*Updated February 11, 2023 Loaded gun confiscations and gun use spike on school campuses nationwide Many educators and school safety officials anticipated an increase in student aggression and violence as they returned to in-person learning following remote learning due to COVID. Unfortunately, schools are experiencing not only increased verbal and physical aggression, but also an […]
Blog Archives
Parkland one year later: School security and emergency preparedness after the MSD school shooting
During the past half-dozen or so years, I have done an increasing about of expert witness and litigation consulting on pK-12 school security-related lawsuits. These types of cases have included high-profile active shooter cases, such as my retention by the defense for the Sandy Hook Elementary School litigation, as well as rape and other sexual […]
Police use school to train for active school shooting incident
Active shooters have captured more of the public’s attention in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and other public sites. While I have always emphasized not being alarmist and keeping context when discussing school shootings, it is prudent to include active shooter scenarios in training for law enforcement officials and their school partners. In Shepherdsville, Kentucky, […]
Pop Quiz for School Maintenance: Shots Fired – Who Do You Call?
Shots are fired in a high school bathroom. The suspects flee. Who does the maintenance worker and his/her supervisor call? Not the police. Shots Fired, Suspects Flee; School Staff Delay Police Call A March 22, 2011, MercuryNews.com article reporting on Shots fired at Berkeley High School, three arrested says the school’s maintenance worker who heard the shots […]
Gardena School Shooting: Security Policy Disconnects Create Safety, Credibility Risks
Failure to follow security procedures and to communicate with parents can easily lead to a post-crisis crisis for school leaders. Two students were wounded at Gardena High School on Tuesday after a gun in a 10th grader’s backpack discharged in a classroom, striking a 15-year-old girl in the head and a 15-year-old male in the […]
Omaha School Shooting: Metal Detector or Mental Detector?
Hours after the shooting of Millard South High School principal Curtis Case, and shooting death of assistant principal Vicki Kaspar, metal detectors in schools became the buzz of media and community talk. Parents and communities understandably are grasping for a solution to a problem — school shootings — which has not been “fixed” for a over a […]
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 […]
Lag in Wisconsin school hostage response raises questions
How does a student hold two dozen people hostage in a high school classroom with knives, two guns, and more than 200 rounds of ammo for about two hours without someone noticing? Students and others asked similar questions after a student took 23 students and his teacher hostage in Marinette, Wisconsin, last week. Hostages were released, […]
Armed Student Shoots Self After Taking 24 Hostages in Classroom
A Marinette, Wisconsin, student took 23 students and a teacher hostage in a high school classroom, later releasing them and shooting himself on Monday evening. Teaching Kids to Fight Armed Intruders? Interestingly, the week prior to Thanksgiving I received a call from school crisis team members from one of the nation’s largest school districts. They […]
Gunman at TN School: Do You Want Police or a Climate Survey?
A 62-year-old gunman pointed a .380 semi-automatic gun in a Tennessee Principal’s face yesterday. The School Resource Officer (SRO) drew her gun and shielded the Principal’s body with her own. The principal, Melanie Riden, was able to flee the area. The SRO, Sheriff’s Deputy Carolyn Gudger, lured the gunman into the empty high school cafeteria — a more contained […]