Happy Thanksgiving! My thoughts and prayers go out to my faith, family, and friends who together keep me and my family safe and sound. A special thanks is offered to our men and women in the military, to our first responders, and to our many other professionals who dedicate their skills, energy, and time to […]
Blog Archives
Fiscal Commission: Cut Fed Safe & Drug Free Schools Office
The Federal Deficit Commission is recommending elimination of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools, saving the federal government $1.8 billion dollars. Recommendation 16 on page 7 of the Commission’s preliminary report recommends: “16. Eliminate the Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools. In the President’s budget, funding for the […]
Terror Cargo Bombs, Anthrax Scares, & School Mail Handling Security
An envelope containing white powder and marked with “anthrax” and “Al Qaeda” arrives in your school’s main office mail. Would your office staff know what to do? The recent cargo planes with bombs mailed by terrorists, as a part of an international terror plot, quickly brought school mailing handling procedures to mind. Add to that the anthrax scares experienced in […]
Gay Teen Suicide Coverage May Spark Contagion, Experts Say
Suicide experts are criticizing assertions that recent teen suicides are being directly attributed to bullying. A Harvard psychology professor and researcher is criticizing the media for sensationalizing the media coverage of the deaths of bullied teens. The experts also believe the media coverage is contributing to a suicide contagion: A condition where the glamorized or […]
Election Day Security: How Schools Can Beef Up Safety Measures
Increased traffic, strangers in schools, and hectic daily school schedules come together on Election Days. How can your schools be better prepared? Many schools have gone to “professional development” days where only teachers and staff are present at schools on days when voting is going on in schools. A number of schools around the country […]
The Lion King at Mandalay Bay: A New View of a Trusted Tale
As a father and annual visitor to Disney parks for well over a decade, I felt fairly confident in saying I knew The Lion King story inside and out. The movie, the characters, the music — they’ve all been part of my life for some time now. So when I was offered a complimentary ticket to […]
Lockdown Drills: Demand By-Name Accountability for School Staff
Many principals struggle to muster up the courage to publicly call out their colleagues by name when staff drop the ball on the job. But in school safety, one dropped ball can equate to many lost lives. High School Principal Effectively Uses By-Name Accountability for Lockdown Drill A veteran school security director friend shared a […]
What a Victim’s Father & a Former Bully Can Teach Us about Suicide
Andy Lehman was an honor student, scholarship semifinalist, musician, and math whiz. Andy was repeatedly harassed, pushed, called names, and not allowed to sit down on his high school bus. In September of 2006, he took his life. The student who bullied Andy, Kirk Zajac, now teams up with Andy’s father, Nicholas, to talk at schools about stopping […]
Bullying & Teen Suicide Requires a Closer Look at Mental Health
The recent public frenzy about bullying, along with multiple teen suicides, creates understandable grief and stress for everyone. The word “bullycide” and claims of kids being “bullied to death” have filled the media airwaves and newspapers, blogs, and Twitter in recent weeks. Bullying has been increasingly politicized by special interest groups and all the way up to the White […]
School Nurses: Critical to Safety, Yet An Endangered Species
Facing increased need and a “patchwork” funding system, school nurses are critical to school safety and emergency preparedness. But are they an endangered species? We know children cannot learn at their maximum capabilities if they are pre-occupied with their physical health, mental health, and personal safety concerns. Add to this the number of kids on […]