School Bullying Outbreak – Building and Maintaining a Safe School Environment
Posted In Education, School Safety on January 26th, 2012 Tags: anonymous bullying reporting, bullycide, bullying, bullying prevention, Incident ReportingA special thanks to Sarah Fudin for the “School Bullying Outbreak” infographic above raising awareness and providing facts about bullying methods, bullying consequences and preventative measures. Once you have reviewed this educational graphic, please scroll down to see our “Next Steps” for bullying prevention.
Via MAT@USC: Masters in Teaching
Like Sarah points out in her blog, we all believe schools should be a safe place for students where they can learn without fear or apprehension. Yet the “School Bullying Outbreak” infographic reveals bullying problems and alarming personal consequences are creating lots of fear and challenges for students, schools, parents and communities too.
And bullying and cyberbullying challenges are not just causing problems in classrooms in the U.S.A.; challenges and dangerous trends exist in schools all around the globe….Why?
Safe learning environments should be created in schools and classrooms, yet dangerous and alarming trends continue to cause major problems in schools and classrooms? Why?
Tragic incidents, suicides, lawsuits, federal investigations and settlements continue to reveal how schools are struggling to “build and maintain” a safe learning environment in the 21st century…Why?
The simple answer is because schools, students, parents and community resources are “not EQUIPPED to build and maintain” a safe learning environment in 21st century.
For example, the “School Bullying Outbreak” infographic lists prevention methods like anti-bullying programs, intervening in aggressive interaction between students, enforcing rules and behavior management in the detection and diffusion of bullying, implementing a school-wide anti-bullying policy and rallying parents and staff together to be vigilant.
These are all good ideas that sound good too, but…
Schools, staff, students, parents, safety teams, bus drivers, counselors, law enforcement and other community resources are NOT EQUIPPED to:
- Build and maintain a safe learning environment in the 21st century
- Monitor anti-bullying programs
- Intervene between aggressive interaction between students and track the situation
- Enforce rules because of the lack of accountability
- Enforce behavior management
- Detect and diffuse bullying and other hostile activities
- Implement a school-wide anti-bullying policy
- Rally parents and staff together
Schools, staff, students, parents, safety teams, bus drivers, counselors, law enforcement and other community resources are NOT EQUIPPED with 21st century tools to ensure situational awareness and accountability with audit-ready, legal-ready and real-time documentation at the individual-level.
Lessons learned have exposed 20th century tools – binders, intranets, e-mails, annual training, memos, assemblies, policies, plans, programs, etc. – as “blueprints” and not tools. Individuals need to be “EQUIPPED” with tools to build, monitor, intervene, enforce, detect, implement, rally, connect-the-dots and prevent preventable incidents such as bullying, cyberbullying, dropouts, depression, suicides, violence, substance abuse, criminal records and other preventable consequences.
To learn more about EQUIPPING your school, click here.
No Comments
Email This Post
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.
No Comments
Email This Post
Alibis Don’t Save Lives or Prevent Bullying
Posted In Legal, Risk Management, School Safety on November 15th, 2011 Tags: Anti-Bullying, bullying prevention, New Jersey Bill of Rights, New Jersey Coalition for Bullying, Richard Bozza, Stuart Green
When it comes to anti-bullying efforts, most seem to be in agreement that we need to do something about bullying. It is everyone’s moral obligation to lookout for the safety of students and do the right thing. However, in New Jersey, there is a debate on new legislation and school requirements.
On November 1, 2011, the Executive Director at New Jersey Association of School Administrators, Mr. Richard Bozza, submitted an ‘Opinion’ piece discussing the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights that started by saying, “THERE’S NO question about it. We need to do something about bullying.”
Mr. Bozza’s opinion also stated the unfunded mandate requires schools to meet a long list of requirements. Mr. Bozza’s opinion referenced several concerns with implementing the law including an 18-page compliance checklist, paperwork, reviews and legal expenses.
On November 8, 2011, Mr. Stuart Green from the New Jersey Coalition for Bullying submitted his counter ‘Opinion’ saying. “Addressing bullying is not a matter of money. It is a moral obligation.”
WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT BULLYING…SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
The solution begins with equipping everyone with the right tools they need to prevent bullying. Schools need innovative tools and platforms that replace inefficient, ineffective and expensive status quo approaches that Mr. Bozza describes.
