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

  In response to the January 2011 shooting at a Nebraska high school that killed one school administrator and seriously injured another, Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial has introduced LB 516.  The bill would allow security guards, administrators and teachers to carry a concealed handgun at Nebraska public and private schools, including colleges and universities. The policy would be optional and would require a two-thirds majority vote by a school’s governing body, like the school board.  In Texas, lawmakers are also preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus Is allowing administrators and teachers to bring weapons into aRead More →

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

  In recognition of National School Counseling Week 2011, Awareity would like to help focus your attention on the vitally important and long-lasting contributions school counselors provide in our nation’s schools. School counselors can have a tremendous impact on students of all ages.  Counselors not only help students plan for the future, but also help students deal with the everyday struggles and stresses of being a classmate, friend, peer, child, sibling, etc. Students face escalating challenges with bullying, cyber bullying, violence, safety, truancy and many other stressors.  Did you know these stressors can cause as many as 160,000 students skip school every day because theyRead 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*, Emergency Management, School Safety, Workplace Violence

  Tips prevent a lot of bad things from happening within organizations, but tips alone are not the answer based on recent lessons learned.  The Christmas Day Bomber attack was prevented and lives saved thanks to tips, but also thanks to the FBI’s proactive efforts in confidentially sharing information with other key players, such as law enforcement and local government. An anonymous tip from Saudi Arabian intelligence helped to locate package bombs that were sent from Yemen.  No doubt these package bombs could have caused a lot of damage and loss of lives, had specialized prevention teams not taken proactive actions to locate and confiscate theRead 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 →

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

  I read a couple online articles recently that boggled my mind.  The title of a recent blog from ZDNet was: Does cyberbullying exist, and is technology to blame? My responses: Does cyberbullying exist?             YES Is technology to blame?                NO Blaming technology for cyber bullying is like blaming the swing set or the teeter totter for playground bullying. Cyber bullying is very real, very hurtful, very serious…and only the tip of the iceberg. The effects of bullying and cyber bullying on students can lead to suicide, loneliness, low self-esteem, aggression, vandalism, weapons, truancy, lawsuits and much more. Student safety is a HUGE passionRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety, Workplace Violence

New data released this week revealed: 17 percent of American students report being bullied 2-3 times a month or more within a school semester. Over 9% of girls and 14% of boys just watch their fellow classmates get bullied. Over 30% of girls and 22% of boys think they ought to help the bullied students, but don’t do anything about it. 80% of bullying is witnessed; but only 10% of witnesses/bystanders report incidents. Why are bystanders not reporting incidents? There are many reasons and some of the most common include: Some feel threatened or intimidated when reporting a bully or suspicious incident. Some do notRead More →

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

  Do you know what the legal definition of “deliberate indifference” is? The conscious or reckless disregard for the consequences of one’s acts or omissions. If you are a school leader, school board member or community leader, you might do a quick web search using the words below:                 deliberate indifference lawsuit school 2010 Over 8,000 results came up from my search and many of the results were related to lawsuits being brought against schools and universities under violation of Title IX.  I heard the term “deliberate indifference” over the weekend when one of the national news channels did a bullying feature on a schoolRead More →

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

  I met some really outstanding people this month while presenting at the NASRO national conference and I deeply appreciate how school resource officers (SROs) and school security officers (SSOs) are striving to make a difference with students and with schools. Before and after my presentations I had some interesting conversations with several SROs from schools all across the U.S.    One of the SROs I spoke brought up an ongoing challenge with cameras.  He would like to replace outdated analog cameras that do not give him the clarity he needs to recognize and identify people.  He also wants to add more cameras for better coverageRead More →

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

  Safety and security programs depend on getting the right information to the right people in the right place at the right time so individuals can make better decisions. Recently, a story involving several schools in Missouri provided multiple lessons learned involving safety. The situation started when a national alert from the FBI was sent out to law enforcement on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Missouri School Board Association, who operates the Missouri Alert Network, then issued an alert to schools at 11:50am saying the national alert targeted a Missouri School and as a result three schools inRead More →