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

  Business Insurance reported that Penn State University’s expenses in response to the alleged child abuse by former assistant football coach Gerald Sandusky are mounting.  A Penn State statement said they are paying nearly $2.5 million for the services of two public relations firms. The communication firms aim to work with Penn State’s public information officers to provide broad and transparent communications to key stakeholders and support the university through upcoming litigation, according to the statement. “Retaining these communications firms puts us more firmly on the path toward accountability, openness and preserving our reputation as one of the world’s leading research universities,” Penn State PresidentRead More →

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

  Did you see the recent report from the Center for American Progress?  The report estimates that the Virginia Tech tragedy cost the university and taxpayers $ 48.2 million.  And this cost does not include the “costs” associated with the loss of lives and lives that were changed forever. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I hope all school and university administrators are paying close attention to this wisdom and this new report. According to the report, the university was responsible for most of the costs – $ 38.77 million – and the state of Virginia paid around $ 8.87Read More →

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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*, 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*, 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 →