School facilities have traditionally been characterized as easily accessible and open to anyone seeking access. In addition, school security has generally been treated as an ancillary duty and not as a separate and respected discipline. Moreover, school administrators have tended to define school security in broad social terms and school security measures have not been implemented in schools as part of a coherent plan. As school security threats and incidents have increased, however, school officials have adopted measures to strengthen and support effective school security programs. School security must be organized, structured, funded, supported, and accepted as a professional support service. School officials must accept the need for greater disclosure with regard to incident reporting, set at least rudimentary benchmark security standards, mandate compulsory incident reporting, develop professional qualifications for front-line and management security personnel, and develop specific guidelines for hiring and supervising school security staff.