Cameras, guards, and alarms

guard_250x251Video 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…


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.

In a survey completed last fall of 400 K-12 teachers, almost 60 percent said they have video surveillance cameras at their school.  That’s good, but it also means more than 40 percent of campuses still haven’t added cameras.  I believe camera systems can be a very effective deterrent to crime, as well as help in solving crimes that occur.…Read More

Ohio tornado kills 7, wrecks cop cars, graduation

School buses are shown after being tossed by a tornado in the parking lot of damaged Lake High School in Lake Township, Ohio Sunday, June 6, 2010 (AP).
School buses are shown after being tossed by a tornado in the parking lot of damaged Lake High School in Lake Township, Ohio Sunday, June 6, 2010 (AP).

An Ohio community whose high school was destroyed the day before graduation by a tornado that killed seven people, including the valedictorian’s father, rescheduled the ceremony as residents sifted through houses in many cases reduced to rubble.

The tornado was part of a line of storms that ripped through the Midwest on June 5 and 6, destroying dozens of homes and an emergency services building in northwest Ohio.

Storms collapsed a movie-theater roof in Illinois and ripped siding off a building at a Michigan nuclear plant, forcing a shutdown. But the worst destruction was reserved for a strip up to 300 yard wide and 10 miles long southeast of Toledo left littered on June 6 with wrecked vehicles, splintered wood and family possessions.…Read More

No access for bad guys

visitor_ss1_lgIn 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 was…

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 was some variation on visitor check-in/management.

Ninety percent of surveyed teachers said their school employs a visitor check-in process.  And 80 percent require visitor identification badges.  Sounds good, but in my experience this process usually involves a person walking into the office and signing his or her name in a book.  Then the person prints a name on an adhesive sticker to be worn on a shirt or blouse.  This works in the vast majority of cases, because most people are honest.  But this procedure won’t stop bad guys from getting on campus.…Read More

Teachers speak about campus security

GettingOnBusLast fall I was involved with a Zogby International survey, in which 400 K-12 teachers answered all manner of campus security questions. There were some interesting findings. Nearly a third of the teachers said their campus is vulnerable to…

More than 10 percent of America’s K-12 teachers feel unprepared to protect their students in the classroom.  That’s scary, because it means that teachers of more than five million students aren’t sure they can be kept safe on campus.

This is information from a Zogby International survey that I was involved with last fall.  Zogby interviewed 400 K-12 teachers from across the country. There were some other interesting findings.…Read More

Mizzou balances line between protecting students and staying out of faculty’s way

The school struck a balance between computer security and research freedom.
The school struck a balance between computer security and research freedom.

Universities pride themselves on giving students the intellectual freedom to explore their academic interests in an open, independent, and safe learning environment. A critical component of this mission is to make sure students feel secure that their private information is being protected at all times. Imagine leaving home for the first time at 18 years of age and immediately having to deal with identity theft. You’d suddenly become much more cynical, wouldn’t you?

Like all colleges, the University of Missouri collects and stores our students’ personal information, such as addresses, phone numbers, eMail addresses, transcripts, grades, and even medical records. Employees in our Residential Life department need access to this information for administrative reasons. Unfortunately, our staff members have varying levels of computer knowledge, and varying levels of internet security sense. Users inadvertently click on malicious links and visit sites that are infested with malware. As a result, several years ago, we saw that malware was taking over machines, sapping bandwidth, blocking access to applications, and potentially putting students’ personal information at risk. At one point, the security threats were coming in so fast that machines were rendered unusable.

As a part of an open learning environment it’s important that the IT department doesn’t inhibit independent thinking or intellectual freedom. However, the web surfing habits of our employees were impacting the performance of the department’s 230 computers and others’ ability to use them.…Read More

Don’t take chances with information

TwitterTexting

Twitter, which started as a way for friends and family to share quick 140-character messages, has gone mainstream.  So much so, I’ve even heard suggestions that school districts consider using it as a means to notify parents and students of emergency situations on campus.

It’s an interesting idea.  After all, Twitter is free and can reach hundreds, even thousands of followers in seconds. It can reach people by their smart phones, laptops, or desktop computers.…Read More

Stop the bullying

kidsbullyingData indicating that more children are being bullied in and out of school, along with news that a 15-year-old girl committed suicide after being bullied by classmates, have prompted new laws and school rules. Here are some important steps that school leaders and security officials can take to stop the bullying in schools…

Last fall, the American Public Health Association reported that 43 percent of American middle school students were bullied within the previous 30 days.  Since then the topic of bullying has moved to the front pages of newspapers and led television newscasts–both locally and nationally.

Much of that recent interest was fueled in March by the tragic story of a 15-year-old Massachusetts schoolgirl who committed suicide after being unrelentingly bullied in person and online.…Read More

District sued for ‘illegal’ search of student’s cell phone

A Pennsylvania student claims images on her cell phone were illegally seized and turned over to prosecutors.
A Pennsylvania student claims images on her cell phone were illegally seized and turned over to prosecutors.

A Pennsylvania school district that was at the center of a highly publicized “sexting” case was sued May 20 by a teenager who claims her principal confiscated her cell phone, found nude images she had taken of herself, and turned it over to prosecutors.

Tunkhannock Area High School Principal Gregory Ellsworth illegally searched the 17-year-old’s phone in January 2009, even though she intended the racy photos to be “seen only herself and, perhaps, her long-time boyfriend,” according to the federal lawsuit.

It says the principal gave the phone to George Skumanick Jr., at the time the Wyoming County district attorney, who threatened to file felony child pornography charges against the girl unless she took a class on sexual violence.…Read More

Facebook, MySpace confront privacy loophole

Facebook, MySpace and several other social-networking sites have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers’ names and other personal details, despite promises they don’t share such information without consent, The Wall Street Journal reports. The practice, which most of the companies defended, sends user names or ID numbers tied to personal profiles being viewed when users click on ads. After questions were raised by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook and MySpace moved to make changes. By May 20 Facebook had rewritten some of the offending computer code. Advertising companies are receiving information that could be used to look up individual profiles, which, depending on the site and the information a user has made public, include such things as a person’s real name, age, hometown and occupation. Several large advertising companies identified by the Journal as receiving the data, including Google Inc.’s DoubleClick and Yahoo Inc.’s Right Media, said they were unaware of the data being sent to them from the social-networking sites, and said they haven’t made use of it…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Administrators take top role in security

PoliceOfficerClassroomEveryone involved with our schools has a role in keeping our campuses safe and secure. That includes teachers, staff, parents, students, and law enforcement.

But it is the administrators, with the day-to-day responsibilities, that can make the largest positive impact.  They need to take the lead in providing an environment where teachers can teach and children can learn without fear.

Here are six tips I have for administrators to help make their schools more secure:…Read More

Focus on higher education security

Rotunda in SunlightThe recent death of a University of Virginia student and the arrest of her former boyfriend for suspected murder once again casts a shadow over the safety of our nation’s colleges.

The high level of media attention paid to this case and other events gives us a sense that campuses are out of control. In reality, our college and university campuses are safe places.

But administrators could do a better job in some areas……Read More