For example, traditional training approaches are expensive and time consuming. However, innovative web-based tools cost MANY TIMES LESS than the expenses schools are incurring with paper handouts, trainers, facilities, overtime and lost productivity costs.
Yes, paperwork costs are expensive, so why are schools creating more paperwork these days?? Innovative platforms eliminate paperwork and improve efficiencies and improve results.
Yes, legal fees are expensive, but anti-bullying policies are needed with or without the law, so WHY wouldn’t the New Jersey Association of School Administrators provide templates with customization guidance to their members??
Delays from scheduled school vacations, staff vacations and police involvement…once again the status quo approaches Mr. Bozza refers to are inefficient, ineffective and expensive. Innovative tools empower School Safety Team members to securely login from anywhere and review incidents as needed without delays. Innovative tools enable School Safety Teams to easily document actions, investigations, prevention efforts, follow up efforts and review previous incidents saving tremendous amounts of time, resources and money compared to traditional approaches.
The steps in the 18-page checklist Mr. Bozza mentions should already be taking place in schools, however an innovative platform of tools can equip school personnel to save time, money and resources.
The bottom line is that schools are spending too much time, resources and money on traditional approaches that lessons learned clearly show are not working. Schools can both reduce their costs and “do something about bullying”. I expect more from leaders, because alibis do not save lives…or money.
No Comments
Email This Post
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.
No Comments
Email This Post
Is a Disconnect Preventing Bully Prevention?
Posted In School Safety on October 31st, 2011 Tags: bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, school boards, School Safety
A disconnect is seemingly growing and becoming more and more serious every day. Disconnects in schools exist for many reasons including:
- silos and departments
- hierarchy and org chart issues
- multiple locations
- lack of ongoing awareness and accountability
- ineffective and outdated policies and procedures
- the disconnect between “well said” and “well done”
What about disconnects between Adults and Students…are these disconnects also a problem? For example, most adults never experienced cyber bullying at a young age, so can adults really relate to what students are experiencing these days?
As I work with K-12 and Higher Education leadership across the U.S., I come across numerous “old school leaders” that seem disconnected from the real pains and challenges their students are facing in school.
As I was pondering this disconnect between adults and students, a slogan for Trix Cereal popped into my mind from an ‘old school’ TV ad…see if you remember it?
“Trix are for Kids”*
The Trix slogan got me thinking about adults and bully prevention and perhaps even a slogan:
“Bullying Conferences and Seminars are for Adults and Experts” 
But remember the rest of the Trix cereal ad? The kid would say, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for Kids” and then the rabbit would say, “and sometimes, for tricky rabbits.”*
We need adults (boards, administrators, principals, teachers, parents, bus drivers, counselors, etc.) to hear what students are saying, understand what students are going through and become “tricky rabbits” to make sure they are providing students with proven and trusted ways to be heard, to get help and to ultimately prevent bullying.
Students play a major role in preventing bullying, however school leaders need more effective ways to “connect the dots” – students need to be able to “connect with adults” in ways that work for students…not “old school ways” that adults are familiar with.
To request a copy of an executive briefing of the landmark federal investigation from July 2011 or to learn about successes where schools are connecting students and adults to prevent preventable incidents, click here.
*General Mills trademarked slogan
No Comments
Email This Post
Connecting the Dots in Bullying Prevention
Posted In School Safety on October 26th, 2011 Tags: anonymous bullying reporting, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, Connecting the Dots, Incident Reporting
When it comes to bully prevention, connecting the dots is one of the best ways to achieve better results and to achieve “well done”.
Too many times after a bullying incident or targeted violence incident or a suicide, we hear school leadership, government leaders and expert review panels say the incident was not prevented because we didn’t connect the dots.
Which dots? And what dots are not getting connected?
Take a moment and think about all the dots in your organization. Think about all the People Dots (boards, administrators, principals, student affairs, threat teams, counselors, staff, teachers, first responders, law enforcement,) you need to connect and think about all the silos and barriers that exist within schools and communities. Then think about all of the Policy and Procedure Dots (plans, policies, procedures, OCR DCL guidance, state laws, federal laws, legal obligations, etc) that need to be created for your organization and then updated and then connected with all the appropriate People Dots.
