How does a student hold two dozen people hostage in a high school classroom with knives, two guns, and more than 200 rounds of ammo for about two hours without someone noticing? Students and others asked similar questions after a student took 23 students and his teacher hostage in Marinette, Wisconsin, last week. Hostages were released, […]
Category Archive: Crisis – Emergency Planning for Schools
Armed Student Shoots Self After Taking 24 Hostages in Classroom
A Marinette, Wisconsin, student took 23 students and a teacher hostage in a high school classroom, later releasing them and shooting himself on Monday evening. Teaching Kids to Fight Armed Intruders? Interestingly, the week prior to Thanksgiving I received a call from school crisis team members from one of the nation’s largest school districts. They […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What Parents Expect After a Shooting & Pipe Bombs at School
A 14-year-old South Carolina high school student shoots at a school resource officer (SRO). He has two pipe bombs in his backpack. A search of the student’s home finds a wide array of items including shotgun and handgun shells, multiple cigarette lighters, exploded bomb pieces, 14 carbon dioxide cartridges, and the list goes on. Authorities later find […]
School Safety: Are You Doing What You Say You Are Doing?
Disconnects between what is on paper and what actually occurs in day-to-day practice in school safety can present school leaders with safety risks and potential legal liability. One Midwest school district was challenged in a law suit for allegedly not following its emergency plan when a student choked on a hot dog in the school […]
Back to the Future: School Safety at a Pre-Columbine Climate?
School safety budget cuts, educators distracted with academic reform, and skewed school safety policy and funding are creating a “deja vu” feeling for some school safety specialists who were around prior to the 1999 Columbine High School attack. As I recall, the focus on school safety in the months and years before the shootings in Pearl […]
Can Your School Staff Communicate in a Crisis?
School campuses are often very large with multiple floors and even have multiple buildings on one campus in some districts. Two-way radios are commonplace in many of our nation’s schools as a tool for administrators, security personnel, and key staff to communicate on security and supervision issues. Not only are they helpful with day-to-day security issues, […]
Gunman at TN School: Do You Want Police or a Climate Survey?
A 62-year-old gunman pointed a .380 semi-automatic gun in a Tennessee Principal’s face yesterday. The School Resource Officer (SRO) drew her gun and shielded the Principal’s body with her own. The principal, Melanie Riden, was able to flee the area. The SRO, Sheriff’s Deputy Carolyn Gudger, lured the gunman into the empty high school cafeteria — a more contained […]