The Next Federal Investigation – Minnesota School District
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Education, Legal, School Safety on July 20th, 2011 Tags: Anoka-Hennepin, bullying, Bullying Incident Report, bullying lawsuit, Cyberbullying, deliberate indifference, Harassment, Notre Dame, OCR Dear Colleague, Seth Walsh, Tehachapi Unified School District
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Now is the time to replace outdated status quo methodologies with 21st century platforms that empower schools (leaders, faculty, staff, students, parents, community members, etc.)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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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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2010 – Massive Security Breaches…Lessons Learned
Posted In Education, Financial, Government, Health Care, Information Security, Validations on May 3rd, 2011 Tags: Awareness Training, data breaches, Security Awareness, Social Engineering
Check out this recent overview of 10 of the largest data breaches from 2010 resulting in the loss of millions of data records.
Lessons Learned: Is your organization providing ongoing situational awareness training? People are the weak link for the majority of data breaches which are caused by human error, lost devices, social engineering attacks and numerous other poor decsions. It is critical for organizations to educate their employees (and third-parties) ongoing as risks, threats, requirements, and ’next’ practices are constantly changing. Lessons learned clearly reveal that once-a-year general training is not enough.
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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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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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