PASS Recap of Town Hall Meeting at ISC West

The 2026 PASS Town Hall at ISC West highlighted a pivotal year of growth, innovation, and collaboration for the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS). PASS leaders reviewed 2025 successes, including significant growth in outreach partnerships, guideline downloads, and training participation—demonstrating continued momentum in advancing school safety nationwide.

PASS reaffirmed its mission: to equip administrators, school boards, and safety professionals with the knowledge and tools for a tiered approach to security, based on individual needs and best practices.

2026 Guidelines and Systemwide Updates

Key 2026 initiatives include the continued rollout and implementation of the 7th Edition of the PASS Safety and Security Guidelines, with important updates to note:

• Video surveillance enhancements, including improved camera placement, expanded fields of view, analytics integration, and updated classroom camera recommendations
• Access control improvements, including a new door lock matrix, emphasis on keeping classroom doors closed and locked, and how to establish secure visitor entry points
• Districtwide advancements, emphasizing system interoperability, unified security operations centers, and more coordinated, system-level approaches to safety

At the districtwide level, PASS continues to align with nationwide acceptance of Alyssa’s Law — alongside a pressing endeavor to obtain government funding to support it. PASS also advocates digital mapping integration and stronger coordination with emergency response systems. These efforts are expected to establish clearer directives with real-time visibility, faster response capabilities, and unified communication across campuses and first responders.

Additionally, PASS introduced a new Digital Infrastructure Layer, addressing cybersecurity, data protection, and network resilience, which reflect the growing pertinence of safeguarding both physical and digital school environments.

PASS in Practice: Turning Guidance Into Action

PASS announced the launch of PASS in Practice (PIP), a new eLearning certificate program designed to help schools apply the PASS Guidelines in real-world settings.

Rather than replacing the Guidelines, PASS in Practice complements them by providing a structured, step-by-step approach to implementation. Through practical examples, interactive learning, and actionable planning tools, participants learn how to assess their current security posture, identify gaps, and prioritize improvements.

The program is designed for administrators, school resource officers, security consultants, and partners, and can also be used as a team training resource to ensure consistency across stakeholders. Participants earn a certificate of completion and a digital badge, which recognizes their demonstrated understanding of PASS principles and their application.

Digital Checklists: A New Era of School Safety Assessments

PASS unveiled a new digital checklist portal, which transforms PDF tools into mobile-friendly, editable forms. This platform allows school teams to complete assessments in real-time, attach data to specific campuses, and automatically generate both PDF and Excel reports for more efficient analysis.

Although PASS will continue to appease those who prefer hard-copy documentation and fillable PDF versions of the checklists, the ultimate goal is to streamline more dynamic, data-driven safety practices.

One-sentence summary: The PASS digital platform represents the evolution from static checklists to a centralized, interactive system that enables continuous, data-driven school safety assessments.

Research Insights: Secured Doors Save Lives

The Town Hall also featured new research from the ALERRT Center at Texas State University, analyzing 54 school-based active shooter events spanning 26 years. The findings reinforce a critical takeaway: properly secured doors—especially those that are locked and free of vulnerable glass features—significantly reduce casualties and slow or prevent attacker entry.

Funding, Grants, and Legislative Updates

PASS continues to expand its support for schools navigating funding opportunities. A new “Grants and Funding Corner,” featured twice monthly, will provide guidance on relevant grant opportunities, recommendations on which programs to pursue, and best practices for writing successful applications.

PASS will also enhance reporting on legislative activity at both the state and federal levels, while maintaining its commitment to operate within clearly defined legislative boundaries and its long-standing “no unfunded mandates” philosophy.

Community, Training, and What’s Ahead

PASS announced upcoming opportunities for continued learning and collaboration, including the Summer Camp Webinar Series focused on timely school safety topics, and the 2026 PASS Summer Summit on School Safety, taking place July 16–17 in Concord, North Carolina. The Summit will be available both in person and on demand through recorded sessions. More details to come.

Recognizing Excellence: Volunteer of the Year

PASS recognized Jim Crumbley as the 2026 Volunteer of the Year for his exceptional dedication, leadership, and ongoing contributions to advancing PASS initiatives. His commitment of time, expertise, and collaboration has made a meaningful impact across the organization. PASS will feature a more in-depth interview with Jim later this spring.

The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS)is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) bringing together expertise from the education, public safety, and industry communities to develop and support a coordinated approach to making effective and appropriate decisions with respect to safety and security investments. You can download the complete PASS Guidelines, or check out our PASS Safety and Security Checklist for quick tips on how to get started.  These resources — as well as white papers on various topics including barricade devices, lockdown drills, and more — are available at no cost.