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School Safety Shield

School Safety Shield
Non en Meus Vigilo!
Showing posts with label assessment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assessment. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Threat Delays Opening at City High Middle School in GR

Grand Rapids, MI
School officials at City High Middle School in Grand Rapids, sent a letter to its patrons after a voicemail was left at the school that contained profanities and veiled threats.  The local police assessed the threat, labeling it a "prank".  School was delayed during the assessment and a subsequent search of the building.

Safe Havens, International

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Developing a School Safety Project

The field of school safety consulting can be a dog-eat-dog affair as consultants vie for ever-diminishing dollars.  In many regards, this is good, as competition in the free market creates better products and services for the clients.  However, choosing the right consultant from the number available can be quite the chore.

The first step is to understand why you need a consultant.  A threat assessment is vastly different from a physical assessment, which is vastly different from doing a climate assessment.  Be specific.  Establish goals for your intended project, and plan out how the thing you want to do will be done. Through this process, you will identify what it is you will need.  Typically in school safety, consultants provide assessments, training, a system, or a combination of all three.

You will need to know how much money you will have available for the project.  This amount is the ceiling on your project.  The bidding process, if done properly, should provide you with a consultant who will bid under that ceiling, leaving you a cushion to cover any unexpected expenses.

You will also need to know the time frame of your project.  Will it take days, weeks, months, and how will that time frame fit into your district's budget time frame?  Make sure to provide enough time to evaluate your project at the end.

Developing a Project
1. Identify what you need to have done.
    a. Assessment?
    b. Training?
    c. A new system?
    d. A combination of all the above?
2. How much money is available for the project?
3. What is the time frame of your project?

Write this up in narrative form, and get it approved by your school district's Business Officer.

In the next installment, the Request for Proposal process will be detailed.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

No Violence after High School ‘Gun Threat’ Rumors Spread after Message Left on Bathroom Wall

Hudson County, NJ
North Bergen school officials said last week that a gun threat written in a bathroom at North Bergen High School ultimately posed no danger, but it was taken seriously for the safety of the students and faculty.

Principal Paschal Tennaro and the police said the threat alluded to the date of Thursday, June 7, although he would not elaborate. Talk of the threat spread rapidly after officials sent a letter to parents earlier in the week informing them of the matter, and school activities were canceled on Wednesday night.

Monday, May 28, 2012

School Safety Consulting

I have recently finished as the Project Director of a Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grant from the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.  I wrote a grant proposal for nearly $98,000, which was used to pay for a thorough facility assessment, supplies for teachers, some radio equipment for ourselves and a local private school, staff training, and a very thorough perception assessment that let us know how we did.

Apart from my primary goal of making our school corporation safer and better prepared, I was honored to meet many dedicated professionals in the school safety field.  At the beginning of the grant period, I sent out a Request for Proposals (RFP).  This lets consultants know what I need, and how much is available.  They then submit proposals to see if what they offer will fit, and can be afforded.

Having previously been acquainted with several consultants, one of whom helped me with a previously unsuccessful REMS grant proposal, I decided to use a blind committee to screen the proposals.  I had split up my grant into three sections; the assessment, the training, and the evaluation.  Each section would initially have separate consultants, until I had a chance to identify gaps in our corporation's preparedness.  Each proposal had all company references removed, and a panel of three administrators, none of whom were otherwise involved with the process and two of whom were certified Indiana School Safety Specialists, evaluated each proposal using a rubric developed for purpose.

As I stated earlier, I had developed working relationships, and even friendships, with several school safety consultants prior to this grant proposal.  One helped me write my previous failed grant proposal, whose failure was all of my own doing.  Another consultant helped me write the new proposal.  There was nothing promised, nothing implied in the assistance.  He was confident his company would be in the running, and I was removed from the selection process.  He and several other consultants were called by me to inform them of the RFP.

Everyone I spoke to was gracious and grateful of the opportunity, except for the consultant who had assisted me on the prior grant proposal.  He recognized some language in the proposal from a competitor, and became quite hostile on the phone.  I was taken a bit aback, as I had thought we had a good relationship, indicated by the personal phone call to deliver the RFP.  I was puzzled, as he had done a similar thing for me a couple of years earlier.  At the end of the call, I specifically asked the consultant if this meant that he was not going to participate in the RFP.  He said that he would absolutely NOT participate under "these conditions".

That evening I received an email from him, sent to my superintendent of schools and the Board of School Trustees President, and cc'd to me.  It accused me of unethical behavior, as well as rule violations.  The next morning I contacted my Federal Project Officer and informed her of the phone call.  She asked me for details, which I provided, and the only thing she asked me to do was make sure I had a written process for appeals, which I was more than glad to do.

In the end, the committee selected three companies for the grant.  Each consultant that participated was called and informed.  Each consultant graciously thanked me for the opportunity, and asked that I keep them in mind for future endeavors.  Not one appeal was filed.

During the course of the grant activities, I had the opportunity to collaborate with another REMS recipient whose school corporation was adjacent to mine.  During the training, the REMS Project Director for that corporation and I talked about the problems we faced as Project Directors.  I told her the above story, and she looked at me in amazement and said that was odd, as that consultant had helped her write her grant proposal.  She was less then thrilled with this consultant's work on her grant, which included taking less time to conduct a security assessment of her high school than it would have taken me to just walk through it.  We shook our heads at the apparent insanity of the school safety world, and got back to work.

The long and short of it is this: there are many dedicated school safety consultants out there.  You have to be careful not to hook up with one like I describe above.  Check references, read their blogs.  A person's writing can tell you a lot about a person, especially over the long-term.  While consultants need to talk themselves up a bit, is that all their writing is about?  Do they offer true insights, or do they tear people down?  Do they build capacity in schools, or do they need to return for 'refreshers'?  Ask around, people who have dealt with consultants can tell you what kind of job they've done, and how they conducted themselves during their work.

