2013: School safety in review January 13, 2014 * The year 2013 was one of the most turbulent years for the school safety field since the Columbine era. Some of the highs and lows in our opinion include: Political Special Interest Groups Hijack School Safety – The attack upon Sandy Hook Elementary School on December […]
Category Archive: School Safety Issues
How schools can take a lead in youth suicide prevention
As increasing attention has – rightly – been paid to the issue of school-related bullying, growing attention, too, has come to the relationship between bullying and suicide. We’re doing more to address bullying with our nation’s youth, but we’re not yet doing enough to address the problem of suicide, the third leading cause of death […]
When school security consultants have hidden product vendor affiliations
A public school district in one southeastern state spent more than $2.3 million in security equipment and upgrades at the recommendation of an outside security consulting firm. A school district in the Midwest received a school security consultants’ proposal that included a unique line about assessing door hardware as a part of the consultation process. […]
Select school security consultants as if lives depend upon it
How can school superintendents, school board members and business managers distinguish credible school security consultants from a growing pool of overnight experts and opportunistic, less-qualified individuals offering school safety services? This question was posed to me by a veteran local and state-level education administrator concerned by the growing number of people offering school security assessment […]
School police: Amazing actions of a teacher facing danger
A Florida suburban middle school teacher observed a student in his classroom showing another student what turned out to be a .45 caliber gun. The student returned it to his book bag from which he had originally removed it as the teacher approached. Did the teacher run, jump in the air and tackle the student? Did he yell “gun” and […]
School safety lessons learned: From Cleveland to Newtown (Guest Post)
Dr. Steve Sroka shares in the following guest article some straight-forward, realistic lessons learned from his more than 30 years working with school violence prevention and safety issues. School Safety Lessons Learned: From Cleveland to Newtown by Stephen Sroka I dealt with school violence before it was fashionable and funded. To me, any child killed […]
Election day school safety, security, and crisis preparedness
Election day school security is an issue principals, superintendents, and school board members around the country have grappled with in one form or another for more than a decade. We have seen administrators give more attention to the issue post-Columbine and post-9/11, not specifically because of Columbine and 9/11 threats per se, but as a result […]
Are school safety advocates alarmists with a morbid life view?
From time to time over the years, I will hear somone refer to myself and other school safety advocates as “alarmists” because we advocate for proactive school security and emergency preparedness planning. Pat Lamb, Director of School Safety & Operations for the Irving Independent School District in Texas, shared an article he wrote after someone told him he had a […]
School security consultants: Taking a stand or riding the fence?
If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. This has always been one of my favorite sayings. It pretty much sums up an important part of the character of many professionals I have come to respect over the years. On the flip side of the coin are the fence-riders. They are the wafflers. They […]
Buyer beware: Risky school safety consultants, expert witnesses
More than a decade ago, I co-authored an article for the National School Boards Association entitled, “Buyer Beware: What to look for when hiring a school security consultant.” I would have never thought at that time that the topic would be as relevant, if not more so, eleven years later — but it is. The […]