Blog Archives

Training office staff critical to school entrance access control

Posted by on February 27, 2014

Many schools are using various door entry systems to aid in visitor screening. Strong access control and visitor management is one important component of a comprehensive school safety strategy. One weakness we consistently see in our security assessment consultations nationwide is in the training of main office and other staff who use the security technology […]

Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy provides bullying, media training for new generation of safety leaders

Posted by on November 15, 2012

A new generation of superintendents, principals, teachers, school resource officers, and other school-community leaders embarked on their first round of training on Wednesday at the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy (ISSSA). A record number of more than 330 participants learned best practices in school law, managing bullying without new programs and expenses, and managing media and parent communications […]

Taking the “bull” out of bullying and school safety training

Posted by on May 25, 2012

School boards and administrators do not need new programs and expenses to manage bullying. In fact, most school districts already have strategies and services in place to adequately address school bullying. Recently, I had the pleasure of sharing this message to about 100 school board members, superintendents and top school district administrators who registered for […]

School security under microscope after 10-year-old runs away

Posted by on May 10, 2012

Parents and the media are questioning a Georgia elementary school’s security and supervision procedures after a 10-year-old fifth-grade student ran away from his elementary school on Tuesday. The student, Kit Colburn, was sent to the office around 8:45 a.m. but not reported missing to police until 12:19 p.m., according to a story by The Telegraph newspaper […]

Making Gang Training for Educators Practical and Useful

Posted by on July 28, 2010

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 […]

Send Your School Board Members to NSBA School Safety and Crisis School

Posted by on March 17, 2010

In today’s education world of declining budgets and increasing safety concerns, could your school board members benefit from cutting their learning curve for beefing up security and crisis preparedness while still being fiscally responsible? Once again, I have the pleasure of co-presenting a half-day “Early Bird” afternoon pre-conference workshop on school security and emergency planning […]