As of April 22, there have been at least 101 shootings on school grounds this year, according to the “K-12 School Shooting Database.” Last year’s record tally of 348 served as an eye-opener for many district leaders as they continue to address behavioral and mental health-related issues in their schools.

“We don’t want to blame everything on COVID, but COVID did have a notable, marketable impact on school safety,” says Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services on District Administration’s latest episode of the “Talking Out of School” podcast. “We saw an uptick—as expected—in aggressive, violent behavior, verbal aggression, physical aggression, altercation and conflicts.”