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 Tags: Clery Act, FERPA, Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, HIPAA, OCR "Dear Colleague" Letter, School Safety
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 Tags: raymond mcnulty, School Safety
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 Tags: Clery Act, Clery Act Violation, Virginia Tech
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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Ed. Dept. Isn’t Backing Down From Bullying Guidance
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011 Tags: bullying prevention, Incident Reporting, OCR "Dear Colleague" Letter
The Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter in October 2010 outlining schools’ responsibilities for being aware of, responding to and preventing future incidents of bullying, discrimination and harassment. In response to the National School Board Association’s letter questioning a school’s responsibilities, the Department of Education response clearly states it did not overreach in its original guidance to school officials— it only reiterated existing laws and policies and gave examples of how school districts can help combat bullying and harassment.
Lessons Learned: Schools have been put on notice and must develop comprehensive programs to respond to incidents of bullying and they must take actions to prevent future bullying incidents. Schools who fail to take appropriate actions risk losing educational funding and expensive lawsuits at a time when a funding cliff is looming large. Lessons learned also demonstrate that status quo approaches are not effective in preventing bullying so it will be critical for school boards and school leaders to implement more effective prevention and intervention programs immediately and document all incidents of bullying and harassment on an ongoing basis.
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In Brazil – Bullied Student to Cold-Blooded Killer
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011 Tags: brazilian school shooting, bullying, school shootings, school violence
The Brazilian whose shooting spree left 12 school children dead was a loner who spent his days surfing the Web, and had been victim of schoolyard bullying and taunts. His classmates and former teachers said he was routinely bullied at school, rejected and taunted by girls in class, and forced to endure “constant humiliation”.
Lessons Learned: There are several lessons learned from this tragedy. Number One: Bullying can have a devastating effect on a child and can lead to severe violence. Number Two: Multiple red flags were given prior to this attack: recent clothing changes, change in mental state, researching weapons online, withdrawing from society, removal from family, losing job, etc. Number Three: It is critical that people are aware of tools to anonymously and non-anonymously report suspicious incidents or aggressive behaviors.
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Fighting Bullying with Lawsuits
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Education, Incident Reporting, Regulatory Compliance, Research, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011 Tags: bullying, Bullying Lawsuits, OCR "Dear Colleague" Letter
Lawsuits targeting school districts for allowing students to be bullied by other students are escalating.
Lessons Learned: With new guidelines outlined in an OCR “Dear Colleague” Letter and an increase in bullying, harassment, discrimination and school violence, schools need to be aware of the potential risk of lawsuits. School leaders must ensure all individuals (staff, faculty, parents, students, counselors, etc.) understand their roles and responsibilities for preventing and responding to bullying and how to report incidents of bullying. Schools must implement comprehensive and ongoing protocols for responding to ALL incidents of bullying and cyber bullying with legal-ready documentation to avoid “deliberate indifference” claims and lawsuits.
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EKU at “Vanguard of Campus Safety” with Campus Aggression Prevention System
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011 Tags: Campus Aggression Prevention System, Campus Safety, Campus Violence, Red Flags
Eastern Kentucky University has implemented the Campus Aggression Prevention System (CAPS) in order to track both primal and cognitive aggression, identify acts of emerging aggression based on an objective scale and then record those acts in a software-based tracking system. Responders are trained to intervene appropriately to stop the aggressor before serious harm can be done.
Lessons Learned: In response to recent tragedies, many schools and colleges nation-wide are reviewing their programs for identifying, assessing, and intervening with students who show signs of distress and evaluating their policies and procedures for reporting red flags, suspicious or aggressive behaviors, violence, risks, etc. Lessons learned have clearly revealed that school/college leaders must let go of status quo approaches and look at new ways for improving situational awareness and connecting the dots to identify red flags, improve prevention, protect communities and save lives. One of the most concerning things is that students are not reporting acts of violence, bullying, harassment, etc. It is critical for schools to implement safe and non-retaliatory reporting procedures, policies, plans, and training for faculty to identity warning signs of violence.
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Preventing the Next School Tragedy
Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, School Safety, Workplace Violence on April 13th, 2011 Tags: brazilian gunman, bullying, bullying prevention, School Safety, school shooter, school violence, southern union community college
Brazilian gunman fatally shot 11 children and wounded 18 others at a Rio de Janeiro public school…
One person dead and three others hurt in a shooting at Southern Union Community College…
Student Planned to Shoot “As Many as He Could”…
If you followed the headlines last week, we saw multiple tragedies at schools and colleges around the globe. However, one high school in Missouri was able to prevent what could have been a potentially devastating attack.
