By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  When it comes to bully prevention, connecting the dots is one of the best ways to achieve better results and to achieve “well done”. Too many times after a bullying incident or targeted violence incident or a suicide, we hear school leadership, government leaders and expert review panels say the incident was not prevented because we didn’t connect the dots. Which dots?  And what dots are not getting connected? Take a moment and think about all the dots in your organization. Think about all the People Dots (boards, administrators, principals, student affairs, threat teams, counselors, staff, teachers, first responders, law enforcement,) you need toRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  Bully Prevention is receiving a lot of attention this month and that is a very good thing.  Lots of websites, articles, TV shows and experts have voiced their ideas, opinions and suggestions for bully prevention and these are really good things. I was a guest on a radio show with Larry Jacobs where we discussed alarming trends with bullying and the critical need for schools, families and communities to improve bully prevention results sooner than later.   To listen to the live interview, click here. When it comes to achieving better results, one of my favorite quotes comes from Benjamin Franklin: “Well done is alwaysRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  October is National Bullying PREVENTION month, so I thought it would be helpful to blog about some of the key issues relating to bullying PREVENTION. First things first…Bullying and Cyber Bullying related problems are serious and better PREVENTION efforts are critically needed.  Studies, Town Hall Meetings, documentaries and numerous stories clearly show the alarming trends, startling incidents and negative consequences that bullying and cyber bullying has on young adults, teens and kids. BUT…Bullying PREVENTION is possible.  Lessons learned clearly show that nearly every bullying and cyber bullying incident was preventable….so why are PREVENTION efforts failing so miserably? In my four part blog series, IRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, School Safety

  Anderson Cooper hosted a Town Hall Meeting on Sunday with the theme of ‘Bullying: It Stops Here’. I watched the town hall meeting and I listened to the experts and took notes. I listened to the kids and took even more notes.  I listened to Anderson Cooper say this about the kids: “We owe them more than talk”.   I agree! Benjamin Franklin nailed this a long time ago saying: Well Done is Always Better Than Well Said. The Town Hall Meeting revealed: Statistics from the survey at Wheatley High School were similar to most other surveys Kids are still not sure how to interveneRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  What can schools do to ensure students do not fall through the cracks? Many of you may have watched the recent 48 Hours special segment on bullying.  The show highlighted one school district’s proactive efforts to implement bullying prevention programs and solutions.  We witnessed one young student who we felt like was rising above the bullying and truly being helped by these programs.  However, as the year progressed, we learned he began to hide the bullying, pretended like everything was okay, and later attempted suicide. In September we were also deeply saddened by the tragic suicide of Jamie Rodemeyer who had previously filmed anRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety

Is your school prepared to respond accordingly to reports of bullying and harassment? Are you prepared to investigate, stop, prevent, eliminate hostile environments, take appropriate actions and document your actions? Are your school leaders aware of the different types of bullying that may be creating hostile learning environments in your school? Studies show for students to achieve academically, they must feel secure and comfortable in their learning environment. A recent study from the University of Virginia revealed the academic performance of students in schools with persistent bullying may suffer because students are less engaged in learning due to fears about bullying or a greater levelRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Risk Management

  I saw a discussion last week that was asking for input on ways to reduce employee risk.  Most of the responses offered a technology solution…which is interesting considering most studies and trends show employee risks and weaknesses are getting worse and more alarming even though organizations have spent thousands, millions and billions on technology solutions.  Does this seem weird to you? One of the responses from one of the participants caught my attention when they said “it is difficult to patch a user”. Interesting comment and I responded by saying it is NOT THAT DIFFICULT to patch users/employees….IF you are using the right resources.Read More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Legal, School Safety

  In case you missed it, federal authorities are investigating “incidents involving harassment and bullying” in Minnesota’s largest school district. The civil rights investigation is underway in Anoka-Hennepin, a suburban Minneapolis school district, and based on the seven-month “landmark federal investigation” that recently ended involving Tehachapi Unified School District in California, the Office of Civil Rights is serious about protecting the rights and safety of students. School leaders at every school in the U.S. should be taking a serious look at their ability to prevent the preventable involving harassment, bullying, cyber bullying and other alarming trends in schools.  School leaders should review their ability toRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Human Resources, Legal, Regulatory Compliance

  I recently came across a discussion between Markkula Center for Applied Ethics’ Executive Director Kirk Hanson and Craig Nordlund, former general counsel of Agilent Technologies.  Nordlund believes the concern for ethics must be shared by everyone in the organization, but suggests ethics programs will be ineffective without leadership from the company’s top executives. It is hard to argue with his comment stating “ethics programs will not work unless there is leadership on ethics from the company’s top executives”. However, lessons learned and incidents seem to clearly reveal that leadership from the company’s top executives is not enough. So why is creating an ethics cultureRead More →

By:
On:
In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Financial, Information Privacy, Information Security

  Strike 1: The first incident occurred on April 26th, when SONY announced personal information had been compromised on their PlayStation Network exposing the personal information of 77 million users. Strike 2: One week later, a second security breach occurred on a different SONY network compromising 24.6 million users. Strike 3:  A third incident took place with the leakage of 2500 users’ names and addresses.  SONY admitted that this breach was due to human error on the part of their system management team. In a recent study from Application Security and Unisphere Research, more than 50% of the respondents felt that human error (or maliciousRead More →