Lessons Learned from Joe Paterno and Penn State
Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, Legal, Risk Management, School Safety on January 23rd, 2012 Tags: Incident Reporting, joe paterno, Penn State
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 Tags: behavioral intervention teams, campus threat assessment, Clery Act, Ernesto Bustamante, Incident Reporting, Penn State, University of Idaho
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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We Owe Them (kids) More Than Talk
Posted In Incident Reporting, School Safety on October 11th, 2011 Tags: Anderson Cooper, bullying, Bullying Prevention Month, Bullying: It Stops Here, Incident Reporting, Wheatley High School
Anderson Cooper hosted a Town Hall Meeting on Sunday with the theme of ‘Bullying: It Stops Here’.
I watched the town hall meeting and I listened to the experts and took notes. I listened to the kids and took even more notes. I listened to Anderson Cooper say this about the kids:
“We owe them more than talk”.
I agree!
Benjamin Franklin nailed this a long time ago saying:
Well Done is Always Better Than Well Said.
The Town Hall Meeting revealed:
- Statistics from the survey at Wheatley High School were similar to most other surveys
- Kids are still not sure how to intervene – 77% of bystanders did not intervene
- Kids and Adults are not reporting incidents – 81% of incidents were never reported
- Experts are saying the same things over and over
- Kids are saying the same things over and over
- School Administrators are saying the same things over and over
I watched Kyle, a bullied student from Anoka-Hennepin, and asked how can something like this be allowed to happen over and over?
I watched a movie from ‘The Bully Project’, and asked how can something like this be allowed to happen over and over?
In the coming days and weeks, stay tuned to Awareity’s Blogs, Tweets and News to see how real prevention and real results can be achieved.
Prevention = Well Said AND Well Done…..and we owe it to kids and schools and parents to take next steps beyond just talk and saying the same things over and over.
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Bullying…An Ongoing Struggle
Posted In Incident Reporting, School Safety on October 7th, 2011 Tags: "It Gets Better", Anti-Bullying, bullying, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, Cyberbullying, Jamie Rodemeyer
What can schools do to ensure students do not fall through the cracks?
Many of you may have watched the recent 48 Hours special segment on bullying. The show highlighted one school district’s proactive efforts to implement bullying prevention programs and solutions. We witnessed one young student who we felt like was rising above the bullying and truly being helped by these programs. However, as the year progressed, we learned he began to hide the bullying, pretended like everything was okay, and later attempted suicide.
In September we were also deeply saddened by the tragic suicide of Jamie Rodemeyer who had previously filmed an “It Gets Better” video to help other bullied teens, but allowed the tormenting to become too much.
Both of the students’ schools were well aware of their struggles and had procedures and guidelines for responding to incidents of bullying and cyberbullying. So, what went wrong? How can we ensure students do not continue to fall through the cracks and we do not lose any more innocent young lives?
If a student reports bullying, many schools may call the bully into the principal’s office, file a written report, speak with the parents and determine the incident resolved. However, it is critical for schools to follow-up with the victim and bully on an ongoing basis, 2 weeks down the road, 1 month, etc. to ensure their behavior is improving and everyone feels safe and secure in their learning environment.
Schools must ensure all incidents of bullying are continually tracked and followed-up on throughout the year, at new schools, with parents, new teachers, counselors, etc. Schools should also encourage other students and peers to report bullying they may witness in the hallways, on the school bus, after school, etc. so administrators can connect the dots and gather a comprehensive overview of your school’s safety culture.
One suicide is one too many, and we must continue to implement innovative solutions to prevent the consequences of bullying.
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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 Tags: bullying, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, Dr. Scott Poland, Incident Reporting, OCR, School Safety, Tehachapi Unified School District
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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Incident Management and Documentation Lacking in Bullying Prevention
Posted In Campus Safety, Incident Reporting, School Safety on May 23rd, 2011 Tags: anonymous bullying reporting, bullying prevention, bullying program, Cyberbullying, Incident Reporting, Minnesota bullying
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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Alarming School Survey: “Thou Shall Not Snitch”
Posted In Education, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety, Validations on May 3rd, 2011 Tags: anonymous incident reporting, bullying, School Safety
What does recent school survey reveal about ‘thou shall not snitch’ culture? Can schools take advantage of real life situations to create a culture of preparedness, safety and prevention?
The responses to this survey at H.D. Woodson High School reveal opportunities for schools to open the lines of communication, but only if school leaders understand how to relate to students and how to build trust with students.
Lessons Learned: Status quo responses to a survey, status quo comments from adults and status quo news articles validate how status quo approaches are not going to solve the problems and new challenges schools and communities face in the real and changing world we all live in. A huge opportunity exists for visionary school leaders to make a difference by asking better questions that help to connect the dots and strengthen our weakest links.
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The ERC on Whistleblowing Workplace Misconduct
Posted In Government, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, Workplace Violence on May 3rd, 2011 Tags: employee misconduct, Ethics Resource Center, Incident Reporting, infosec island
The Ethics Resource Center’s (ERC) recent survey revealed that 40% of employees observing misconduct do not step forward to report it out of fear of retaliation, mistrust or feel their reports will be ignored.
Lessons Learned: Organizations must develop secure, anonymous and/or confidential reporting solutions to empower all employees (and third-parties) to report suspicious incidents, violence, fraud, misconduct, ethical violations, etc. And once an incident has been reported, all appropriate personnel (ethics, legal, management, compliance, safety, law enforcement, etc) should be immediately and automatically notified to ensure a timely response and ensure red flags do not fall through the cracks.
Based on other surveys and reports, the percentage of people reporting incidents is even lower and when tips are not reported, it is nearly impossible for organizations to proactively prevent or intervene.
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OIG tells CMS to Improve Hotline Responses
Posted In Government, Incident Reporting, Validations on May 3rd, 2011 Tags: Abuse Hotline, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Fraud, Incident Reporting, OIG
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to improve the way its staff and contractor staff process complaints from its waste, fraud and abuse hotline. Long timeframes and inefficient processes have delayed starting work on many complaints. On average, more than five months passed between CMS receiving complaints from OIG and contractors beginning work on them.
Lessons Learned: It is critical for government agencies and all organizations to improve responses to tips and hotline complaints. Not only are five months of inaction un-excusable, but employees aware of this timeframe will no longer trust and will no longer report incidents to hotlines that do not deliver results. Organizations must develop secure and anonymous incident reporting procedures and ensure all incidents are communicated to the appropriate personnel immediately for a timely and documented response to achieve trust and better results.
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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 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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