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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Any good Coach will tell you a well-placed time out can be a game changer. Clearly now is the time to call a time out for ALL School Administrators, ALL Coaches and ALL Student Athletes!  (actually all students) This tragic incident involving a female student who was raped by multiple student athletes is yet another example of how a lack of awareness and a lack of accountability at the individual-level is going to have life-long effects on multiple students, multiple families, multiple School Administrators and many others. Innovators like Athletic Directors Gil Cloud and Mick Wilson at Tulsa Public Schools have taken the lead.  TheyRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety

  Co-Authored by Keira Olvey and Rick Shaw of Awareity   Adolescence can be a terrifying time for children. Harassment, assault, bullying, cyber bullying, weapon threats, stabbings, shootings, bombings, gangs, child abuse, human trafficking, drugs, alcohol and more – have all become potential risks that children face in their community and their school. These terrifying risks can cause children to: Experience anxiety and depression, Fear for one’s safety at school or to and from school, Lose focus on school work, Withdraw from friends and family, Blame themselves and others for troubles, Lose self-esteem and self-respect, Withdraw from school and social activities once enjoyed, Retaliate withRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Rick recently sat down with Homer Public School’s Secondary Principal Randy Pirner to learn more about their school safety efforts and use of TIPS.  As a small rural school in Nebraska, we are definitely impressed with Homer’s leadership and their innovative efforts to keep their students safe! Below is a quick excerpt from the interview.  Click here to listen to the rest of Principal Pirner’s Lessons Learned!   Why did your school see the need for a proactive prevention program like TIPS? Principal Pirner: We found that we had an issue with bullying; not a significant number, but we had a total disconnect fromRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Emergency Management, School Safety

    The title of a recent article caught my attention – “Last Line of Defense” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/19/universitys-new-whiteboards-double-bulletproof-shields   The article talks about how a higher education institution has spent $60,000 on whiteboards that can be utilized by teachers as bulletproof shields. The president of the institution said: “We are not really doing this in response to a specific event; I see it more as an opportunity to be prepared and to be proactive in our approach to safety on campus,” Bell said. “We think that it’s worthwhile.” This comment highlights a very serious and very dangerous awareness gap with many school and college administrators.  REACTINGRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Risk Management, School Safety

  Unfortunately, many people do not know the differences between security and safety because so many security solutions have been misrepresented or misunderstood. For over 30 years, I have had the privilege to assist thousands of organizations with multiple security related technologies, services, vendors and solutions.  For the most part, Security related efforts are understood by most people because security efforts are focused primarily at REACTING to a risk or threat at your front door and/or REACTING to an incident or tragedy in progress.  For example, security related efforts include, but are not limited to, doors/locks (to keep people/threats out), cameras (to record threats atRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

  Baking a cake and preventing bullying have more in common than you may think.   If you were going to bake a cake, you would start by finding your favorite cake recipe (and there are hundreds of them to choose from).  Based on how serious you are about making a great cake, you can choose a simple recipe or a more complex recipe.   Similarly, if you were going to prevent bullying, most schools start by finding their favorite bully prevention “recipe /program” (and there are hundreds of them to choose from).  Based on how serious you are about preventing bullying, you can chooseRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  The discussion on school safety is being held at every school and community across the Nation.  The end goal is the same, ensuring the safety of every young child and staff member within the school.  But, how we get there is up for debate. One of the most common solutions being offered by many is to implement armed security guards or provide weapons to teachers/staff – after all as the NRA said, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. However, even good guys with guns can sometimes inadvertently lead to dangerous situations asRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Which is more valuable, research-based evidence or real-time/results-based evidence?   Let’s start with a definition of each:   Research-based evidence – The term evidence-based is often in the educational and psychological literature as the level of evidence that supports the efficacy, generality, and use of a practice as indicated by research and usually includes the research of groups of individuals over-time and trending over-time.   Real-Time/Results-based evidence – measured in real-time based on results at the organizational level and based on results at the individual level   Research-based evidence relating to bullying, cyberbullying, sexual assaults, suicides and many other student safety related incidents canRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Risk Management, School Safety

  As a follow-up to our previous blog, I wanted to share some real-world solutions that are helping schools proactively PREVENT. Proactive prevention starts with empowering and equipping students, families, teachers, churches and other community members [like all the people coming forward now who observed “concerning behaviors” with this disconnected young man in Newtown, CT] with the right tools to anonymously or non-anonymously report incidents, concerning behaviors and signs of evil before the evil builds and escalates into a tragedy.  Prevention is possible and prevention is very affordable. A lot of time, money and resources are spent on reactive security equipment, plans and training, yetRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Risk Management, School Safety

  The evil that showed up at the front door of Sandy Hook Elementary School was horrible, morally unbelievable and extremely scary. Most everyone is wondering how this could happen? How could this 20 year old kid be so full of evil that he would murder young innocent children, innocent adults and his own mother? We are hearing and seeing a lot of reactions – emotional reactions mostly – to this evil and horrible incident. Emotional reactions are clearly justified as we are all human, especially when young innocent children are murdered and threatened. We are hearing emotional reactions focused at guns. We are hearingRead More →