Don’t ‘pass the trash’
Classroom security: What you should (not) do
Safe School Week will be a national observation during the third week in October (19-25). One study, “On the Importance of a Safe School and Classroom Climate for…
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 remember…
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 on the…
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,…
Kid vandals?
The criminals seem to get younger all the time. A school in Louisiana recently reported...
3,000 new sex offenders each month
As of June, there are now 716,750 registered sex offenders in this country. What alarms me is that number is up nearly 72,000 over the past two years.…
Protect teachers, too
Most often, talk about securing campuses centers around protecting the students. But there are times that we have to remember that we need to...
Why does something always have to go wrong?
Moved by the disappearance of a 7-year-old boy in Portland, Ore., a mother of two in southwest Washington has started a petition to…
More on preparing for a potential campus lockdown
In my last higher-education blog, I wrote about planning for how and when to lockdown a campus. Once the task force is in place and working, it’s time…
Peers judge peers
The idea behind zero tolerance for school violence is generally a good one. But some states and local districts have taken their policies a little bit too far...
Hotline goes 21st century
I applaud the state of Missouri for taking one of my favorite ideas for deterring campus crime and violence...
Use summer to upgrade campus lockdown procedures
Summer is a good time for a college or university administration to review its emergency/crisis plans. Your first step in creating or upgrading a plan should be…
Cameras help the human eye
We always have to be cognizant of privacy rights when installing cameras. I could never support cameras in restrooms or athletic locker rooms. But I also don’t see…
Problems happen
Fortunately, the cost of delaying installation of basic security measures didn’t result in much more than an inconvenience for one midwest K-12 district.
Cameras, guards, and alarms
Video surveillance cameras, police or security guards on campus, and alarmed doors are all fairly common on K-12 campuses. Here's my take on how effective they can be...
No access for bad guys
In my last blog, I referenced some of the security measures used on K-12 campuses, according to a Zogby International survey of 400 teachers. The most popular measure…
Teachers speak about campus security
