Parents hesitant about NRA’s proposal for more guns in schools
The nation's largest gun-rights lobby on Dec. 21 called for the placement of an armed police officer in every school, but parents and educators question how safe such…
After unspeakable tragedy, a search for answers
While church leaders and President Barack Obama prepared to comfort a grieving town Dec. 16, federal agents planned to fan out to dozens of gun stores and shooting…
Leaders eye school safety plans after Connecticut attack
The mass killing inside a Connecticut elementary school has educators across the country reviewing their school security measures, reassuring parents, and asking, "What if?"
Could Sandy Hook shooting be a gun-control tipping point?
The question surfaces each time a mass murder unfolds, especially at a school: Will this one change the political calculus in Washington, D.C., against tougher gun control?
School safety resources from the eSN archives
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…
Feds investigating makers of cell-phone apps for kids
The government is investigating whether software companies that make cell phone apps have violated the privacy rights of children by quietly collecting personal information from mobile devices and…
Lawsuit targets ‘locator’ chips in Texas student IDs
To 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez, the tracking microchip embedded in her student ID card is a "mark of the beast," sacrilege to her Christian faith—not to mention how it…
North Carolina to outlaw student cyber bullying of teachers
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Teen’s death inspires campaign on dangers of texting while driving
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Technology helps make school bus rides safer
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As school year starts, states tackle cyber bullying
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Online ‘burn books’ sparking controversy
You have a big nose. Your butt is huge. You're ugly. You smell. These insults—and much worse—are popping up on the internet in “burn book” accounts that are…
Feds’ new anti-bullying campaign targets parents
Parents are urged to teach their kids to speak up if they witness school bullying in new ads that target an issue that top Obama administration officials vow…
New online safety curriculum helps schools document CIPA compliance
Starting this month, schools receiving federal e-Rate funding must have updated internet safety policies that show how they will educate minors about appropriate online behavior. Now, a new…
New course is like traffic school for sexting
Students who send explicit photos on their cell phones wouldn’t have to be branded as sex offenders, if a new curriculum developed by Yahoo! Inc. catches on.
How a lone grad student scooped the government—and what it means for your online privacy
As the FTC tries to protect consumers’ online privacy—by publishing a report targeting the data-collection practices of mobile apps for kids, for instance, and launching a voluntary Do…
Bullying of teachers more damaging in online era
The bullying that bus monitor Karen Klein endured on a ride home from an upstate New York school was painful and egregious, but also shows how student harassment…
Buying fake IDs online put teens’ information at risk
It seemed like a harmless way to score some beer. But prosecutors say the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., teens who handed over their names, birth dates, pictures, and signatures…
Cell phones complicate school crisis response
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Experts warn of a growing trend: Teen password sharing
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Facebook warns of recent wave of graphic spam
Facebook on Nov. 16 said it has stopped most of the spam that has flooded many users' pages with pictures showing graphic sex and violence. But the social-networking…
Software helps treat concussions for high school athletes
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Incident response plans help district address student safety
Following the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the East Coast, U.S. Homeland Security determined that schools and hospitals…
Recognizing the warning signs for teen bullying, suicide
Mainstream media outlets have coined a new term to describe the rash of student suicides committed in the wake of persistent school bullying and harassment: "bullycides."
Social media monitoring services stir debate
As cyber bullying and inappropriate online behaviors become more commonplace in today’s technology-rich world, some companies are offering services that alert parents when their children are at risk…
Principal shot, killed at Calif. elementary school
A school janitor was arrested Wednesday in the killing of a Northern California elementary school principal who was hailed as a role model for other educators.
LA schools step up security after student shooting
Security officers wielding metal detecting wands meticulously searched students Wednesday as they waited in a long line outside a Los Angeles high school where two 15-year-olds were shot…
Six girls arrested for Facebook invitation to attack a teacher
Six girls have been arrested in connection with a Facebook invitation to take part in what the poster called “Attack a Teacher Day” at two Nevada middle schools.
Assistant principal dies after gunman fires in Neb. school
An angry online posting from the 17-year-old boy who opened fire at a Nebraska high school, fatally wounding an assistant principal before later killing himself, offers some clues…
Coach: iPhone app helped save a player’s life
A quick-thinking high school basketball coach and a $1.99 iPhone application called Phone Aid are being credited with saving the life of a Southern California teenager who collapsed…
Fla. school board shooter had turbulent life
Clay Duke held a Bay City, Florida school board at gunpoint Tuesday, saying he was prepared to die. He fired at board members, missing them by inches, and…
Wis. students chatted with gunman to keep him calm
Trapped in their classroom with a student gunman, a group of terrified Wisconsin high schoolers worked desperately to keep their captor calm by chatting and laughing with him…
Dept of Ed: Some bullying violates federal law
The U.S. Department of Education is warning schools: Tolerating or failing to adequately address ethnic, sexual or gender-based harassment could put them in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
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
