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Lessons Learned from Joe Paterno and Penn State

Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, Legal, Risk Management, School Safety on January 23rd, 2012
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With the recent passing of football coach, Joe Paterno, Joe he can now rest in peace knowing he touched the lives of many as a coach at Penn State for 62 of his 85 years on this planet.

The horrific scandal at Penn State University will no doubt have an effect on the legacy of JoePa (his nickname suggesting his fatherly quality to his players and students too), some will judge JoePa based on what they know and others will judge JoePa based on what they don’t know.

For me, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Joe Paterno for his foresight and humility to do an interview with the Washington Post before he passed away.  You see this interview could and should become one of the most valuable lessons learned for college leaders and organizational leaders around the world.  JoePa shared how he felt inadequate to handle the situation that was brought to his attention:

“I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,” Paterno told the Washington Post in an interview published Saturday. “So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.”

“I called my superiors and I said, ‘hey, we got a problem I think. Would you guys look into it? Because I didn’t know, you know … I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn’t feel adequate,”

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/14/us/pennsylvania-paterno-interview/?hpt=us_c1

So what lessons learned did Joe Paterno’s interview provide?

First, if Joe Paterno worked at a college over 60 years and was not clear on university procedures and felt inadequate to do the right thing…how many people in your organization feel inadequate? Have you equipped everyone to do the right thing? This is a significant lesson learned that exposes how 20th century tools (binders, handbooks, annual training, intranets, etc.) can leave your people feeling inadequate and ill-equipped to do right thing as 21st century challenges, risks and situations are changing continuously and the consequences of not doing the right thing can be devastating.

Second, Joe Paterno also revealed in an interview:  “In hindsight, I wish I had done more.”

College leaders, school leaders and organizational leaders must take immediate and proactive steps to equip their people with 21st century tools to ensure no one feels inadequate, but is equipped to take appropriate actions. No one wants the burden of wishing they had done more when it comes to helping a child, a friend, an employee or anyone in their community.

Click here to learn more about proven and award-winning 21st century tools.



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Campus Disconnects – A Lack of Reporting in Higher Education

Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety on November 10th, 2011
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Two high profile incidents this week revealed that despite updates to the Clery Act and Title IX requirements, campuses continue to struggle to proactively identify warning signs and red flags and gather information and reports from their people (students, staff, faculty, law enforcement, counselors, etc.).

Penn State – Lawmakers are investigating whether Penn State violated the Clery Act when it did not report child sexual abuse allegations regarding a former football coach to the proper authorities.  Several coaches were aware of the allegations, but did not report to the police. 

University of Idaho - University of Idaho officials say at least one police officer knew of alleged gun threats against a graduate student before she was shot and killed by a professor she had been dating.  The student had complained to the university in June that professor Ernesto Bustamante had threatened her with a firearm three separate times during the relationship.  

It is critical for institutions to connect the dots across all individuals and threat team members (students, staff, faculty, counselors, law enforcement, parents, etc.) ongoing and ensure that all threats, risks, warning signs, etc. are reported to the appropriate personnel and investigated thoroughly to determine the appropriate level of response. Too many times, we see after the fact the warning flags and reports that existed, but that were not connected.

Comprehensive threat assessment and behavioral intervention programs need to extend across the entire campus community (faculty and staff, as well as students).  If TAT/BIT teams can be notified immediately at the first sign of violence, aggression, threat, etc., and have the tools necessary to connect the dots across campuses, locations, departments, etc., many of these tragedies may be able to be prevented. 

I think one of the biggest challenges that may have been a factor in each of these incidents is a lack of clear procedure and policy on reporting incidents.  Higher education institutions must clearly define individual responsibilities for reporting illegal activities, suspicious behaviors, red flags, threats, etc. and ensure that all individuals involved understand their roles and requirements (and the consequences for a failure to report). 

To learn more about how your institution can help your campus community come together and develop a culture of prevention, please click here.



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Bullying Prevention in Schools – NOW is the Time for Next Steps

Posted In Campus Safety, School Safety on September 29th, 2011
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Last week, Secretary Arne Duncan from the Department of Education, along with several other agencies, sponsored the second annual national summit on bullying.  

