Many school crisis plans are on paper and sitting on shelves. Some schools and police conduct tabletop exercises to take plans closer to reality. Last Friday, schools and police in the Greater Cleveland area put their plans to the full blown test in simultaneous active shooter drills in multiple suburban communities. The Brecksville-Broadview Heights School District, Brecksville and […]
Category Archive: School Safety and Crisis Training
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 […]
When Did Common Sense End in School Discipline and Safety?
Training students not to open exterior school doors to let someone inside is a best practice. Suspending a student who violated the rule to help a woman with her hands full is not a best practice. A Southampton County, Virginia, middle school student was suspended from school after opening a door for a woman with […]
Have Students Forgotten the Lessons of Columbine?
An Arizona student with a loaded gun reportedly intended to shoot a teacher. Students knew he had a gun the week before. Have students forgotten the lessons of Columbine? One of the top lessons from the 1999 attack at Columbine High School is that students often know ahead of time of a potential threat to school […]
Lag in Wisconsin school hostage response raises questions
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, […]
Making Gang Training for Educators Practical and Useful
Gangs can be a scary subject for many educators. Gang violence can be “ugly” and something some educators would prefer not to envision as having a possibility of occurring in their schools. Talking about gangs in schools can also make school administrators uncomfortable due to image and school-community relations concerns. My colleague, Chuck Hibbert, and I were fortunate […]
Does Your School Safety Consultant Cry on Command?
Tightening education and school safety budgets demand that school safety consultants and trainers solve problems, not provide theatrics. A school dean drove home this point when he said to me in a teleconference last week: “I was impressed with your presentation above all of the other presenters because you are down-to-Earth, had practical advice, and did […]