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 […]
Category Archive: Crisis – Emergency Planning for Schools
School Safety Book Tackles Columbine Anniversary Challenges
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?
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?
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 […]
House Proposes Cuts to 2011 School Emergency Planning Grants
First the Obama Administration proposed eliminating K-12 school emergency planning grants from the 2012 federal budget. Now, it appears the House Appropriations Committee is calling to eliminate the funds from this year’s 2011 budget! In a Friday press release on $4 billion in spending cuts as a part of a proposed short term government funding Continuing […]
Jay Mathews’ “Overdoing School Security” Partially Hits Target
Locking down eight schools in the vicinity of a Los Angeles high school where a school police officer reported being shot was not overdoing school security. How the lockdowns were implemented probably was over-the-top, however. Jay Mathews, a respected education columnist for The Washington Post, partially hit his target in challenging the way lockdowns were put […]
Gardena School Shooting: Security Policy Disconnects Create Safety, Credibility Risks
Failure to follow security procedures and to communicate with parents can easily lead to a post-crisis crisis for school leaders. Two students were wounded at Gardena High School on Tuesday after a gun in a 10th grader’s backpack discharged in a classroom, striking a 15-year-old girl in the head and a 15-year-old male in the […]
Is the Next School Board Shooter Coming to Your Meeting?
Economic problems. Mental health issues. Frustrations at a boiling point. Does this describe anyone in your school community? Could they be the next person to walk through your school’s Administration Building doors or into your next school board meeting? In a December 15, 2010, article entitled, “School board shooter in Florida had frustrated, turbulent life along […]
School Board Shooting Points to Administration Security Needs
A shooting at a Bay District Schools’ board meeting in Florida on Tuesday illustrates the need for school boards and superintendents to include security and crisis planning measures at school administration buildings and support sites. Security is often neglected for school district central office buildings, board meetings, and other administrative sites. Well-intended board members, superintendents, and […]
Cell Phones, Texting, School Safety, and Discipline
There is no constitutional right for students to have cell phones in schools. This is one of several points I made in an interview for a Fox News Channel national story earlier this week entitled, “Zero Tolerance for Classroom Texters.” The peg for the story is a Benicia High School (California) policy where school administrators […]