Expert Blog: Security Insights
Now more than ever, top-notch physical and network security in schools is essential to student and staff well-being. A vigilant and proactive approach to security concerns, problems, and breaches is necessary when it comes to maintaining clean IT networks and incident-free schools.
To that effect, eSchool News has teamed up with Patrick Fiel, public safety adviser for ADT Security Services and a former executive director of school security for the Washington, D.C. Public School System, which included 163 urban schools. He also retired after 22 years of service in the Army Military Police Corps, where he had special assignments to the Pentagon, SHAPE/NATO headquarters (Belgium) and the West Point Military Academy. During his time with ADT, Fiel has conducted more than 100 television, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews as a public and school safety expert. Fiel will provide his perspective and experience on a number of school security issues.
We hope his unique insight will help keep your district on top of the most current advances in school security, awareness, and emergency prevention.
–The Editors
SROs: A great investment in campus safety
One of the best security measures any district can employ is a school resource officer (SRO)--a trained police officer assigned to a campus. If an emergency strikes, the…
Let everyone know it’s just a drill
I’ve used this blog several times to urge schools to have an emergency plan in place and then practice it again and again. The plan should cover...…
Buses need security, too
School buses are often a likely place for assaults, bullying, and vandalism to occur. In a Chicago suburb, a 3-year-old, hearing-impaired girl was allegedly assaulted on a school…
Campus recovering after massacre
It’s been more than five years now since a 16-year-old student at Red Lake High School in Minnesota shot and killed his grandfather and the grandfather’s girlfriend. He…
Work with staff, parents, and students
Not long ago, the decision by a Northeastern school district to install security cameras in two high schools without any announcement to parents, faculty, staff or students stirred…
Think outside the box: Doing more with less, Part 2
In my last blog, I wrote about the massive budget deficits facing most school districts, making it vital that everyone learn to do more with less. Yet, at…
Think outside the box: Find ways to do more with less
Is it possible to maintain a strong security posture while spending no more or even less on security equipment and services? It is possible. But it will take…
Schools see the value of cameras
More and more school districts are seeing the value of camera systems in helping to protect campuses. There is a reason districts across the country are turning to…
Keep after-school events safe
The start of a new high school football season is a reason to celebrate–but it also is a time for administrators to be on guard against those who…
More schools take security seriously
As we enter a new school year, I'm happy to see several districts spent the summer making investments in keeping their students, faculty and staff safer. One New…
Train and maintain
One of the more confusing stories I’ve read lately comes from East St. Louis, Ill., where burglars have taken more than $1 million in...…
Copper thieves continue to strike
Schools are not immune. I recently wrote about an Oklahoma district hard hit by thieves taking or gutting……
Good advice for campus administrators and law enforcement
The recently released report, Campus Security Guidelines: Recommended Operational Policies for Local and Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, prepared by the Major Cities Chiefs of Police Association, contains some…
We owe our students more
Once a student becomes a victim of a school crime, he or she becomes more aware of……
Detroit’s commitment to school security
The Detroit Public Schools is moving briskly forward with plans to spend nearly...…
Great cooperation between school and law enforcement officials
School and law enforcement officials in Central Florida’s Volusia County are to be commended for their efforts to……
Handcuffs for first graders?
How far can a school go in disciplining students? Twenty states have laws permitting……
Schools: Protect yourselves
Here’s another story that leaves me shaking my head. A Midwestern school district has reported……
Don’t ‘pass the trash’
An investigation in 2008 by the state of Oregon found that 47 schools in the state had made a “pass the trash” deal over the previous five years.…
Safe passages
Chicago has had major problems with gangs attacking people throughout the city, including school kids going to and from school each day. I’m sure many of us…
Let cops carry the guns
One thing that still surprises me is the number of states willing to allow college and university students to carry concealed weapons on campus. More than 30 years…
What price on student safety?
One of the most important security measures any district can employ is a program in which……
Cameras up North
Although security cameras in schools raise staff and student privacy issues, they can be highly beneficial when it comes to...…
Practice the plan
Recently police officers moved through a Florida middle school hunting for a gunman that had opened fire on campus. There was blood everywhere. Students were lying…
Lock the gates
It seems a first-grade student recently slipped away from a Massachusetts school with the intention of walking home. Apparently, none of the school staff noticed him leaving. Fortunately,…