1. Jeff Schlegelmilch, MPH, MBA
Acts of Terrorism and Mass Violence Targeting Schools Analysis and Implications for Preparedness
Jeff Schlegelmilch, MPH, MBA

2. Project Overview
Background research for a project looking at preparedness for acts of terrorism and mass violence for large urban area
Review of existing data, literature and policies for protecting schools from terrorism and mass violence
Planning grant to determine baseline risk, and to lay out operational plan for Phase II, improvement of preparedness
Funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, with additional support from the Children's Health Fund

3. Definitional Challenges and Solutions
Different definitions for terrorism versus mass violence
No single dataset for terrorism and mass violence
Conducted two analysis and split the definitions
Different databases define differently
Advocacy datasets not scientifically rigorous
Some school shooting incidents included in one but not the other, some included in both
Data included a range of schools, including colleges and universities (beyond scope of study)
Conducted two analyses
Selected two scientifically rigorous databases
one for terrorism and one for mass violence
cleaned for our analysis

4. Methodology Terrorism Review University of Maryland START Database
Global Focus
1970 – 2014
Children (under 18) in schools
Definition of terrorism
Political, social, economic or religious objective
Intent to coerce
Not within precepts international humanitarian law
Mass Violence Review
Stanford Geospatial Center dataset
US Focus
1966 – present
Children (under 18) in schools
Dataset limited to mass violence involving firearms

5. Acts of Terrorism – Global Distribution
North America
21 terrorist attacks against schools between 1970 and 1974
Five between and 2014
Primarily race-based attacks
Source: Elisaveta P. Petkova, Stephanie Martinez, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch & Irwin Redlener (2016): Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: / X

6. Acts of Terrorism – Time Distribution
Source: Elisaveta P. Petkova, Stephanie Martinez, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch & Irwin Redlener (2016): Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: / X

7. Acts of Terrorism – Gender Specifity
Increase driven partly by attacks against girls schools
Particularly in Afghanistan, but not exclusively
Chemical attacks
Source: Elisaveta P. Petkova, Stephanie Martinez, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch & Irwin Redlener (2016): Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: / X

8. Acts of Terrorism – Specific Targets
Source: Elisaveta P. Petkova, Stephanie Martinez, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch & Irwin Redlener (2016): Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: / X

9. Acts of Terrorism – Types of Attack
Source: Schlegelmilch, J., Petkova, E., Martinez, S., & Redlener, I. (2017). Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools: analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 10(3),

10. Acts of Mass Violence
Source: Schlegelmilch, J., Petkova, E., Martinez, S., & Redlener, I. (2017). Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools: analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 10(3),

11. Acts of Mass Violence
Source: Schlegelmilch, J., Petkova, E., Martinez, S., & Redlener, I. (2017). Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools: analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA. Journal of business continuity & emergency planning, 10(3),

12. Policy Analysis
Review of national programs to fund school preparedness
Lack of clear leadership
99,000+ Public Schools
Does not include private, parochial, etc
School preparedness funding has mostly been eliminated
Reliance on all-hazards grants
Competing with all other agencies
Funding for these programs has been reduced by as much as 30%-50%
Restrictive in training and other use that is very first-responder oriented
GAO report found similar trends and had similar conclusions
Improved Federal Coordination Could Better Assist K-12 Schools Prepare for Emergencies
Source: ,

13. Conclusions Recommendations
School threats are varied and complex
Terrorism is different than mass violence
Tactics overseas have the potential to be imported to the US
National leadership is decentralized, underfunded
National leadership that is cross-agency/cross-sector
Dedicated funding needed for these threats
More research and better standardization of data to analyze trends

14. Thank You! Jeff Schlegelmilch, MPH, MBA Deputy Director
National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Earth Institute | Columbia University
215 West 125th Street, Suite 303
New York, NY 10027
Phone: