The Federal Commission on School Safety, created shortly after the tragic Parkland, Fla., school shooting, met on Tuesday in Lexington, Ky., to discuss how to make schools safer. Many people, including President Trump, have called for heightened security measures such as arming teachers, mandating clear backpacks, and stationing more officers in public schools. But none of these approaches address the root of the school safety problem.

Just about all proposed approaches are attempts to centrally plan school safety from the top-down. Of course, the addition of more police officers or security guards to schools is meant to diminish the likelihood that dangerous people are successful in harming students. However, this type of environment does not improve the mental stability of children within schools. Indeed, some critics argue that a prison-like setting could do more harm than good by stressing students out. And having more armed adults on site does little to nothing to reduce the likelihood that students engage in activities such as bullying or fighting.