An 18 year old student was arrested with conspiring to shoot other students at his school. There were multiple warning signs identified and fortunately two brave students came forward with information prior to his attack.
The student revealed several red flags during his planning phase:
- Tried to recruit students to help him execute shooting
- Internet research on how to make guns and other weapons
- Note on computer with statement, “I hate everything and everyone, I wanted everyone to die.”
A second student was arrested the next day after posting a Facebook message, claiming “he wasn’t going to kill anybody because he’d told police about his plan and couldn’t pull it off now.”
It is critical for schools to look for new and innovative methods for identifying red flags and warning signs so they can prevent incidents like the tragedies above. If those students had not come forward, the attacker’s plan may have been executed.
The Department of Education and Secret Service School Safety report revealed that at least one other person had some type of knowledge of the attacker’s plan in 81% of school shooting incidents.
However, one of the most concerning things is that students are not reporting suspicious comments, acts of violence, bullying, harassment, etc. out of fear of peer abuse or retaliation, they don’t feel their reports will be kept anonymous or they don’t trust the administration to act on their reports.
It is critical for schools to implement safe, anonymous and non-retaliatory reporting procedures, policies, plans, and training for students and faculty to identity warning signs of violence. At the recent White House Conference on Bullying, experts agreed listening to students is critical and it is important to develop simple and effective incident reporting processes.
How are your schools working to improve prevention, encourage students to come forward with information, protect communities and save lives?
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No Brainer for Brain Drain?
Posted In Campus Safety, School Safety on March 15th, 2011 Tags: Anti-Bullying, bullying, bullying policy, bullying prevention, School Safety, White House Conference on Bullying Prevention
Attention Governors, State Education Directors, Superintendents, School Boards, Principals and community leaders:
What is Brain Drain? Most often ‘brain drain’ is defined as ‘the human capital flight’ or the loss of skilled intellectual and technical labor through the movement of such labor to more favorable geographic, economic or professional environments.
But a more serious and more damaging ‘brain drain’ is taking place within our schools on a daily basis and the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention last week validates this more serious ‘brain drain’ is taking place.
According to The White House Blog:
Every day, thousands of kids, teens, and young adults around the country are bullied. Estimates are that nearly one-third of all school aged children are bullied each school year – upwards of 13 million students. Students involved in bullying are more likely to have challenges in school, to abuse drugs and alcohol, and to have health and mental health issues. If we fail to address bullying we put ourselves at a disadvantage for increasing academic achievement and making sure all of our students are college and career ready.
‘Brain drain’ in our schools is a serious problem that affects our nation’s future and affects our communities who must pick up the pieces.
Lessons learned show there are ‘no brainer’ solutions for helping to eliminate ‘brain drain’ in schools, but school leaders and community leaders must be willing to get rid of their status quo beliefs and take advantage of innovative solutions….are you willing?
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Winning or Helping
Posted In Campus Safety, School Safety on March 9th, 2011 Tags: Arne Duncan, bullying, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, Charlie Sheen, School Safety, Tips Prevent, White House Bullying, Winning
Seems like ‘winning’ is a popular word these days thanks to all the TV and radio shows that have jumped on the Mr. Sheen train.
But is Mr. Sheen really winning or is he really reaching out for ‘HELP’?
With the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention coming up tomorrow, it seems like ‘HELPING’ is a better word of the day. As White House Blog points out, thousands of kids, teens, and young adults are bullied every day. And estimates are that nearly one-third of all school-aged children are bullied each year which is upwards of 13 million students. How are communities and schools helping all of these kids, teens and young adults?
Lessons learned, extensive research, talking to teachers and listening to victims clearly reveals that more helping is needed. For school leaders the alarm is sounding…again…and again.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been doing his best to bring awareness to a bullying and has said: “To break the cycle of bullying, we must be bold. The status quo cannot stand.”
I agree. Status quo efforts for helping kids, teens and young adults are not working and cannot stand.
I am passionate about helping kids, teens and young adults, so I am looking forward to what comes out of the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. I am also passionate about helping schools prevent bullying and helping schools prevent consequences of bullying and will be doing a follow up blog on how http://www.tipsprevent.com/ is helping schools and communities address the action items from this conference.
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