Ask yourself, if I were to hire this person to care for my kids, what information would I want to know, and then find that information.  The children in schools are yours, by proxy, so make sure the ones who work to keep them safe are quality people.  Make sure they know what they're doing, and ask what their background is in education.  If they are former law enforcement, check on their law enforcement record.  Prior military? Check on their military record.  Ask, and see how they take your question.  Remember, past behavior is a good indicator of future performance.

I was honored to meet and talk to the numerous school safety professionals during the course of my REMS grant.  There are always a few bad apples in every profession.  In the end, quality will show, both in performance and in character.

Take the time to check out both.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Indiana ACLU Sues Middle School Over Students' Facebook Posts

From the Indy Star
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has sued a Northern Indiana school that suspended three Grade 8 girls for Facebook posts violating bullying, harassment and intimidation rules.

"This conversation spanned numerous subjects, from the pain of cutting oneself while shaving to the girls' friendship, before turning to a discussion of which of their classmates they would kill if they had the chance," the suit continued. "At all times, the conversation was purely in jest and could not have been interpreted seriously, as is evidenced by the girls' repeated use of 'emoticons,' by their use of abbreviations indicative of humor, and by the nature and tone of the conversation.

"The girls were simply engaged in teenage banter."

Campus Crime Statistics

I received this via email today, took a quick look, and thought I would pass it on.

Crime Informatics

It's from a site called onlinecolleges.net

If correct, there are some interesting statistics at the above link.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

High School Girl Makes Columbine-Like Threats

Ridley, PA

A Delaware County high school student faces serious charges after police say she made violent online threats against her school and her classmates.

Her arrest on Thursday came exactly 13 years after the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that changed the way the nation views school threats.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Safety Concerns Surface at High School

Nashville, TN

"The report lists exit lights were not working, emergency lights were not working, fire extinguishers were missing, ceiling tiles were missing, and sprinkler heads were damaged."

Safe Havens International teaches how to properly conduct site assessments to find such concerns before they become a problem.

Medina Students Arrested for Making Violent Threats

Cleveland, OH

Eight district students have been arrested for making violent threats since the Chardon High School shooting Feb. 27. No one has brought any weapons to school, but Medina City Schools and the Medina Police Department are enforcing a low-tolerance attitude toward such threats.

My school recently went through a similar threat of school violenceSchools cannot afford to take such threats lightly.  People who say it can't happen are practicing denial, which is anathema to sheepdogs.  Overreaction is to be avoided, but know that the possibility of violence is there, and act accordingly.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

CMSD Continues to Discuss Bomb Threat Strategies

Columbus, MS
The Columbus Municipal School District is concerned with bomb threats, which have plagued the district all year. 

The main goal is to keep the threat from interfering with normal school operations as much as possible. Deputy Superintendent Craig Shannon estimates the district has lost 26 hours of instruction time this year as schools were evacuated seven times due to bomb threats.

This is an ongoing concern for all schools.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

My 100th Post!

It's been a long road from my first post.  I am finally getting to the point that I think I am getting a handle on blogging.

As I continue down the blogger road, I want to give some thanks to some people that have helped make this blog possible.

LTC Dave Grossman, from whom I got the 'Sheepdog' idea.  You were one of my big inspirations when I first started in the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy.  Hooah!

Michael Dorn, whom I consider a mentor, and a friend.  If someone back in 2004 would have told me that I would be friends with the world's foremost expert in school safety, I would have laughed at them.  Yet, here I am.  Not only has he taught me how to do site assessments and other school safety concepts, he is teaching me how to be a professional, how to write professionally, and has made me a better person overall.  My wife Robin will attest to how difficult that last task is.

Speaking of my wife, no WAY I could do this without her.  She has been a sounding board, a Devil's Advocate (Sometimes TOO good), a confidante, and has loved and supported me through some very trying times.  I love you, Robin.

And of course I cannot forget all the people who I am responsible for, the kids, staff, and administrators of the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County.  You are all dear to me, and are the reasons I do what I do.

Non in meus vigilo!

Friday, February 3, 2012

A Wolf in Sheepdog's Clothing

One of the worst things a Sheepdog has to face is betrayal.  When a person who is in a Sheepdog position betrays his/her trust and violates the children they were to protect, real evil occurs.  Such a thing happened to us right before Thanksgiving: http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-brian-turner-former-teacher-facing-child-molestation-allegations-dating-back-30-years-20111219,0,4490875.column

Now, to be sure, he's only been charged with molestation, and I won't go any further into what I know of this case while it is still under investigation.  However, this situation does bring up a very important consideration.  How do we keep the wolves from wearing sheepdog clothing?

Child predators do not look like child predators.  They look like real people, for obvious reasons.  We had done a background check, but all that does is discover if the person had ever been arrested, or charged, with a crime.  It cannot get into the mind of the monster.  Thus background checks only indicate the obvious.  So now what?

Child predation is a behavior.  So there should be a way to ferret out this behavior prior to allowing them near children.  This would require a behavioral assessment, one that would be upheld in court.  My friend Michael Dorn tells me there is one.  I will investigate further.

It is doubtful that this assessment will tell you that the screened person is, with certainty, a predator.  However, it should raise enough uncertainty that hiring someone else would be the prudent thing to do.

Both my mom and dad were molested as children.  My mom repeatedly by her father.  My youngest was molested when she was 6.  The man above was charged for an act that occurred on my watch.

Never again.

Case in point: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/03/molestation-complaints-increase-at-school-where-teacher-allegedly-abused/?test=latestnews