this shooting are not understood to be connected with the school, the impact on the school and local community of such an incident can be profound.

The School District of Palm Beach County had the foresight to take out Beazley’s Deadly Weapons Protection policy. Within hours of the attack Beazley had arranged a face to face and telephone based counseling service to be accessed by the schools that may have had students impacted. Additionally, they immediately arranged social media monitoring that helped the District assess the community sentiments about what had happened.

The feedback from the School District of Palm Beach County speaks for itself:

“We of course hoped that we would never have to implement our gun incident response plan. However these shootings showed the importance of being well prepared and able to rapidly draw on the expertise provided by the Beazley Deadly Weapons policy to support our students and the wider school community when they needed us most.”

Dianne Howard
Director of Risk and Benefits Management, The School District of Palm Beach County