Teachable Moments, Bullying Laws and Escalating Liabilities – Part 2
Posted In Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety on February 17th, 2012 Tags: bullying law, bullying lawsuit, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, Emerson Board of Education, New Jersey Anti-Bullying, OCR Bullying, TIPS bullying
If you missed part one of this blog, please click here for teachable moments and bullying laws…
Now that you have reviewed Part 1, my other concern with this story involves communities and their taxpayers. Is the complaint by school administrators and this vote by the Council on Local Mandates putting communities and taxpayers in a more vulnerable situation with even more liabilities and costs?
Do these school administrators know what happens when a school does not take appropriate actions by equipping everyone to report incidents, investigating all reports, intervening, preventing a hostile environment and documenting their actions? Are the Council on Local Mandates and the school administrators for the school districts in Bergen County aware of multiple OCR Dear Colleague Letters that were sent to all schools?
All school administrators could benefit from takking a few minutes to review an Executive Briefing on the Federal Investigation of a school district in California that did not follow OCR Dear Colleague Letter mandates, click here to request your copy.
I also wonder if these school administrators realize that a New Jersey school district within the same Bergen County (Emerson Board of Education) recently paid $130,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit because the school failed to take appropriate actions to intervene and prevent bullying targeted at a student? The NJ Attorney General said this about the school:
“There is sufficient evidence to support a reasonable suspicion that these incidents of bullying were either ignored or improperly handled by Respondent.”
And I wonder if NJ school administrators are aware there are two more similar lawsuits pending against New Jersey school districts in which students claimed administrators ignored their reports of bullying?
As I mentioned in Part 1, I am passionate about student safety and because of my passion I bring attention to these stories to help school administrators take actions before it’s too late for even one at-risk student. I like sharing successes from other school leaders who are reforming status quo, reducing costs and improving student safety and I was honored to receive the Risk Innovator Award for Education from Risk & Insurance Magazine and the Responsibility Leader Award too.
Give me a call at 402.730.0090 as I am confident we can help you too!
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Teachable Moments and Anti-Bullying Laws – Part One
Posted In Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety on February 13th, 2012 Tags: anti-bullying bill of rights, bullying investigation, bullying lawsuit, bullying prevention, Bullying Reporting, council on local mandates, new jersey bullying, School Safety, student safety
A recent news story involving the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, the Council on Local Mandates and a school district in Warren County in New Jersey caught my attention. After reviewing related articles, are New Jersey school administrators missing out on a significant teachable opportunity?
The Council on Local Mandates voted 7-2 that the New Jersey state law regarding anti-bullying must be amended because it includes an unfunded mandate for local school districts. Is this really the message school administrators want to send to their students about doing the right thing? Are these school leaders saying student safety and anti-bullying issues are not going to be addressed unless they get more funding?
The school district said that it would cost them $6,000 to train educators – with more costs in the future. Apparently the administration of this school district would be using status quo training approaches, because $6,000 is very expensive. Status quo mass training approaches are clearly not helping school administrators prevent bullying, as alarming incidents continue to mount around the globe.
In another related article, school administrators said the law is creating more paperwork, investigations and meetings.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/137252293_2_districts_fighting_bully_law.html?c=y&page=1
The NJ Anti-Bullying law does not create more paperwork, more investigations or more meetings…the status quo approaches do. The NJ law provides school leaders with guidance and a blueprint they can use to prevent bullying and related consequences more effectively.
Unfortunately, these NJ school administrators missed a great opportunity to use the new anti-bullying law to create teachable moment in innovation and entrepreneurship. For example, wouldn’t it make more sense for school administrators to gather ideas for reforming expensive, status quo, labor-intensive, paper-based and ineffective 20th century approaches? Or school administrators could have explored success stories from innovative school leaders that could help reduce costs and equip their school to prevent bullying?
I have always been very passionate about student safety, and without a “funded mandate” we began studying failures and lessons learned, and then began developing tools to eliminate those gaps and disconnects that were showing up in schools over and over and over. I am proud to say we are helping schools save lives, save money, save time, save reputations and save resources and we did it without a “funded mandate”.
We also compiled the results of our research so we can share our findings with school administrators that do not have the time and resources to do their own research. If you would to review one of our executive briefings from our research, click here.
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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.
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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 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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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.
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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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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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