Recognizing the warning signs for teen bullying, suicide
Mainstream media outlets have coined a new term to describe the rash of student suicides committed in the wake of persistent school bullying and harassment: "bullycides."
SAFE
Safe Center
Coach: iPhone app helped save a player’s life
A quick-thinking high school basketball coach and a $1.99 iPhone application called Phone Aid are being credited with saving the life of a Southern California teenager who collapsed…
Dept of Ed: Some bullying violates federal law
The U.S. Department of Education is warning schools: Tolerating or failing to adequately address ethnic, sexual or gender-based harassment could put them in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
Doctors eye health hazard in powerful laser pointers
A 15-year-old boy damaged his eyes while playing with a laser pointer he'd bought over the internet, say doctors who warn that dangerously high-powered versions are easily available…
Keep after-school events safe
The start of a new high school football season is a reason to celebrate–but it also is a time for ... Read more
More schools take security seriously
As we enter a new school year, I'm happy to see several districts spent the summer making investments in keeping their students, faculty and staff safer. One New…
Train and maintain
One of the more confusing stories I’ve read lately comes from East St. Louis, Ill., where burglars have taken more than $1 million in...
Copper thieves continue to strike
Schools are not immune. I recently wrote about an Oklahoma district hard hit by thieves taking or gutting…
Good advice for campus administrators and law enforcement
The recently released report, Campus Security Guidelines: Recommended Operational Policies for Local and Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, prepared by the Major Cities Chiefs of Police Association, contains some…
We owe our students more
Once a student becomes a victim of a school crime, he or she becomes more aware of…
Detroit’s commitment to school security
The Detroit Public Schools is moving briskly forward with plans to spend nearly...
Great cooperation between school and law enforcement officials
School and law enforcement officials in Central Florida’s Volusia County are to be commended for their efforts to…
Mo. families grieve 2 slain in school buses wreck
What was supposed to have been a day of fun for a high school marching band turned into a day ... Read more
Handcuffs for first graders?
How far can a school go in disciplining students? Twenty states have laws permitting…
Schools: Protect yourselves
Here’s another story that leaves me shaking my head. A Midwestern school district has reported…
Don’t ‘pass the trash’
An investigation in 2008 by the state of Oregon found that 47 schools in the state had made a “pass the trash” deal over the previous five years.…
Safe passages
Chicago has had major problems with gangs attacking people throughout the city, including school kids going to and from school each day. I’m sure many of us remember…
Let cops carry the guns
One thing that still surprises me is the number of states willing to allow college and university students to carry concealed weapons on campus. More than 30 years…
What price on student safety?
One of the most important security measures any district can employ is a program in which…
Cameras up North
Although security cameras in schools raise staff and student privacy issues, they can be highly beneficial when it comes to...
Practice the plan
Recently police officers moved through a Florida middle school hunting for a gunman that had opened fire on campus. There was blood everywhere. Students were lying on the…
Securing K-12 networks for 1:1 computing
The adoption of 1:1 computing programs and online K-12 learning programs are driving an industry-wide move toward accessible network access. In East Grand Rapids Public Schools, and in…
Lock the gates
It seems a first-grade student recently slipped away from a Massachusetts school with the intention of walking home. Apparently, none of the school staff noticed him leaving. Fortunately,…
Kid vandals?
The criminals seem to get younger all the time. A school in Louisiana recently reported...
3,000 new sex offenders each month
As of June, there are now 716,750 registered sex offenders in this country. What alarms me is that number is up nearly 72,000 over the past two years.…
Protect teachers, too
Most often, talk about securing campuses centers around protecting the students. But there are times that we have to remember that we need to...
Why does something always have to go wrong?
Moved by the disappearance of a 7-year-old boy in Portland, Ore., a mother of two in southwest Washington has started a petition to…
New system combines classroom audio, emergency alert
A new classroom product that combines sound amplification, lecture capture, and emergency alert capabilities in a single system could have a big impact on the safety of K-12…
More on preparing for a potential campus lockdown
In my last higher-education blog, I wrote about planning for how and when to lockdown a campus. Once the task force is in place and working, it’s time…
Peers judge peers
The idea behind zero tolerance for school violence is generally a good one. But some states and local districts have taken their policies a little bit too far...
Penn adds additional safety and security with emergency notification
Providing peace of mind to faculty, staff, students and their parents is a key initiative for any academic institution. Rapid, mass notification during a crisis on campus is…
Hotline goes 21st century
I applaud the state of Missouri for taking one of my favorite ideas for deterring campus crime and violence...
Use summer to upgrade campus lockdown procedures
Summer is a good time for a college or university administration to review its emergency/crisis plans. Your first step in creating or upgrading a plan should be…
Cameras help the human eye
We always have to be cognizant of privacy rights when installing cameras. I could never support cameras in restrooms or athletic locker rooms. But I also don’t see…
Problems happen
Fortunately, the cost of delaying installation of basic security measures didn’t result in much more than an inconvenience for one midwest K-12 district.
PTA joins with Facebook to promote internet safety
The national Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Facebook are joining forces to promote internet safety through a set of tools and resources for children, schools, and parents.
Cameras, guards, and alarms
Video surveillance cameras, police or security guards on campus, and alarmed doors are all fairly common on K-12 campuses. Here's my take on how effective they can be...
Online safety report discourages scare tactics
Although internet safety education is essential, scare tactics do little to influence the behavior of children and teenagers, who spend a large part of their lives on social…
Ohio tornado kills 7, wrecks cop cars, graduation
An Ohio community whose high school was destroyed the day before graduation by a tornado that killed seven people, including the valedictorian's father, rescheduled the ceremony as residents…
No access for bad guys
In my last blog, I referenced some of the security measures used on K-12 campuses, according to a Zogby International survey of 400 teachers. The most popular measure…