What do we do about students who are in the restroom when we announce a lockdown? This question is raised often during our school security assessment consulting and training presentations around the country. The issue has several variables schools must prepare for as they develop and refine their emergency guidelines. Don’t leave students stranded in restrooms […]
Blog Archives
Chechen terrorists: Beslan school hostage siege to Boston bombing
Tension continues to grow as we learn more about possible international terrorism ties to the Boston Marathon bombers. My tension grew dramatically as soon as I heard they had Chechen connections. Most Americans likely know less about Chechnya than I do. And I don’t know much at all. But I do know that Chechen terrorists were responsible […]
Should school police have high-powered rifles in schools?
The Plainfield (IL) Police Department’s recent request to allow its School Resource Officers (SROs) to store AR-15 rifles in gun safes at their high school generated quite a buzz. (See the Chicago Tribune story entitled Assault rifles in schools a sign of the times.) But was the request really unreasonable? Actually, the request by the police is not unusual. […]
Behind the Scenes of a Crisis: 9/11 Ten Years Later
Communication, coordination, and complacency. These three themes repeatedly surfaced in comments by morning panel members for The Press Club of Cleveland’s: Behind the Scenes of a Crisis, September 11 10 Years Later program. The September 7th program’s morning panel included representatives from the FBI, Red Cross, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cleveland Police, Regional Transit Authority, 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 […]
Schools Are Under-Funded & Under-Prepared for Disasters, Feds Say
Schools and communities are neglecting children due to a lack of funding and lack of a national strategy to address the needs of children in disaster planning, according to a report by The National Commission on Children and Disasters, a commission created in 2007 by the President and Congress. “Children are 25 percent of our […]
REMS School Emergency Planning Grant Lessons Learned
Good school safety consultants learn from every project and client school district. If not, they’re not very good consultants. My colleagues and I have consistently received positive feedback from our work with school districts receiving federal Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grants. We have provided training for crisis teams and administrators, emergency planning assessments, […]
Engaging Support Staff in School Emergency Planning
School bus drivers, secretaries, food service staff, and custodians are on the front-lines in schools. But are they on the front lines in school emergency preparedness training and planning? School bus drivers are the first and last school employees to see many students each school day, and face the challenges of managing the behavior and […]
How to Protect Elementary Students from Harm
An unusual student disappearance, unexcused student walk-away, or a stranger on an elementary school campus creates anxiety, fear, and often panic in a school-community. The case of Kyron Horman, a second-grade Oregon student who has been missing since June 4th, 2010, has generated intense attention and discussion on elementary school security issues. The seven-year-old never […]