“Caveman Plans” – Planning for What Comes Naturally In 2002, I was an assistant principal at an elementary school on the south side of Indianapolis. On September 20, a beautiful fall day ended with an EF3 tornado that raged through 100 miles of Indiana cities and countryside. At approximately 2:00pm, the tornado clipped a middle […]
Tomorrow it will be three years since our daughters’ deaths at Sandy Hook School. Three years since Emilie, Joey, eighteen of their classmates, and six of their teachers, were killed. Three years since our lives, and countless others, were forever changed. An intruder shot out a window beside the front door of our school; and […]
Almost three years have passed since the Sandy Hook tragedy. Since then, as a country, we’ve witnessed dozens more school shootings and continuing incidences of bullying, violence, and even natural disaster. Although the Sandy Hook Tragedy caused many schools to reassess their safety and preparedness, these continuing incidents remind us that school safety needs to […]
Guest Blogger, Michael Dorn, Safe Havens International Having worked in the campus safety field for nearly thirty five years, I have never seen as much time, energy and money devoted to school safety as I have since the Sandy Hook tragedy. Formal evaluations of more than 6,000 K12 schools indicate that the results of all […]
The Edvocate recently posted an article, School Security: Just Smoke and Mirrors?, that begs the question, “Does school security really increase safety?” As the mother of a child killed at Sandy Hook, and a national school safety advocate, I believe that whether it does or not, depends upon a few more considerations. Hardware, technology, and […]
Each June finds us hopping here at Safe and Sound. Only two years into our mission to advocate for safer schools nationally, the humble non-profit we began as parents of children killed at Sandy Hook School is now working with school communities and organizations across the country for safer schools. As June signals the end […]
The following is part of an interview conducted by high school student “Melanie” with Co-Founder and Executive Director, Michele Gay. We’ll post subsequent questions and answers from the interview as part of our continuing School Safety Q & A Blog Series. We are very proud of Melanie’s contribution to the national school safety conversation! Melanie: On your [Safe […]
At Safe and Sound we often highlight the role teachers play in keeping our children safe (only a few of us are teachers…really). This week though, we tip our hats to America’s dedicated teachers for ALL that they do to foster the development of America’s future leaders, business owners, workers, professionals, parents, and citizens! We […]
Our Joey loved to play. I’ve said before that she spent half of her life on a playground–in our backyard, at parks, and of course, at school. Her dad would push her on the swings until his arms felt like they’d fall off. As National Playground Safety Week drew to a close last week, I […]
In the years since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook School on December 14, 2012, many have been working to improve school safety. School communities across the country are reexamining measures, plans, and procedures in place to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. As part of these efforts, schools nationwide are looking for tools […]
