Getting ready for severe weather

Safe Havens, International

More severe weather is possible, so now is the time to refresh your tornado preparedness skills.

I wrote 14 Severe Weather Survival Tips for Campus Safety Magazine, which used it as a cover story last year.

School Safety in the News 2-5-13

Balto. Co. Council approves $3.7 million school safety plan
Baltimore Sun

St. Vrain school safety: First of three community meetings is Tuesday night
Longmont Daily Times-Call

Chester County summit puts focus on school safety
The Mercury

Topeka Director Of School Safety Up For National Award
WIBW

Officials lead school safety roundtable for area educators
Youngstown Vindicator

School Safety on the Forefront: Feb. 5 Forum Open to Public
Patch.com

School safety is topic of community forum
The Tribune-Democrat

Point Boro School Safety Forum Wed. Night
Patch.com

DeSoto school board members focus on safety issues
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Thoughts on Sandy Hook

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Severe Weather Preparedness

October is a secondary period of severe weather as the jet stream moves north.  Don't let the fall season lull you into a false sense of security.  Severe weather preparedness is still needed.

I wrote a cover story for Campus Safety Magazine that provides helpful hints for tornado preparedness. there are 14 severe weather survival tips for schools, with links to useful resources for educators.

In Indiana, the law requires a tornado drill each semester.  The best time to do it is before severe weather hits.

The Henryville EF3 tornado was only last March. The link will take you to some pictures that will remind you how serious tornadoes can be.

Safe Havens, International

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Expert Witnesses: A Current Hot Topic

Shortly after the Henryville tornado in March, I posted a blog entry on possible legal ramifications of the decision made to send the children home early.  Because of that, I was very interested in a Campus Safety Magazine article by Mike Dorn, Hiring an Expert Witness? 10 Questions You Should Ask. 

It was an informative article, centered on the ten questions.  Those ten questions are mainly for school attorneys as they try to find the best expert witness for their purposes.  They are also good questions to keep in mind, in case your school or school district faces a lawsuit, something that happens more and more everyday to school districts across the country.

For example, Question #6, "Has the expert ever been litigated or have they litigated a client in relation to their work as a subject matter expert?" This is an important question.  If you are going to work with a school safety expert, do you want to work with someone who has sued, or has threatened to sue, the school district that hired them?  I wouldn't.  A related question is Question #9, "Has the expert filed protests and/or open records requests with campus and government organizations?"  As with any other field, working with a person who is an 'expert' is made more difficult if you feel intimidated or coerced into doing what that person says, regardless of your thoughts on the matter.  In no other field have I ever heard of an expert engage in such behavior, so I would not expect a school safety expert to do so.  If they have, I don't want them working for me.

One reader posted an excellent question, "What does it take to make a person an 'expert'?"  Mr. Dorn responded with what I thought was a good answer. But I think this question needs further delving.

For example, in the April issue of Campus Safety Magazine, my article 14 Severe Weather Survival Tips was the cover story, and I was referred to as an 'expert'.   The dictionary defines an 'expert' as "a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority: a language expert." I've survived two tornadoes.  One as a child while riding a school bus, once as an adult in 2002, an EF3 tornado that devastated the southside of Indianapolis.  I am a NWS-trained weather spotter, and have read FEMA documents and NWS Storm Prediction Center research extensively.  Yet I would hesitate to call myself an 'expert', as there is so much about tornadoes I don't know.  An editor at Campus Safety Magazine thought differently, so it wasn't my call.

In any event, I started doing a search on the Internet on 'How to become an expert witness.'  One of the results took me to Steve Babitsky, the founder of a website called SEAK.  He addresses this question, "The law says that you can be qualified by various methods. Most people think that, for example, you have to be a doctor, or an accountant or something like that. But the law says that you can be qualified if you have the education, training, or experience. And it's in the alternative, so that any one of the three is sufficient. So you can be a doctor and be qualified to testify about medical issues, you can be an accountant and testify about financial issues, you also could be a car mechanic to talk about mechanical auto issues. Even though the car mechanic doesn't have further education, his experience would qualify him to be an expert. And there are hundreds of different fields of expertise which people could be an expert in."

When asked about the skills needed, Mr. Babitsky replied, "Well, first and foremost is your education and training. Do you have skills? Are you qualified in a particular area? What is the level of your expertise? And, in addition to that, you have to be able to articulate your opinions, you have to be able to speak well and go to court when necessary. You have to be able to write well in terms of writing up a report. You need to be able to analyze information, just like they do on CSI or other kinds of forensic shows on television. You need to be able to look through a whole bunch of information and see what is legitimate and what isn't, and formulate an opinion and be prepared to express your opinion in writing - and in court, if necessary."

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The Core of the Training Issue in Schools

RJ Hilton returns to continue the discussion.

"This is the core of the problem.

What this boils down to is you have a certain amount of time that districts will allow for training on emergency and safety situations. You’re already past the point where you don’t have enough time to train people on the really likely threats. When an event triggers media attention to rare threats, it just makes things worse. The fact is, even with what you are teaching, people are failing to meet minimum standards.

A focused killer can be difficult to comprehend and schools feel helpless to defend against it. People will grasp for straws to make it less scary. Believe it or not you can be as clear and concise as you possibly can but still not have the impact you’d like. Explaining to them not to get carried away because active shooter is only a very small possibility, doesn’t make them feel less helpless, no matter how clear and concise you are. It’s likely many have already made up their mind, what they want to hear. They are simply trying to decide who they want to hear it from. Michael Dorn says, more or less, let's discuss the issue more. Schools have to decide if that will be enough.

