Blog Archives

Police in Schools are Prevention, Not Cuff-n-Stuff, Programs

Posted by on September 19, 2011

Civil rights advocates who portray police in schools as overly arresting kids are simply wrong. Police officers who work in schools, commonly known as School Resource Officers (SROs), generally perform more as prevention programs where officers prevent  incidents versus taking on a “cuff’n’stuff” role with the intent of increasing student arrests. That’s not stopping civil rights and other […]

How Principals Can Conduct Integrity Checks on Safety Plans

Posted by on September 14, 2011

Principals need leadership, not just money, to make their schools safer and better prepared for emergencies. While presenting a Monday regional workshop in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, on “Focusing on Fundamentals” of security and emergency preparedness, an assistant principal reminded me how easy and cost-effective it can be to stay on top of their school crisis […]

Are Schools Prepared When a Terrorist Threat Comes to Their City?

Posted by on September 9, 2011

Federal authorities acknowledge a credible terrorist threat to your city or to a city near you. What does a school principal and superintendent do? School officials faced this very reality last night when federal homeland security officials acknowledged a credible al-Qaeda terrorist threat to NY City and Washington, DC. School safety officials in New York City and DC likely […]

Behind the Scenes of a Crisis: 9/11 Ten Years Later

Posted by on September 8, 2011

Communication, coordination, and complacency. These three themes repeatedly surfaced in comments by morning panel members for The Press Club of Cleveland’s: Behind the Scenes of a Crisis, September 11 10 Years Later program.  The September 7th program’s morning panel included representatives from the FBI, Red Cross, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cleveland Police, Regional Transit Authority, and […]

It’s Time to Rejuvenate School Safety, Security & Preparedness

Posted by on September 6, 2011

Overloaded.  Burned out.  Unemployed. Distracted. Disjointed. Stressed. These are just a few words describing what I see and hear more and more every day.  I find them among school staff, parents, neighbors, family, and about everywhere else life takes me each week. Uncertain Times Breed Stress and Anxiety  We live in a time of economic uncertainty, political […]

Celebrate Bin Laden Death with Caution, Not Blind Elation

Posted by on May 3, 2011

Americans deserve to feel excitement and a sense of closure with the death of Osama Bin Laden.  But the closure must be viewed as the closing of one chapter of the book, not the entire book itself. We owe a debt of gratitude to our military, intelligence, and law enforcement officials who have doggedly pursued […]

School Safety Book Tackles Columbine Anniversary Challenges

Posted by on April 20, 2011

What have we learned and what is the state of school security and emergency planning 12 years after the Columbine High School attack in 1999? The answer is simple:  We need to return to a focus on the fundamentals.  A new generation of school board members, superintendents, central office administrators, school safety specialists, principals, teachers, […]

Are Domestic Terrorists Targeting Your Child’s School?

Posted by on March 24, 2011

Libya, Iran, Al-Qaeda, Mexican drug cartels, and the list of other possible threat sources to U.S. national security and public safety continue to grow.  In fact, one veteran national public official openly asked this week if the U.S. has more international enemies now than we did just prior to 9/11.  When you think about it, […]

Pop Quiz for School Maintenance: Shots Fired – Who Do You Call?

Posted by on March 24, 2011

Shots are fired in a high school bathroom. The suspects flee. Who does the maintenance worker and his/her supervisor call? Not the police. Shots Fired, Suspects Flee; School Staff Delay Police Call A March 22, 2011, MercuryNews.com article reporting on Shots fired at Berkeley High School, three arrested says the school’s maintenance worker who heard the shots […]

An Expert Analysis: Why Crime Rises in Charlotte NC Schools

Posted by on March 23, 2011

Criminal or violent acts rose 19% in one year in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg, NC, schools according to a Charlotte Observer news story in early March. Yet security staffing continues to be dramatically cut by school officials. In a January story by WBTV, the district’s superintendent recommended cutting nearly $1 million from the district’s school law enforcement division, cutting […]