Shoot a kid in school, and school safety budgets get cut. But when the shooting is at school board members or elected officials, one of the first discussions is the need for greater security measures. I have watched closely the reactions to December’s shooting at school board members in a Florida school district and now […]
Category Archive: School Safety Issues
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 […]
Election Day Security: How Schools Can Beef Up Safety Measures
Increased traffic, strangers in schools, and hectic daily school schedules come together on Election Days. How can your schools be better prepared? Many schools have gone to “professional development” days where only teachers and staff are present at schools on days when voting is going on in schools. A number of schools around the country […]
What a Victim’s Father & a Former Bully Can Teach Us about Suicide
Andy Lehman was an honor student, scholarship semifinalist, musician, and math whiz. Andy was repeatedly harassed, pushed, called names, and not allowed to sit down on his high school bus. In September of 2006, he took his life. The student who bullied Andy, Kirk Zajac, now teams up with Andy’s father, Nicholas, to talk at schools about stopping […]
Bullying & Teen Suicide Requires a Closer Look at Mental Health
The recent public frenzy about bullying, along with multiple teen suicides, creates understandable grief and stress for everyone. The word “bullycide” and claims of kids being “bullied to death” have filled the media airwaves and newspapers, blogs, and Twitter in recent weeks. Bullying has been increasingly politicized by special interest groups and all the way up to the White […]
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 […]
How to Teach Kids to be Safe to and from School
A parent’s worst nightmare: A 17-year-old girl is abducted and raped on the way to school. What advice should parents give their children? A brutal sexual assault on a Cleveland girl last week captured media attention. Our local ABC affiliate, WEWS, asked me to provide safety tips for children to and from school. My primary […]
School Safety Challenged by Volunteer Criminal Backgrounds
Is the parent volunteer in your child’s school a convicted sex offender or drug dealer? School officials struggle balancing parental involvement and protecting students from adults with criminal backgrounds who want to volunteer at their child’s school. The tension was highlighted in Wednesday’s Associated Press article entitled Would-be School Volunteers Thwarted By Their Past. Parent […]