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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

  The Prevention Gapidemic and Connecting the Dots Shootings:  Twenty-eight innocent students and staff members were killed in 44 U.S.A. school shootings in the 14 months following the tragedy at Sandy Hook. Stabbings: Multiple stabbings in Canada, China and USA, including 16-year-old student in PA who stabbed 21 students and an adult — leaving four seriously injured.   In a 2013 Student Safety Survey – 37% of students said they were aware of an individual that poses a potential risk to their school.  (scary by itself and even scarier since most school officials don’t know) https://www.awareity.com/public/StudentSafetyReport.asp Bullying & Suicide:  The CDC (Centers for Disease ControlRead More →

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In: Research

I am being bullied. I talked to my school and nothing happened. What can I do? This student guide has been created to help you and your classmates make a real difference with proactive actions… This is not your average bully guide…We will not tell you “kids will be kids” or “bullying is a rite of passage”. To request your guide, click here.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, School Safety

  Earlier this month, an elementary school in Buncombe County, N.C., banned 9-year-old Grayson Bruce from carrying his My Little Pony backpack, saying it triggered bullying. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/18/my-little-pony-backpack-banned-school-north-carolina/6565425/ According to the student’s mother, one of the school counselor’s suggestions was to hide it. “If you have something like this you’re asking for trouble.” Think about it…BANNING is actually teaching and reinforcing intolerance, BANNING is not helping youth learn how to be tolerant and inclusive. If a school bans My Little Pony backpacks because it might lead to bullying, what’s next?  Banning students with red hair, banning students who are overweight, banning students in wheel chairs andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety, Uncategorized

  Earlier this month, Awareity released our 2013 Student Safety Report – What Students Know and School Administrators Don’t. To request the full report click here. The findings outlined in the report provide administrators with the validations and evidence they need to justify immediate action. Just think how much safer every school would be if all students were equipped with the right tools to report incidents and concerning behaviors. Just think what a difference it would make if School Officials were equipped with the right tools to collect information, connect all the right dots, investigate, perform threat assessments, intervene, monitor, and proactively prevent reports fromRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, Risk Management

  Albert Einstein said: “Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.”    I definitely agree with Albert Einstein on this quote.  When it comes to preventing incidents and tragedies in schools, colleges and organizations of all types, evidence clearly reveals our planet is in need of more geniuses. Are you ready to be a genius? Lots of people and experts have opinions on solving problems and let’s be honest…it is fairly easy to look at a problem and make suggestions that people need to do this or that or add more of this or more of that or do it this way or that. With soRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, School Safety

  After a very cold and very early start on Sunday morning with a 3 hour delay due to frozen airplane systems and frozen lines (meaning no hot coffee on a very cold plane!), I finally made it to the 25th annual National Youth At-Risk (NYAR) Conference in Savannah, GA. http://coe.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar/ The NYAR conference started with a very motivating and uplifting keynote from Keith Brown – Mr. I’m Possible.   http://www.keithlbrown.com/ Mr. Brown reminded everyone that we can make a difference – a huge difference for all youth if we do that little bit extra and if we do not let negativity discourage us from doingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Article originally posted on Corrections.com http://www.corrections.com/news/article/35182-a-walk-in-the-shoes-of-an-sro   What does a School Resource Officer (SRO) do all day? Do they just stand in the hallway at school waiting for violence to occur? Should schools be spending their limited funding on SROs? These are questions, Safety and Security Coordinator for Bradley County Schools, Scotty Hernandez often receives. And NO, the SROs are not twiddling their thumbs. To the contrary, these officers are heavily involved in student activities, classroom lectures, after school events, discipline and more. Bradley County is one of the school districts fortunate enough to have an SRO in each of their school buildings. But,Read More →

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In: Media

What does a School Resource Officer (SRO) do all day? Do they just stand in the hallway at school waiting for violence to occur? Should schools be spending their limited funding on SROs? For full article: http://www.corrections.com/news/article/35182-a-walk-in-the-shoes-of-an-sroRead More →

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In: Success

St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Columbus, Indiana, has implemented a web‐based anonymous incident reporting and prevention platform called TIPS to help maintain a safe environment for the members of their congregation and surrounding community. St. Peter’s Lutheran is committed to providing a safe and secure school for all students and staff. Awareity’s TIPS is an award‐winning online tool for incident reporting, incident tracking, investigations, training, documentation and more. TIPS empowers students, parents, employees, administrators, staff and community members to be heard and to anonymously report warning signs and concerning behaviors. The goal of TIPS is PREVENTION and to help identify red flags before an incidentRead More →