Category Archive: Discipline and School Safety

Federal Commission on School Safety report rehashes decades-old best practices, adds a few political twists

Posted by on December 19, 2018

Statement by school security expert Kenneth S. Trump, President of National School Safety and Security Services, on the Federal Commission on School Safety’s final report: The Federal Commission on School Safety’s final report largely rehashes school safety, security, and emergency preparedness best practices that have been recognized since the Columbine era nearly 20 years ago. […]

Spring Valley High School police – student altercation analysis: A failure of administration and School Resource Officer (SRO) best practices

Posted by on November 2, 2015

The viral video of a South Carolina School Resource Officer (SRO) dragging a female student out of a classroom chair raises as many questions about a failure of school administration as it raises questions about school officer tactics and best practices in school-based policing. Three wrongs a disaster makes “This situation was a no-win as […]

Getting to the Heart of Education- Listening to the Whole At-Risk Student

Posted by on March 3, 2014

My long-time friend, colleague, and former co-worker, Dr. Steve Sroka, shares how to retain, engage, challenge, support, and educate all students: Getting to the Heart of Education- Listening to the Whole At-Risk Student By Stephen Sroka Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all……  Aristotle Many at-risk students in schools are crying […]

Bibb County Schools hire police captain fired from last job

Posted by on November 1, 2012

The Bibb County school system hired a former small-town police chief who was fired from his last job and has a pending complaint against him with the state agency that oversees police ethics and certification, according to an October 23rd story in The Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Georgia. Ronald Rodgers, the former chief in question, […]

Bibb County Schools: No conflict in hiring consultant as police chief

Posted by on September 25, 2012

The Bibb County School District’s leaders see no conflict in rehiring as its police chief the chief financial officer and senior analyst of a school safety consulting firm that just conducted a safety assessment for the district, according to local news outlets. The Georgia school district has been under fire for its handling of discipline and […]

Bibb County school crime, discipline data questioned with multiple safety reports

Posted by on September 19, 2012

The Bibb County (GA) school district remains under fire as two versions of a school safety assessment consultant’s report, along with state safety incident data, bring into question the district’s accuracy and consistency in reporting fights and weapons. The Macon Telegraph on Tuesday ran a story entitled, “Bibb school fights, weapons reported tallies differ widely.” The report claims […]

Draft school safety reports jeopardize integrity of security consultants, school boards

Posted by on September 16, 2012

School security consultants with strong integrity will lose some jobs here and there. But in the long haul, they will retain their integrity and their credibility, and their school district clients will likely do so as well. “Draft” school safety assessment reports can trigger questions on security consultant, school leader credibility One of my long-standing […]

Safety report blasts Bibb County school discipline; Judge blasts security consultant

Posted by on September 12, 2012

The heat has been turned up in southern Georgia, and it has nothing to do with the weather. A firestorm is brewing following a Macon Telegraph newspaper story on a school safety assessment consulting report for Bibb County Schools which “…included a scathing assessment of the way the school system handles and tracks student discipline.” The […]

Cell phones in schools debate continues on Fox & Friends

Posted by on July 1, 2012

Are students more or less safe with cell phones in schools? It all depends on who you ask. The battle rages on in New York City as Mayor Bloomberg is holding firm on the ban of cell phones in city schools. But a recent opinion piece in the New York Post entitled “End the cell […]

Police handcuff Georgia kindergartner for tantrum or safety?

Posted by on April 18, 2012

A 6-year-old kindergartner from a Georgia school was handcuffed and removed from school by police after the student allegedly tore items off the walls, threw books and toys, threw a shelf that hit the principal in the leg, jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame, according to an Associated Press […]