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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  What can schools do to ensure students do not fall through the cracks? Many of you may have watched the recent 48 Hours special segment on bullying.  The show highlighted one school district’s proactive efforts to implement bullying prevention programs and solutions.  We witnessed one young student who we felt like was rising above the bullying and truly being helped by these programs.  However, as the year progressed, we learned he began to hide the bullying, pretended like everything was okay, and later attempted suicide. In September we were also deeply saddened by the tragic suicide of Jamie Rodemeyer who had previously filmed anRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Legal, School Safety

  In case you missed it, federal authorities are investigating “incidents involving harassment and bullying” in Minnesota’s largest school district. The civil rights investigation is underway in Anoka-Hennepin, a suburban Minneapolis school district, and based on the seven-month “landmark federal investigation” that recently ended involving Tehachapi Unified School District in California, the Office of Civil Rights is serious about protecting the rights and safety of students. School leaders at every school in the U.S. should be taking a serious look at their ability to prevent the preventable involving harassment, bullying, cyber bullying and other alarming trends in schools.  School leaders should review their ability toRead More →

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

  A recent investigation of anti-bullying efforts in Minnesota schools revealed a major weakness across local school districts.  Most schools are not tracking bullying incidents…which makes it almost impossible to gauge the effectiveness of their bullying prevention and intervention efforts. So just how important (and expensive) is it when schools do not track and document bullying incidents? One of the major gaps we have seen when incidents are not documented is a failure to connect the dots and allow at-risk students and individuals to fall through the cracks. For example, Let’s take a look at the following scenario…student Bobby Jones is bullying other students inRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Pictures are worth a thousand words.  Pictures tell stories.  So what does a picture tell about alarming trends in schools? Financial Funding is Decreasing and the ‘funding cliff is coming’… School Safety obligations and costs are increasing School Safety liabilities and costs are increasing Regulations and Federal Mandates (OCR Dear Colleague Letter) for schools are increasing Compliance costs are increasing Legal Defensibility responsibilities and costs are increasing Behavioral and mental health responsibilities and costs are increasing Bullying and Cyber Bullying related costs are increasing Suicide related costs are increasing   Funding is decreasing for many reasons and funding will continue to be an ongoingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Legal, Regulatory Compliance, School Safety

  Under a law signed by Governor Patrick in May 2010, all Massachusetts schools had a December 31, 2010 deadline for filing comprehensive bullying prevention and intervention plans. On November 10, only 3 of the 394 school communities had responded.  On December 31, it was reported early in the day that 355 had submitted their plans, but right before the deadline, a flood of plans came in, resulting in 99 percent compliance (only six schools failed to meet the deadline). I believe 99% compliance is an outstanding result, however I do have a few questions: Were the plans submitted comprehensive? Did the schools take theRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Much of the media spotlight in 2010 was given to bullying, cyberbullying, bullying legislation, bullycides, bullying lawsuits and more.  However, most of the attention was focused on reacting to problems and consequences. In 2011, rather than continuing to discuss how to address bullying once it occurs, reading about young children driven to suicide after countless years of bullying and debating over states implementing anti-bullying laws, perhaps school and community leaders can work together to prevent and mitigate this escalating challenge? In 2011, hopefully schools will be focused on solving bullying related problems, preventing bullying and preventing bullying consequences. The OCR “Dear Colleague” letter inRead More →

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

  In a recent Boston Globe article, several Massachusetts school administrators discussed how they were implementing (or not implementing) the new state requirements for bullying. The new anti-bullying law can potentially expose schools — and individual staffers — to lawsuits by parents or state authorities if incidents of bullying are not handled properly. One of the key requirements is for school leaders to thoroughly investigate all reports of bullying and document actions taken.  One superintendent claimed, “I like to keep the informal stuff in my head.”  But, keeping informal reports and incidents in one faculty member’s head provides no documentation of a student skipping school,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management, School Safety

  Natasha Alam from True Blood has joined the growing list of celebrities speaking out publicly against bullying.  Celebrities are raising awareness and bringing attention to this escalating challenge. Alam recently filmed an anti-bullying public service announcement (PSA), click here to learn more. Canada recently targeted bullying with their National Bullying Awareness Week and the UK recently promoted the Big March to bring attention to bullying, violence and harassment in schools. Each of these efforts encourages people to speak out about bullying and victimization, and adults are being urged to listen.  These campaigns also mention prevention, the need for awareness and how everyone (students, parents,Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Emergency Management, Incident Reporting, Information Security, Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management

  How is your incident reporting system working for you?  Or perhaps the question should be – Is your incident reporting system working against you? Lessons learned continue to show that organizations find themselves in ‘reaction mode’ more than they are in ‘prevention mode’.  How can this be when most every organization claims to have an incident reporting system in place? Are traditional incident reporting systems obsolete? Multiple surveys reveal that 90% of bystanders who witness a bullying incident DO NOT report the incident.  So why aren’t bystanders not reporting incidents? Perhaps bystanders are not reporting because of one or more of the following reasons:Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Regulatory Compliance, School Safety

  Legislators in New Jersey have proposed what may be the toughest anti-bullying law in the nation with a “bill of rights” as its charter.  On the heels of the recent tragedy at Rutgers University when freshman Tyler Clementi jumped to his death, the proposed legislation builds on current laws that have not adequately protected students who are intimidated every day. New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights would: Apply to bullying at school, near school and on school buses and to cyberbullying. Require training for nearly all school employees on how to identify, prevent and report acts of intimidation Set deadlines for incidents of bullyingRead More →