Multiple federal government representatives reminded the attendees that bullying remains a priority and that is good…Unfortunately we have heard similar messages at multiple White House Summits and multiple conferences.

So based on the advice of Benjamin Franklin who said:

                Well done is always better than well said.

Beginning this week, now is the time to take the next step from “well said” to “well done”.   To help with this transformation, I will identify examples of “well saids” along with potential ways a school leader might take next steps towards “well done”.

For example, Secretary Duncan said he would like to see a provision that calls for surveying students about bullying.  Provisions are a “well said”, but provisions do not do anything.  Next steps towards “well done” could include utilizing the award-winning TIPS platform from Awareity which offers anonymous and 100% customizable web-based surveying so each school can tailor the questions as needed.

Secretary Duncan said students are a “huge missing part of the equation” on addressing bullying.  This is another “well said” and I agree.  Last week before the conference started, Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old from New York, killed himself after pleading for help for months.  Jamey was trying to be part of the equation and even recorded a video for “Its Gets Better”.  Unfortunately the school did not ‘connect the dots’ and it seems the right people at the school did not reach out. It seems the school was not prepared and did not investigate, did not stop the harassment, did not eliminate the hostile environment and did not prevent the harassment from recurring.  Next steps towards “well done” could include the proven TIPS platform which allows ANY and ALL STUDENTS, family, teachers, staff and others to be part of the equation by anonymously reporting bullying incidents, suspicious activities, student safety concerns and etc.  The TIPS platform also empowers the school’s Safety Team to confidentially review all incident reports, investigate all reports, record all actions taken by team members, track all at-risk individuals, set automated reminders for team members and search all reports related to an individual or incident.

Researchers at the conference say more research is needed.  While additional research may be helpful, students are being bullied and students are taking their lives.  It is time for “well done”.

Researchers also seemed to agree on another “well said”, that as much as the national movement to curb bullying has done to draw attention to the issue, addressing bullying may need to be a very localized effort.  I agree and as stated previously, TIPS empowers each school the ability to customize and localize everything…because there is no one-size-fits-all.

One school counseling specialist noted that most schools do not have the time to research programs and outcomes.  The school counseling specialist pointed out that what works in one school is not going to work in other schools even in the same county.  She also mentioned there is another frontier… “How do we breed resilience in our children up front?”  The TIPS platform offers a unique and proven Awareness Vault that empowers schools to ensure all students can access a curricula that helps them better understand bullying, risks, threats, consequences, policies, laws and responsibilities.

The next frontier and next steps involve:

  • Acknowledging “well said” is not enough, “well done” is the key to preventing bullying
  • Reaching out means new innovative platforms like TIPS are needed
  • Empowering students, teachers and family members to get involved is critical
  • Studies show only 1 out of 10 incidents are reported, but up to 70% or 80% say they would report incidents if anonymous incident reporting was available

 

Are your school administrators willing to take the next steps?



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Bullying Prevention Requirements: Does Your School Pass the Test?

Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety on September 27th, 2011
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Is your school prepared to respond accordingly to reports of bullying and harassment? Are you prepared to investigate, stop, prevent, eliminate hostile environments, take appropriate actions and document your actions? Are your school leaders aware of the different types of bullying that may be creating hostile learning environments in your school?

Studies show for students to achieve academically, they must feel secure and comfortable in their learning environment. A recent study from the University of Virginia revealed the academic performance of students in schools with persistent bullying may suffer because students are less engaged in learning due to fears about bullying or a greater level of school disorder.

According to recent statistics, up to 33 percent of students are being bullied each year and 60 percent of teachers/staff are witnessing bullying two or more times in a month. 

Let’s do the math. If you have 3,000 students, then approximately 1,000 or so students could be facing bullying issues … are you taking appropriate actions? If you have 200 teachers and 60 percent of them are witnessing bullying twice a month that could be 240 incidents a month or 2,160 incidents a school year. Are your students and teachers reporting ongoing incidents and do you have the documentation and legal-ready documentation to prove you have taken the appropriate follow-up actions?

