The school survey should be completed by the principal of the school; however, if completion of the survey is delegated to other staff, the principal/superintendent will be held responsible for the reliability of the content submitted.
Yes. At the bottom of each page, you will see a “Save and continue” button. This button will save your responses as you go. Simply return to the survey later to complete it.
Completing the school survey typically takes 20 - 30 minutes. You can reduce errors and minimize the time it takes to complete the survey by utilizing the School Guidance Document or Division Guidance Document before starting the actual survey.
Yes. A School Guidance Document and Division Guidance Document provide the opportunity to collect all necessary data prior to completing the online survey. It is strongly recommended that all persons taking the survey utilize these guidance documents prior to beginning the actual survey.
Keep in mind, you won’t necessarily be asked all of the questions you see listed. Depending on how you respond to a certain question, you may or may not be prompted to respond to a follow-up question.
Yes, be sure to download, save, and send a copy of your responses to your division safety office.
Yes. If you submitted your survey send us an email and we can send you a link to access your responses and make edits.
Information about how to print your survey responses is provided at the end of the survey.
If you have already submitted and were unable to print/save your response summary, please email us to obtain a copy.
If you have completed the survey and reached the message that says “Thank you for taking the Virginia School Safety Survey,” your survey questions were successfully submitted to VCSCS.
The legislation concerning school safety audits changed in July 2005 giving total responsibility for the content and analysis of the school safety audit process to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. The Virginia Department of Education no longer has legislative oversight of this process. The School Safety Protocol Checklists published by VDOE in 1997 are no longer necessary and you do not have to send certification to VDOE on their completion.
Yes. The 2013 General Assembly passed legislation (HB 2346) mandating the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to develop a school safety and vulnerability checklist for schools to use and mandating schools to conduct an annual walk-through inspection using these checklists. View the Guidance for use of the School Safety Inspection Checklist here.
Your superintendent may designate other specific tasks to be completed in addition to the School Safety Survey.
There are two primary Virginia Code cites that discuss school safety audit requirements. These are: § 22.1-279.8 School safety audits and school crisis and emergency management plans required; and § 9.1-184. Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety created; duties.
A school, for purposes of the school safety survey, is any separate physical structure that houses and instructs public school students during the school day. Regional, alternative, governor’s schools, head start, and preschool facilities that are not physically part of another public school building are therefore considered a “school” and must complete a school safety survey, regardless of where the enrollment of its students is housed.
All school principals are required to complete the mandatory components of the school safety audit legislation as designated by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. The requirements include:
- Completion of the School Safety Survey for their school.
- Completion of the School Safety Inspection Checklist for their school.
- Update the Crisis and Emergency Management Plan for their school.
- Completion of the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions
All school superintendents are required to complete mandatory components of the school safety audit legislation as designated by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. These requirements include (By July 31):
- Completion of the Division Safety Survey.
- Review of schools’ survey submissions, updated with any necessary modifications/corrections, and certification of accuracy of all completed surveys.
- Certification that every school's crisis and emergency response plan has been reviewed and updated by the locality’s school board (annually), that the division-wide audit committee has reviewed all school safety audits and made recommendations to the School Board as needed (annually), and that all schools in the division have completed the school safety inspection checklist (annually).
Surveys not completed by the deadline will not be included in the annual Virginia school safety report. Superintendents of schools not completing the survey on time will be notified of non- compliant schools. A list of non-compliant schools may be published in the annual report.
Completed surveys are viewed only by the school's division superintendent and by VCSCS staff. However, interested persons can submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and ask to view the information. As an extra safeguard, principals can designate the security-related section of their survey as “exempt from FOIA requests” should an outside party request access to a school’s survey responses.
For questions about the School Safety Survey or technical problems regarding the survey, please contact us at:
Nikki Wilcox (804) 997-1631
Virginia Code Section § 22.1-279.8 requires each local school board to require all schools under its supervisory control to annually conduct school safety audits as defined in Code and according to lists established by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety § 9.1-184. To see a list of items required in this year’s audit, visit the Virginia School Safety Audit Program homepage.
The VCSCS uses the school safety survey to collect information for the annual Virginia School Safety Survey Report which is made available to school safety practitioners, school division personnel, and legislators throughout the Commonwealth. The information is also used to assist the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (VCSCS) and the Department of Education in developing training and recommending policy to address emerging areas of school safety concern.
Responses to questions dealing specifically with the security of a school can be designated as protected information and exempted from FOIA requests. While completing the survey, you will see a section titled “School Security and Surveillance”. Questions in this section are exempt from FOIA requests and the school division and the VCSCS will protect that information from release.