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As tragic stories of bullying, suicide and violence continue to circulate throughout our nation’s school systems, Logan‐ Rogersville Public Schools in Missouri is taking action. Officer Mark Hall, Director of Safety & Security with the Logan‐Rogersville School Police, worked diligently over the last year to research incident reporting and risk management systems. He applied for and won grant funding to implement the award-winning TIPS platform in the Logan‐Rogersville School District. Students are often hesitant to talk to their parents or the school SRO because they don’t want to get someone in trouble or involve themselves in a situation. TIPS allows these students to come forwardRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

  A friend of mine recently shared this link to an anonymous note with me: I wonder how many other teachers feel like this?   I wonder how many teachers go home at the end of the day drained from dealing with bullying directed at them?   I wonder how many students go home drained at the end of the day drained from dealing with bullying?   In talking to my friends who are teachers, they are getting tired of dealing with bullying related problems in their classroom because it takes time from their teaching and because it has a negative effect on every student’sRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, School Safety, Uncategorized

  Bullying has been going on since people set foot on this planet and people have been writing about bullying all the way back to Cain and Abel.  So why does bullying still exist and continue to escalate? Why has bullying escalated to a level that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] declared bullying a “significant health problem”? Bullying exists and bullies exist in nearly every school, nearly every college and nearly every organization.  Evidence is overwhelming and it is time to accept the facts and admit status quo bullying approaches are not working, are not solving and are not preventing bullying. WhyRead More →

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In: Success

Lipscomb University has launched a new anonymous reporting and prevention platform called TIPS (Threat Assessment, Incident Management and Prevention Services), allowing students, faculty, staff and others from the campus community to confidentially report potentially harmful incidents or concerning behaviors. A private, Christian college in Nashville, TN, Lipscomb University, is dedicated to providing a safe and secure learning environment and protecting all students, faculty, staff and guests on campus. TIPS is an award‐winning suite of web‐based tools developed by the privately held organization Awareity, empowering individuals to anonymously report suspicious activities involving assault, weapons, illegal drug/alcohol use, harassment or intimidation, hazing, vandalism, threats of violence, suicideRead More →

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As tragic stories of bullying, suicide and violence continue to spread through school systems and communities, Ankeny Community School District is focusing on solutions. Ankeny Community Schools will be the first Iowa school district to implement Awareity’s proven and multi‐award‐winning TIPS (Threat assessment, Incident management & Prevention Services) prevention platform to help broaden communication channels, raise awareness and improve student safety. TIPS is an innovative solution equipping students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to anonymously report concerning behaviors, bullying, cyber bullying, and suicide risks. How can a school prevent something if they don’t know about it? Evidence clearly reveals school officials need students, parents,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

  Have we reached a tipping point…the point at which a series of incidents becomes significant and obvious enough to cause a larger, more important change? Is this a national teachable moment…the time at which learning about a particular topic becomes obvious and easiest? Call it what you want, but obviously now is the time for action to change the future for the better. So how do you and I change the future for the better? Lots and lots and lots of people SAY they want to change the future and many more will SAY they are a leader of positive change…however after years ofRead More →

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The Bradley County Schools system has implemented a new program to help keep children safe. TIPS: Threat Assessment, Incident Management and Prevention Services, an award‐winning web‐based risk management and incident reporting platform from Awareity. The TIPS platform is successfully being used in multiple school districts across the United States to identify, prevent and effectively intervene in threatening behaviors. TIPS provides an avenue for all students, parents, faculty, staff and community members to safely report disconcerting behaviors, suspicious incidents, or general safety/security concerns to school staff and the school resource officer, or SRO. Reporting may be made anonymously or openly. Concerns which may be reported include,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Last month, A 17-year-old Texas student committed suicide in a high school courtyard.  The student posted two Facebook updates that morning–one saying he was planning on committing suicide, and another with him pointing a gun at his head. In his message, he said, “I don’t know if this is going to affect people or if ya’ll are even going to care but I just want to say I’m taking my life away…” A quote from another student after the shooting  – “He said he was going through a lot of stuff. He put pictures up before he did it. Nobody believed him until heRead More →

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In: Success

Data breaches, personally identifiable information exposed, phishing, passwords hacked, credit card numbers stolen – incidents that happen all too often in today’s word. Virginia’s Board of Accountancy, however, is taking security awareness training to a new level to help ensure their employees know how to protect information and reduce human error. In May, the Board of Accountancy (BOA), implemented a comprehensive web‐based platform from Awareity called MOAT (Managed Ongoing Awareness and Trust). Available on a Virginia State Contract, Awareity’s award‐winning MOAT services help organizations manage escalating costs and obligations associated with information security awareness, privacy, compliance, risk management, public safety/security, internal controls, incident reporting andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety, Uncategorized

  A child or parent reports bullying during the parent-teacher conference.  Then what?  What constitutes bullying?  What should a teacher do with this report?  Who does the information get shared with?  What type of investigation needs to be done?  Do you talk with the bully and victim together or separately or both?  Should you call in the other parents?   How much information can you give them?  What are the consequences for bullying? Is the situation getting better?  How do you know?  Has it gotten worse?  Are you monitoring behaviors ongoing?  Maybe the bullying stopped in your classroom, but do you know if it is goingRead More →