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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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

  A recent investigation of anti-bullying efforts in Minnesota schools revealed a major weakness across local school districts.  Most schools are not tracking bullying incidents…which makes it almost impossible to gauge the effectiveness of their bullying prevention and intervention efforts. So just how important (and expensive) is it when schools do not track and document bullying incidents? One of the major gaps we have seen when incidents are not documented is a failure to connect the dots and allow at-risk students and individuals to fall through the cracks. For example, Let’s take a look at the following scenario…student Bobby Jones is bullying other students inRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  May 17, 2011 is National Cyber Awareness day, as well as the release day for The Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World.  Awareity is proud to be a supporting launch partner for this excellent resource for parents. Has your child ever been the victim of cyberbullying? If not, the odds are pretty high that one day he or she will be. The sad fact is 50% of teens admit to being bullied online or by text message. Today’s youth are falling victim to the perils of social media and cell phone messaging.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  What does recent a school survey reveal about ‘thou shall not snitch’ culture?  Can schools take advantage of real life situations to create a culture of preparedness, safety and prevention? The responses to this survey at H.D. Woodson High School reveal opportunities for schools to open the lines of communication, but only if school leaders understand how to relate to students and how to build trust with students. Lessons Learned:  Status quo responses to a survey, status quo comments from adults and status quo news articles validate how status quo approaches are not going to solve the problems and new challenges schools and communities faceRead More →

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In: Campus Safety, Education, Government, Incident Reporting, Regulatory Compliance, School Safety

  The Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter in October 2010 outlining schools’ responsibilities for being aware of, responding to and preventing future incidents of bullying, discrimination and harassment.  In response to the National School Board Association’s letter questioning a school’s responsibilities, the  Department of Education response clearly states it did not overreach in its original guidance to school officials— it only reiterated existing laws and policies and gave examples of how school districts can help combat bullying and harassment. Lessons Learned:  Schools have been put on notice and must develop comprehensive programs to respond to incidentsRead More →

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

  Raymond J. McNulty, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education discusses that in order to see real change in our schools and move the needle on closing the achievement gap, school leaders need to try some things that aren’t “proven.”  Organizations need to experiment with “next practices” not best practices that have been researched and proven. Lessons Learned:  As Einstein said long ago, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Lessons learned have clearly shown that schools need to replace traditional and status quo methodologies with new and innovative tools to help improve student achievement,Read More →