Preparedness is a hard word to digest. It’s long and has a stale taste as it leaves your lips. As a concept, it is always just a little too ambiguous (i.e., How do I know when I’m really prepared?) or too overwhelming (i.e., The 165.5 Steps to Safety). Preparedness, by any other name, is much […]
In my roles as a School Resource Officer and within several school safety organizations, I have the benefit of learning about many of the latest tools and technology in school safety. That said, I’m often asked for help sifting through all of them. My advice to those inquiring usually starts like this… Don’t start shopping […]
Almost two years have passed now since the morning I packed up my three daughters and sent them off for another day of school in Newtown, Connecticut. Only two were returned to me at the end of that day, December 14, 2012. My youngest daughter, Josephine, was killed in her first grade classroom only moments […]
Caring for the Caregiver by Drs. Stephen E. Brock & Melissa A. Reeves Early in our careers as school psychologists, we learned quickly that helping children cope with crisis events was hard work. While at times rewarding, the powerful emotions associated with traumatic circumstances took their toll. We often found ourselves experiencing some of the […]
When Tragedy Strikes at School: Lessons Learned Jim Witt, Superintendent of Lake Local Schools, Millbury, Ohio On June 5, 2010, at approximately 11:30 PM, a level E-F 4 tornado roared through the Toledo, area, causing death and destruction in several outlying suburbs. Our community, eight miles east of Toledo, was particularly hard-hit, with eight resulting […]
We send our unconditional love and support to the families, friends, and school community of Marysville, Washington. We are with you. The Parker and Gay Families
Practice. Practice. Practice. This is something that we have all heard since we were young kids. If you were an athlete, you needed to practice in order to gain proficiency in your sport or prepare for a game. If you were a musician, you spent hours practicing to excel or prepare for a recital or […]
Don’t get us wrong, metal detectors, security fences, double entry doors and other physical safety measures are essential. But short of turning schools into prisons, it is safe to say that the best of school physical security measures will not prevent all acts of school violence. So then what is the answer? What are the […]
I dealt with school violence before it was front-page news. To me, any child killed anywhere, anytime, is a huge tragedy; but, decades ago, when children were killed in the inner city of Cleveland, you probably never heard about them. The Newtown shootings shocked this country like no other school violence. Working in school […]
Safety and Security. These two words get tossed around and together all the time. They are often used interchangeably. They are, of course, strongly related, but two distinct concepts nonetheless. In terms of our school communities, “safety” is a global term, used to describe our efforts to keep the school community and environment safe. Safety […]
