Share With 911: Empowering the school community to keep kids safe

Sharewith911 may just be the best solution I’ve seen for improving school safety, says Christopher Dawson for ZDNet Education. And it’s incredibly simple, leveraging ubiquitous classroom and consumer technology. I took a lot of flack before the holidays when I called on schools to roll out simple, low-tech physical security measures to improve student safety in the wake of the Newtown school shooting. Although a number of readers thought I was politicizing a tech blog (I wasn’t), the article was important, in my opinion, because it addressed the idea that school safety doesn’t have to be all about ID cards or RFIDs integrated with student information systems. Instead, as with all things in education, we need to look at the most effective tools and solutions, regardless of their technical wow-factor (or lack thereof). More importantly, though, the article led the folks at Share With 911 to reach out and tell me about the new service they’re rolling out this year. Share With 911 is brilliant, both in its simplicity and its game-changing ability to empower both school staff and emergency personnel to quickly and proactively act and communicate in a variety of emergency situations…

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Leaders eye school safety plans after Connecticut attack

“It’s just very difficult to be able to … eliminate all those risks,” said Rick Johnson, superintendent of the Mahomet-Seymour Community Schools in Illinois.

The mass killing inside a Connecticut elementary school has educators across the country reviewing their school security measures, reassuring parents, and asking, “What if?”

“Every principal will be going through their own protocols, the things they do on a daily basis to protect their students and staff,” said Dr. Will Keresztes, associate superintendent for student support in the school system in Buffalo, N.Y.

Amid grief and condolences for the 20 children fatally shot Dec. 14 by a gunman in Newtown, Conn., school leaders nationwide sent eMails, text messages, and phone recordings assuring parents and children their schools are safe, while acknowledging the difficult balancing act in keeping that promise.…Read More

School safety resources from the eSN archives

Here are some resources from the eSchool News archives that might help.

In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, school leaders are re-examining their school safety measures and procedures.

Here are some resources from the eSchool News archives that might help. (To read these stories, click on the headlines.)

Columbine’s lessons still sharp, a decade later…Read More

Superintendent blasts police for not notifying school officials about threat

L.A. Unified superintendent says school officials were never notified by law enforcement about the danger posed by a student accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend at a South Gate high school, the Los Angeles Times reports. Abraham Lopez, 18, was charged Monday with 10 criminal counts, including fatally stabbing 17-year-old Cindi Santana, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said…

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Don’t weep at urban violence; prevent it with better schools

Let us not linger too long wringing our hands and shedding our tears. Be assured that I write this as one who has shed many a tear over the loss of far too many young people shot and killed in north Minneapolis over the last 20 years. But I also get deeply angry over each untimely death–because this violence does not have to happen, says Gary Marvin Davison, former researcher and writer for the 2004 and 2008 editions of “The State of African Americans in Minnesota” for the Minneapolis Urban League and current director of the New Salem Educational Initiative in north Minneapolis for the StarTribune. What the wonderful youths and adults of north Minneapolis really need are our long-term effective actions, not after-the-fact weeping and lamentation. They need constructive efforts that build for the future more than they need commiseration over momentary calamity…

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Effort seeks to help schools prevent sex violence

The schools will receive letters and brief outlines of their duties under Title IX.

Federal officials who want educators to better understand how to prevent and respond to sexual assaults will kick off a nationwide awareness campaign Monday outlining victims’ rights and schools’ responsibilities.

Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are scheduled to appear at the University of New Hampshire to announce the initiative that involves colleges as well as public and private K-12 schools.

“Students across the country deserve the safest possible environment in which to learn,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re taking new steps to help our nation’s schools, universities and colleges end the cycle of sexual violence on campus.”…Read More

Districts install x-ray machines to boost school safety

Smiths Detection says x-ray machines can provide a level of security that metal detectors can't.
Smiths Detection says x-ray machines can provide a level of security that metal detectors can't.

More school districts are turning to x-ray machines like those found in airports to strengthen and improve school security—a move that school safety experts say can improve physical safety as well as students’ and teachers’ emotional well-being while inside school buildings.

Patrick Fiel, public safety advisor for ADT Security Services and former executive director of school security for the Washington, D.C., public school system, said this type of technology can prevent contraband from entering schools.

“X-ray machines definitely can reduce crime and can act as a deterrent when people know they’re going through them,” said Fiel.…Read More

Survey reveals school leaders’ opinions on 21st-century skills

Digital content and access is essential to 21st century skill-building, educators say.
Access to digital content is essential to building 21st-century skills, district leaders say.

As school district leaders increasingly incorporate so-called 21st-century skills into their instructional strategies, many believe the federal government should support the development of new school assessment models that effectively measure those skills, a new survey suggests.

Thirty-five percent of respondents in the survey, conducted by the National School Boards Association, listed “assessing 21st-century skills” as the top educational technology priority that Congress and the Obama administration should address. NSBA released the results of its survey during the organization’s annual educational technology conference in Phoenix.

More than 43 percent of survey respondents said their district already has created new school assessment measures to incorporate such skills as problem solving, teamwork, and critical thinking.…Read More

Reducing bullying and cyber bullying

bulliesThis fall, there are new and revamped laws in many states that address K-12 bullying and cyber bullying. In Massachusetts, we have one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching laws in the country. As in many states, K-12 teachers in Massachusetts have new responsibilities to respond to, report, and address bullying and cyber bullying. Here at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), we’ve developed 10 tips to help faculty cope with what can seem an overwhelming task.

1. Keep “responding” and “reporting” separate in your mind.

What behaviors do you have to report for possible formal discipline? Also, how should you respond when you see inappropriate (possibly bullying or definitely bullying) behaviors? Always respond by making it clear that you are disturbed by what you saw. Should you respond to a behavior that you might not normally report (such as laughter at a child’s expense)? The answer is yes. Remember that even if it’s not a “reportable” behavior—respond to it. Ignoring even mild bullying behaviors is essentially the same as endorsing them.…Read More

SROs: A great investment in campus safety

SROOne 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 officer is there to immediately help take control of the situation. There was a perfect example at the end of August…

One of the best security measures any district can employ is a school resource officer (SRO)–a trained police officer assigned to a campus. These officers get to know the campus, the staff, administrators, and students. And if an emergency strikes, the officer is there to immediately help take control of the situation.

There was a perfect example at the end of August. An armed intruder walked onto a high school campus in Tennessee and confronted the principal, pointing a weapon at him. The SRO stepped in between them and began to calm the intruder and move him into an area where he couldn’t harm students or other staff.…Read More

Campus recovering after massacre

police tape webIt’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 then took the grandfather’s police-issue weapons and squad car to his school, where he…

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 then took the grandfather’s police-issue weapons and squad car to his school, where he killed five students, one teacher, and an unarmed security guard before taking his own life. It still stands as one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings.

But today, the school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a much happier place. The district has received more than $2 million in school improvement grants—funds that are being used to develop staff and new curriculum with the idea of increasing student test scores and graduation rates.…Read More

Work with staff, parents, and students

home_security_camera_ste-320x243Not 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 up a hornet’s nest…

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 up a hornet’s nest.

A student newspaper first broke the story about the cameras. A debate ensued about whether or not the cameras should stay. A committee was formed to decide if the cameras represented too great a threat to the privacy of students, faculty, and staff.…Read More