On October 6, 2010, the OCR “Dear Colleague” letter sent to all schools clearly defined all schools who know or reasonably should know about student bullying/harassment must:

- Investigate the incident
- Take immediate action to stop the harassment
- Take action to prevent the recurrence of harassment
- Eliminate the hostile environment
- Address its effects
- Take appropriate actions to revise policies and re-train students, faculty, staff and parents

With the new school year underway, the Department of Justice and Department of Education have made it clear that the OCR requirements will be enforced. Consider that a seven-month investigation at Tehachapi Unified School District is being called a landmark case with serious and expensive consequences for school boards and administrators. On July 1, 2011, a “resolution agreement” concluded that TUSD “did not adequately investigate or otherwise respond” to claims of bullying/harassment which led to the suicide of a 13-year old student.

On July 5, 2011 the student’s mother filed a lawsuit naming the school district, the superintendent, the principal, the vice principal and four teachers, seeking compensation for wrongful death damages, medical expenses and punitive damages. Several lawsuits have been filed at a Minnesota school district after seven students committed suicide in one year and a federal investigation is pending. 

School leaders across the nation have been put on notice. And because most schools are already dealing with fiscal challenges, schools cannot afford suicides, undocumented incidents, federal investigations, and lawsuits. Therefore, prevention must become a top priority and prevention is more critical now than ever before. 

How is your school encouraging students and parents to proactively report bullying/harassment and ensuring that all actions taken are documented with legal due diligence to meet ongoing OCR requirements? Are your school and community leaders preventing the preventable?

Based on studies, incidents and lawsuits, Awareity, Inc. has developed an innovative prevention platform that is helping school leaders take appropriate actions and document all actions taken for compliance and legal due diligence. TIPS (Threat Assessment, Incident Management and Prevention Services) provides schools with the tools to empower students, parents, staff, faculty, community members, etc. to report suspicious incidents, warning signs, red flags, etc. TIPS also empowers safety team members to easily and securely access incident reports, share documents, set reminders and document they have taken the required and appropriate actions and responses to meet OCR guidelines.

According to bullying and suicide prevention expert, Dr. Scott Poland, “TIPS is truly the most comprehensive incident management system available for K12 schools to not only receive anonymous reports from their students and parents, but ensure all appropriate personnel are notified to connect the dots and determine the most effective response.  TIPS is helping school districts proactively prevent the preventable – suicides, bullying, violence, truancy, depression and more.”

Cross-posted from the Public School Risk Insistute – Prevention Link
http://app.targetsafety.com/tsapp/dashboard/pl_fb/index.cfm?fuseaction=c_pl_fc.showArticle&blogID=2112



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The Next Federal Investigation – Minnesota School District

Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Education, Legal, School Safety on July 20th, 2011
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In case you missed it, federal authorities are investigating “incidents involving harassment and bullying” in Minnesota’s largest school district.

The civil rights investigation is underway in Anoka-Hennepin, a suburban Minneapolis school district, and based on the seven-month “landmark federal investigation” that recently ended involving Tehachapi Unified School District in California, the Office of Civil Rights is serious about protecting the rights and safety of students.

School leaders at every school in the U.S. should be taking a serious look at their ability to prevent the preventable involving harassment, bullying, cyber bullying and other alarming trends in schools.  School leaders should review their ability to prove they are following guidance outlined in the October 26, 2010 Office of Civil Rights Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), because recent resolution agreements make it clear the OCR is enforcing the DCL that was sent to K-12 schools and Higher Education institutions too.  (A federal investigation was just completed at Notre Dame too)

One suicide is one too many!  The federal investigations at Tehachapi and Notre Dame involved student suicides and at Anoka-Hennepin, there have been a string of 7 suicides in less than 2 years. 

Now is the time to lead by example, not with words or new policies. 

Now is the time to replace outdated status quo methodologies with 21st century platforms that empower schools (leaders, faculty, staff, students, parents, community members, etc.) to prevent the preventable. 

Now is the time to start doing more than the minimum necessary.

Now is the time to start listening, investigating, intervening, preventing and making a difference.

To request Awareity’s 3 page Executive Briefing on the recent Landmark Investigation to share with your schools leaders and administrators, please visit: http://www.awareity.com/public/briefingrequest.asp



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Incident Management and Documentation Lacking in Bullying Prevention

Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, School Safety on May 23rd, 2011
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A recent investigation of anti-bullying efforts in Minnesota schools revealed a major weakness across local school districts.  Most schools are not tracking bullying incidents…which makes it almost impossible to gauge the effectiveness of their bullying prevention and intervention efforts.