Why is it so difficult for schools and organizations to connect all the dots?
Is the dots? Is it management? Is it the methodologies? Is it the changing risks? Why do you think?
Lessons learned clearly reveal that schools and organizations lack the right tools and methodologies for connecting the dots. Status quo strategies, old school management and traditional 20th century methodologies all play a role in why schools are struggling to connect the dots.
For example, one of the most important steps in connecting the dots is incident reporting. Studies show about 1 or 2 out of 10 Incidents are being reported to schools using traditional hotlines and other non-anonymous options like texting and e-mails and face-to-face. Studies also show that nearly 8 out of 10 students would report incidents if they could do it anonymously. This is just one of numerous examples where schools could be utilizing more effective ways to make sure TIPS are being reported.
Connecting the dots is possible with innovative, proven and award-winning platforms such as TIPS, the key is utilizing numerous lessons learned and incidents and helping school leaders become aware of better ways to connect the dots.
No Comments
Email This Post
Bullying Prevention = Well Said AND Well Done
Posted In School Safety on October 20th, 2011 Tags: Anderson Cooper, bullying prevention, Jamie Rodemeyer
Bully Prevention is receiving a lot of attention this month and that is a very good thing. Lots of websites, articles, TV shows and experts have voiced their ideas, opinions and suggestions for bully prevention and these are really good things.
I was a guest on a radio show with Larry Jacobs where we discussed alarming trends with bullying and the critical need for schools, families and communities to improve bully prevention results sooner than later. To listen to the live interview, click here.
When it comes to achieving better results, one of my favorite quotes comes from Benjamin Franklin:
“Well done is always better than well said.”
And while Benjamin Franklin was not referring to bullying when he made this comment, I believe bully prevention is possible if schools can achieve “well said” AND “well done”.
Overall, schools have been doing a decent job with “well said”, however based on alarming trends, surveys and incidents schools are clearly struggling with achieving “well done”. When we continue to see student suicides, 3 million students skipping school every month because they don’t feel safe at school and student surveys that rank bullying as their number 1 safety concern…then “well done” is not working and “well said” is obviously not enough.
Anderson Cooper seems to agree according to his comment about students on his ‘Bullying: It Stops Here’ town hall meeting:
“We owe them more than talk”.
I also agree that we owe students more than talk, but the best that traditional ‘solutions’ like laws, policies, bullying programs, school assemblies and informational websites can deliver is “well said”.
Did you see what Jamey Rodemeyer wrote on his webpage just before he took his life?
“I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. What do I have to do so that people will listen to me?’’
His comments should be a lesson to everyone that immediate changes are needed. Traditional “well said” solutions AND innovative “well done” solutions are needed to achieve better results with bullying prevention and preventing the consequences of bullying.
To share a demonstration of “well said” bullying prevention and intervention solutions with your school leaders, click here.
No Comments
Email This Post
October is Bully PREVENTION Month
Posted In School Safety on October 17th, 2011 Tags: bullying prevention, bullying reporting systems, Cyberbullying
October is National Bullying PREVENTION month, so I thought it would be helpful to blog about some of the key issues relating to bullying PREVENTION.
First things first…Bullying and Cyber Bullying related problems are serious and better PREVENTION efforts are critically needed. Studies, Town Hall Meetings, documentaries and numerous stories clearly show the alarming trends, startling incidents and negative consequences that bullying and cyber bullying has on young adults, teens and kids.
BUT…Bullying PREVENTION is possible. Lessons learned clearly show that nearly every bullying and cyber bullying incident was preventable….so why are PREVENTION efforts failing so miserably?
In my four part blog series, I am going to breakdown some of the reasons that so many alarming trends are not getting better and NOT being PREVENTED. My goal for these next four blogs is to help schools, help students and help communities:
- Better understand that Bully PREVENTION is possible
- Understand PREVENTION = Well Said AND Well Done
- Realize a limited budget is NOT a limitation to PREVENTION
- Realize how Connecting the Dots means more effective PREVENTION
- Realize that adults and kids do things differently but PREVENTION is possible
- “Do the math” on incident reporting to improve PREVENTION
If you have feedback, please send to info at Awareity.com
No Comments
Email This Post
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.
No Comments
Email This Post
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.
No Comments
Email This Post
