School anti-bullying laws ‘sound good and feel good, but they provide little-to-no new resources to educators. High-profile bullying incidents, including a number resulting in victim suicides, have fueled calls for more state and federal anti-bullying laws. The latest school bullying case in Massachusetts resulted in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince and criminal charges against nine teens. […]
Blog Archives
Anti-School Police Commentary Paints False School Safety Picture
In ““Taking Safety Too Far: The Ill-Defined Role Police Play in Schools,” a February 24th commentary article in Education Week, authors and civil rights advocates Johanna Wald and Lisa Thurau presented what I believe to be a very skewed misrepresentation of school resource officers (SROs), school police, and administrators. I responded with a letter to the editor […]
School Safety News: The Week in Review (March 15-19, 2010)
Highlights of school safety, security, and crisis incidents and issues around the nation for the week of March 15-19, 2010: Phoenix, AZ: Police: US Airways Pilot Beats School Baseball Coach. A volunteer baseball coach was ambushed and brutally attacked by a U.S. Airways pilot at a Valley school, police said. Philadelphia, PA: School police officers say […]
Is School Safety Really a Priority to Your School Board, Superintendent, and Community?
Why is school safety always the first on the chopping block by school boards and superintendents when schools cut budgets? Do they really care about school safety? It has been my experience that school board members, superintendents, and others in education are very caring people. They care about kids. And they care about their […]
Rest In Peace: Officer Thomas Patton II, Cleveland Heights Police
My family’s thoughts and prayers are with the family of Thomas Patton II as they mourn his loss in the line of duty as a Cleveland Heights (Ohio) police officer. Today I attended the funeral of Tommy Patton, a 30-year-old suburban Cleveland police officer who died in the line of duty. He collapsed while […]
Send Your School Board Members to NSBA School Safety and Crisis School
In today’s education world of declining budgets and increasing safety concerns, could your school board members benefit from cutting their learning curve for beefing up security and crisis preparedness while still being fiscally responsible? Once again, I have the pleasure of co-presenting a half-day “Early Bird” afternoon pre-conference workshop on school security and emergency planning […]
Are You Prepared For The Perfect Storm?
A “perfect storm” is an expression that, “…describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically,” according to Wikipedia’s definition. Perfect Storms Strike Us Personally We all have personal “perfect storms” from time to time. I’ve had a couple in the past few weeks. Just last week, my office Internet […]
School Security Photo: How Would You Feel as a Visitor?
A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, and the words on the sign pictured here say it all: Our children and staff are important to us, we value them, and we want to keep them safe. “Greetings. Because we value our children and staff all visitors are required to report to the […]
School Safety News: The Week in Review (March 8-12, 2010)
Highlights of school safety, security, and crisis incidents and issues around the nation for the week of March 8-12, 2010: Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN: St. Paul and Minneapolis police working with FBI, Interpol after school lockdowns in both cities Local and federal law enforcement worked on a threat posted on a social networking site about […]
Emergency Management Agencies: Hidden Treasures for School Preparedness – Part 2
Part 1 of my interview with Joe Wainscott, Executive Director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS), addressed school preparedness and emergency management agency relationships. Today, the conversation continues with a look at potential school transportation needs during a community disaster. We also discuss partnering benefits including pre-planning and pre-training activities. During tough financial times, a good […]