So just how important (and expensive) is it when schools do not track and document bullying incidents?

One of the major gaps we have seen when incidents are not documented is a failure to connect the dots and allow at-risk students and individuals to fall through the cracks.

For example, Let’s take a look at the following scenario…student Bobby Jones is bullying other students in the classroom.  His teacher, Mrs. Smith, reprimanded Bobby, but made no report to the central office, as she felt like this was a one-time occurrence and she could just handle it quietly.  In gym class, Bobby repeatedly harasses another student when the teacher isn’t looking.  The victimized student is afraid to come forward and report Bobby’s behavior because he doesn’t want to make the bullying even worse.  During lunch, two cafeteria workers notice Bobby is pushing other students around, and make a note to mention this activity to the principal during their next monthly staff meeting.  After school, a different teacher notices Bobby making threatening comments towards another student and immediately reports this to the principal, but what if the principal decides it’s nothing or decides to have a meeting with Bobby and documents the meeting by filling out a piece of paper and putting it in Bobby’s folder.  As you can see, each individual incident may not amount to much, but Bobby’s overall behavior includes multiple red flags and some form of investigation and intervention is clearly necessary according to the OCR Dear Colleague Letter as well as state bullying laws and safe school guidelines.

Now let’s take a look at a different scenario.  Student Bobby Jones is bullying students in the classroom and his teacher Mrs. Smith reprimanded Bobby and utilized the school’s web-based incident reporting option to report the incident.  Mrs. Smith had the option to report the incident from work or from home and anonymously or non-anonymously.  In gym class, a student was being bullied by Bobby and the student just wants the bullying to end without making matters worse, so the student went online and anonymously report Bobby for bullying him in class.  When cafeteria workers witnessed Bobby pushing other students around, the cafeteria workers went online and submitted an incident report (anonymously or non-anonymously) as they have been trained to do to help ensure a safer climate for all students. After school, when a teacher notices Bobby making threatening comments towards another student, the teacher goes online and reports the incident.  Now in each of the four situations above, the Anti-Bullying or Safety Team (which may include the Principal, Counselors, Legal Counsel, SROs, etc.) would have received a notification and would have easily been able to do a quick, secure and confidential search and noticed that Bobby Jones has been reported multiple times for bullying other students in multiple situations. The Safety Team could immediately investigate each situation, intervene as needed and take proactive and ongoing prevention efforts to meet OCR Dear Colleague Letter obligations, state bullying laws, safe school guidelines and most importantly build a climate where bullying is not allowed and a better learning climate is created and maintained.

Traditional incident reporting tools are not enough, incident management platforms are needed to assist school administrators gain a more holistic and comprehensive view of the risks and threats within their school learning environment.  It is critical for all individuals (students, parents, teachers, staff, faculty, counselors, etc.) to understand their responsibilities for reporting and responding to incidents of bullying.  All personnel should be aware of different types of suspicious activities and indicators – behaviors and warning signs (bullying, intimidation, threats, harassment, targeted violence, etc.)  and should be empowered to report incidents anonymously or non-anonymously as soon as they are identified. 

Once incidents have been reported it is also critical to ensure all appropriate personnel are notified and all necessary follow-up actions are documented and monitored over time.  School leaders and school boards also need to ensure their policies and procedures define situational awareness – what steps should be taken in different situations – so counselors, social workers, principals, resource officers, nurses, etc. are not putting students, families, communities and schools at risk. 

To learn more visit www.tipsprevent.com.



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Upcoming Webinar – Campus Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) Live Demonstration

Posted In Campus Safety, Emergency Management, Risk Management, School Safety, Workplace Violence on May 11th, 2011
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Recently, a prominent University President shared that his biggest nightmare was waking up to hear there was an active-shooting on his campus. This, he said, is what kept him up late at night! We believe this is a nightmare shared by many school administrators, and can’t imagine what could possibly be worse.

