School administrators must revisit traditional school safety, security, and emergency crisis plans – not just COVID safety plans.
Students and teachers are back to in-person learning in most schools across the nation. Unfortunately, instances of school shootings, gun confiscations, stabbings, and other violence have also returned to our nation’s schools. In the past week alone, there have been at least four school shootings around the U.S., the most recent on Wednesday at a […]
How to do school safety drills while not colliding with COVID-19 safeguards
Quick takeaways: Many educators have yet to tackle how they will conduct school safety drills which conflict with COVID-19 social distancing and related best practices State department of education have yet to provide any guidance to school leaders for active shooter, lockdown, fire, tornado, and other drills State-mandated drill requirements have yet to be temporarily […]
Michigan schools cut corners, break laws on safety drills: A failure to focus on fundamentals
Many Michigan schools are cutting corner and violating both the spirit and letter of state laws on school crisis drills, according to an investigative report by MLive news reporters. A multi-month extensive review of thousands of public records found fire, lockdown, and other drills not being done, not done enough times, and done too late […]
Simultaneous active shooter drills test school, police preparedness
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 […]
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 […]
5 Ways to Diversify School Crisis Drills
Train school staff, not just students, to be prepared for emergencies. One of the major objectives for diversifying school crisis drills is to train school staff to think on their feet just as much, if not more, than it is to train the students. But far too often, school administrators schedule fire, lockdown, and other […]