School board member: We have limited resources. We need to spend wisely while also letting parents know we are doing something. Superintendent: It’s hard to cut through the noise. Principal: I don’t know who to believe or who to trust – and I don’t need more headaches that make leading our school more difficult. I […]
Blog Archives
What’s in a title? The masked and misleading titles and biographies of school safety presenters
School leaders increasingly tell me that it is “hard to cut through the noise” — a reference to school security vendor marketing sales pitches, materials and spin. Recently, it has even become difficult to cut through the noise of school safety presenters’ organizational titles and affiliations. Many school administrators and school safety professionals pondering whether […]
Panic over panic buttons, guardians galore, and other school safety “legislation by anecdote”: Why lobbying based upon single incidents and high-profile tragedies does not necessarily make good school safety law.
Several state legislatures have passed laws requiring schools to have panic buttons or similar emergency alert systems, often dubbed “Alyssa’s Law” based upon advocacy by a Florida parent who lost her daughter in the Parkland school shooting. A number of states have passed laws requiring all schools to have police officers or armed “guardians.” There […]
School security is being sold to the highest bidders. Private equity and venture capital investors are hijacking the school safety field. Will a passion for profits overshadow a passion for school safety?
Follow the money. If you are a superintendent, school board member, or principal you should follow it very closely when it comes to school safety, or you may lose control over decisions about safety in your schools. Private investors are increasingly taking control over the school safety industry Private investors increasingly have their eyes set […]
If the school safety presenter at your conference is paid for by a security vendor, will their message be truly independent? School leaders in the audience need to look behind the curtains to learn about the potential wizards in the wings
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” That famous saying came from Wizard of Oz movie. It refers to the Wizard of Oz being exposed as a “normal” man behind the curtain pulling the strings to create the perception of something much different than what it really was in real life. Today the […]
Exposed emails show a leading AI weapons detection system missed its own test gun “a few times with the cameras rolling” during a media demo in a school district that signed $11 million contract for their systems. But the local news report did not show it missing a gun. Are parents being left in the dark?
Emails exposed by IPVM, the world’s leading authority on physical security technology, shows AI weapons detection systems missed their own test gun “a few times with the cameras rolling” in a media demo for a Virginia school district that reportedly signed an $11 million contract for the units. And the school district’s communications director wanted […]
Cell phones and school safety: They are often disruptive to the educational process and can create unsafe conditions in an emergency. Yet many students and parents want them. Now, some politicians want to ban their use in schools.
Teachers find that cell phones create classroom distractions. School administrators find they accelerate bullying and conflicts. However, many students — and some very vocal parents — often feel they are essential to school safety. But are the cell phones an emotional security blanket for parents even more than a security tool for students? Some now […]
Superintendents, principals and other school leaders share a common struggle: How to communicate with parents about school safety. The good news is we can help them to communicate better.
“I don’t know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it.” Those were the words of a school principal at the beginning of my doctoral program at Johns Hopkins. The topic with which he was struggling: Speaking with parents about school safety. This school administrator was not alone in his struggle […]
Are parents a growing school security threat? Parents threatening, attacking students and teachers at schools
The headlines include parents dressing down to bypass security and watch their kid attack another student, parents attacking a classroom teacher, and parents going after other students having conflicts with their kids. Principals and their school school safety teams prepare for many potential school security and emergency situations from school shootings to natural disasters and […]
The politics of school safety: From “tours” of school mass shooting scenes to statehouse lobbying and your local school district, the politicization of school shootings and school safety may be the very reason progress has stalled, not advanced.
Strategic school safety leaders must recognize and understand that school safety is a political issue. From the highest national levels to your local school community, politics has infiltrated school safety narratives, policy and funding. Superintendents, school boards, and principals must be consciously cognizant of the increasingly political context around school shootings and school safety. Yet […]