Do you have a reliable method of “preventing” multiple threats of violence on your campus?  Crisis (Emergency) Management is reacting to an incident that already took place, not preventing incidents from happening.  Aberrant behavior, misconduct and mental illness do not provide reliable precursors to identify the next school shooter.   Only when you can foresee the precursors to “emerging aggression” can you, with any reliability, get out in front of and prevent a school shooting, or any act of assaultive or violent behavior.  For the first time, we will show you how your campus can reliably prevent aggressive, assaultive, and/or violent behavior.  Imagine being able to empirically declare your institution safer before the next school year begins.

Lessons learned continue to demonstrate campuses must find better ways to deal with at-risk individuals, aggression, bullying, mental health challenges, violence, suicides and murders because the tragedies we continue to see are real…and almost all are PREVENTABLE.

Awareity and the Center for Aggression Management have partnered to bring you the CAPS (Campus Aggression Prevention System).  Join John Byrnes from the Center for Aggression Management and Rick Shaw and Katie Johnson of Awareity as they demonstrate live how your campus can improve safety and security on campus and provide your students, parents, faculty and staff with peace of mind.

Live webinar:      Campus Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) Demonstration

When:                  May 19, 2011, 12:00 PM EST
Register now

When:                  May 24, 2011, 4:00 PM EST
Register now

You will learn how to:

  • Apply the Campus Aggression Prevention System in an effective and defensible manner
  • Receive anonymous/confidential reports from students, faculty, staff, parents, etc.
  • Identify behaviors, red flags and warning signs and take preventative actions
  • Train your prevention/safety teams and faculty to measure aggression in at-risk individuals
  • Determine the overall presumption of risk and what actions can be taken to maximize results
  • Connect the dots to ensure at-risk individuals do not fall through the cracks
  • Improve collaboration between counselors, administrators, law enforcement, teams, etc.
  • Track and document all actions taken for legal due diligence and ongoing risk metrics
  • Prevent lawsuits and maintain ongoing compliance with OCR, federal and state requirements
  • Significantly reduce administrative, personnel costs and ongoing awareness and training costs
  • Make your campus empirically safer and enhance student achievement/learning climate

 

This webinar has limited seating and will fill up quickly, so register early to ensure your seat.



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Dept. of Education Releases Handbook to Help Higher-Ed Campuses Meet Safety Reporting Standards

Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011
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The U.S. Department of Education released the Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting providing step-by-step procedures, examples, and references for higher education institutions to follow in meeting campus safety and security requirements.

Lessons Learned:  College and University administrators are overwhelmed with responsibilities for HEOA, FERPA, HIPAA, Clery Act, OCR ‘Dear Colleague’ Letters, and much more and therefore guidance from the Federal Government can be helpful.  It is critical for School Administrators to utilize resources and develop comprehensive campus safety programs and create a culture of compliance and preparedness that is ongoing.  Traditional methodologies are clearly not working based on new handbooks, new regulations and mounting obligations and traditional tools are not capable of keeping up with all the new changes, so School Administrators must be open to new tools and new ideas to ensure better safety in schools.



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Schools Should Focus 20-30% of Resources on Innovation and “Next Practices.”

Posted In Campus Safety, Education, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011
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Raymond J. McNulty, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education discusses that in order to see real change in our schools and move the needle on closing the achievement gap, school leaders need to try some things that aren’t “proven.”  Organizations need to experiment with “next practices” not best practices that have been researched and proven.

Lessons Learned:  As Einstein said long ago, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Lessons learned have clearly shown that schools need to replace traditional and status quo methodologies with new and innovative tools to help improve student achievement, improve student safety and reduce overall costs.



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Va. Tech Gets Max $55K Fine for Late Warning

Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Legal, Regulatory Compliance, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011
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Virginia Tech was fined the maximum fine allowed under the Clery Act of $55,000 for waiting almost two hours before warning students, faculty and staff of an active shooter on campus.

Lessons Learned: Colleges and Universities must develop, implement and follow clearly defined policies and procedures for notifying students and staff in emergency situations.  School Administrators may want to create customizable, organizational and situational specific templates prior to an incident so the warning messages are already defined and the appropriate processes are understood by all appropriate personnel.   Organizations must also have customized emergency and crisis management plans and ensure all individuals (students, faculty, staff, administration, law enforcement, etc.) understand their roles and responsibilities before, during and after an incident occurs.  Lastly, lessons learned clearly teach schools that proactive and prepared prevention efforts are much less expensive than the incidents, fines, lawsuits and reputational damages.



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