Category Archive: Mental Health

International war and terrorism considerations for U.S. school security, emergency preparedness, and student support services

Posted by on October 11, 2023

The terror attack upon Israel this past weekend sent shockwaves across the world. Many U.S. school communities have strong family and cultural ties to Middle Eastern communities.  Fear, anxiety, and ambiguity runs high in families and communities with personal connections to this conflict, and across the world in general. As strategic school security leaders, when […]

How good customer service by school staff sets the tone for safer schools

Posted by on September 28, 2023

Starting with a student’s first interaction with their school bus driver in the morning to the parent’s first interaction at the front door buzzer and main office at the school, customer service sets the tone for safer schools. First impressions set the tone — and tone matters My wife and I recently visited an Apple […]

Is remote learning the new crutch for school administrators when safety threats occur? School leaders are forcing students from in-person learning back to remote learning as fights, weapon confiscations, and other safety threats soar

Posted by on November 14, 2021

As school violence surges across the nation following a return to in-person learning from pandemic school closures, educators are now forcing students back into remote learning as a knee-jerk response to escalating incidences of threats and violence. School safety experts are increasingly concerned that virtual learning is being misused by school administrators as a crutch […]

Federal Commission on School Safety report rehashes decades-old best practices, adds a few political twists

Posted by on December 19, 2018

Statement by school security expert Kenneth S. Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services, on the Federal Commission on School Safety’s final report: The Federal Commission on School Safety’s final report largely rehashes school safety, security, and emergency preparedness best practices that have been recognized since the Columbine era nearly 20 years ago. […]

School shooters are not just “ordinary kids”: Will our past determine our future?

Posted by on June 23, 2014

If we do not make changes, then our past will determine our future and we will continue to have school shootings. This statement was a part of my first testimony before Congress in March of 1999 shortly before the massacre at Columbine High School. My testimony focused on the need for increased mental health services […]