The question becomes how do you tell schools what they want to hear in a way that doesn't do damage but at the same time fixes what isn't working. Time available is important but more importantly is how that time is utilized. From my experience and what I'm hearing here, the people aren't really engaged during their normal routine. When they're required to make decisions on things other then what they are immediately focused on, they mentally have to switch gears. The problem is, it takes time and it happens in pieces, so reaction is spotty at best. 

Resolving the problem doesn't normally take a lot of man hours but it does initially take a lot of follow up. It's a matter of getting people to increase their normal range of awareness in their everyday life. The question is, is that type of thing possible logistically considering the bureaucracy. It requires a few minutes every one or two months, demonstrating they are still being paid attention to and what they are doing is important."

In real, practical terms, this is the core of the problem.  Schools have very little time to provide for staff and student training.  High-stakes testing drives the curriculum, and time is at a premium.  Should schools use what little time they have to prepare for something that, statistically speaking, will never happen?  Or should they spend their precious time preparing for identified hazards?

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Texas Teacher Reportedly Lines Kindergartners Up to Hit Bully

San Antonio, TX
A Texas teacher will lose her job after ordering more than 20 kindergartners to line up and hit a classmate accused of being a bully, a district spokesman said Friday.

The teacher at a suburban San Antonio school is accused of orchestrating the slugfest after a younger teaching colleague went to her last month seeking suggestions on how to discipline the 6-year-old, according to a police report from the Judson Independent School District.

Both teachers at Salinas Elementary were placed on paid administrative leave, though the one who allegedly arranged the punishment will not work for the district next school year, said district spokesman Steve Linscomb. Prosecutors are reviewing the allegations and will determine whether formal charges will be filed in 30 to 60 days.

A Note From Safe Havens International

Steve, I wanted to express my gratitude for the excellent work you do not only with your school corporation, but for all of the articles, blogs, white papers and other resources that you have been working on to help make the world safer for our students and the educators who have dedicated their lives to serving them.  You are truly a national level expert when it comes to school tornado preparedness.  Your contributions in the field will surely save lives and prevent much suffering.  We have had a great deal of feedback on your recent article in The Safety Net and people in the field are deeply impressed to say the least.

Your recent articles and blogs in Campus Safety Magazine and the article that is about to run in School Planning and Management are without a doubt the two best pieces I have seen published on the critical topics of tornado preparedness and recovery strategies for K-12 schools.  Your willingness to help our non – profit school safety center to help others by providing free information to school and public safety officials is commendable.

I know you have caught a lot of grief and have been harassed by a couple of people who are not open to the idea that other viewpoints might have validity.  Your patience and maturity in handling these sometimes vicious personal attacks has been most impressive as has been your continual willingness to recognize that there are many valid opinions in the field.  I wanted to remind you that while one or two people who  have long histories of these types of ruthless and baseless attacks on many top experts, the majority of the folks I know in the field are deeply impressed and appreciative of your efforts.  Please hang in there and continue to acquit yourself with professionalism as you have done to date when others stoop to low tactics.    

We at Safe Havens want to let you know that you are one of the most decent and compassionate advocates for the children we have ever had the privilege to meet.

Thank you for all that you do to make the world a safer place.

Michael Dorn

Executive Director

Safe Havens International Inc.

Police: Teacher Fired Starter Pistol at Students, ‘Execution-Style’

From ABC News

A teacher at William H. Neff Center, a career and technical school, was charged with 12 felony counts of brandishing a firearm on school property after he allegedly lined students up against a classroom wall and fired a starter pistol at them, execution-style.

Manuael Earnest Dillow reportedly lined the students up near a garage door in the school’s welding shop, ABC News reports. He then pulled a starter pistol from the waistband of his pants that looked like a real gun, according to police.

Dillow was suspended without pay by the school system.

Teen Creates Bomb Threat to Teach a Lesson

Ogden, UT

A 16-year-old student was sentenced to six months in a secure juvenile detention facility for plotting to bomb Roy High School.

The teen claimed he purposely leaked the plot to other students out of frustration at being ignored when he attempted to raise concerns about measures to prevent school shootings, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The school had pulled the plug on the teen’s security article at the student newspaper before he was able to interview the principal of Columbine High School on the subject.

Campus Safety Director of the Year: Gerald Summers

Evansville, IN

I met Gerald in Denver, CO, at a safety conference.  He was introduced to me by Michael Dorn, of Safe Havens International.  I was impressed with his knowledge, and his professionalism.

Last October, I asked Gerald to serve as the Exercise Evaluator for my full-scale exercise, which he graciously accepted.  Many of the lessons we learned from that event were due to his insights.

He is very deserving of this reward, and I am glad he is helping to keep the kids of Evansville Public Schools safer.

He is a true Sheepdog!

Photo Gallery from Henryville, IN

HERE

All photos were taken by me.

14 Severe Weather Survival Tips

 An article I wrote.  Thanks to Mike Dorn for editing.

The Problem

Last Friday, administrators in Henryville, IN, released students from school early to get them home before the storm.  Several buses were caught by the storm, with driver needing to get their kids inside before the tornado struck.  One driver knew they wouldn't make it, and returned to the school.  Everyone on the bus got inside the school right before the tornado struck.  The bus ended up a couple of hundred feet away, across the highway, in a brick building.

Reportedly in New Castle, IN, similar action was taken by school administrators there to get kids into the cars and buses before a storm hit.  The word through the grapevine is that there are some who are thinking this is the new way to go.

This is the problem.

Now, how does this get addressed?  We shall see.

A post from the Campus Safety Magazine Blog that exemplifies the problem.
http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/Blog/Campus-Command-Post/Story/2012/01/Don-t-Use-Hallways-As-Tornado-Shelters.aspx