National School Safety and Security Services
is a Cleveland-based national consulting firm
specializing in K-12 school security and emergency
preparedness training, security assessments,
emergency planning evaluations, and related
consultation. Visit our web site
www.schoolsecurity.org for details.
Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. Information in
this newsletter is not provided as legal advice and/or
as professional advice on specific situations. We do
not assume, and hereby specifically disclaim, any
liability to any person or entity with respect to any
loss or damage alleged to have been caused by any
error or omission contained herein or on linked sites.
Kenneth S. Trump, President
National School Safety and Security Services
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National School Safety and Security Services | PO Box 110123 | Cleveland |
OH | 44111
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NATIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY AND
SECURITY SERVICES
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Practical School Security
and Emergency
Planning E-Newsletter
Trends and Best Practices
For Protecting K-12 Schools
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Dear Kenneth,
Please share your
success stories on
positive strategies
you have used to
improve school
security and
emergency
preparedness. Let
others know
practical tips that
have worked in your
schools. Email
details to
Ken Trump for
sharing in future
newsletters.
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Tabletop Exercise
Helps District Stay
Proactive |
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Newsletter reader
shares tips
from exercise
Tami Kroc, director
of pupil services
for Gurnee (IL)
District 56, shares
with us that her
district recently
partnered with local
police and fire
officials to run a
tabletop exercise
for the district's
administrative team.
The exercise was
based on a scenario
where the danger was
outside of the
school in the form
of a train
derailment causing
the rupture of a
tanker containing
chlorine gas. The
district actually
has a very active
train track running
behind two of their
four schools.
Exercise "lessons
learned" included:
- During the
exercise, cell phone
service declined due
to heavy traffic and
eventually the
service ended. This
caused
administrators to
brainstorm ways of
staying in touch
such as text
messaging, email,
and possibly
purchasing new
two-way
communications
equipment.
- Another major
issue was whether or
not evacuate
students. How
quickly students
could actually be
removed from schools
based on the time of
day and availability
of buses was another
major issue
discussed.
- One other
eye-opener for the
school team was that
first responders may
not be on-site at
schools for 20
minutes or more due
to their need to
attend to the
immediate area and
everyone around.
Caring for
potentially ill
students and staff
and having all staff
trained on National
Incident Management
System (NIMS) were
related discussion
items.
"The administrators felt
the exercise was a great
benefit to them because
they needed to think
through each step of the
disaster and make quick
decisions based on what
information they were
given. It is very
useful to think of these
issues before an actual
disaster occurs," said
Tami Kroc.
A crime prevention
technician with the
local police
department credited
the district in a
local newspaper
story for doing a
good job during the
exercise.
Tabletop exercises
help school
officials get
written plans off
shelves and into
practice without
being as time and
labor intensive as
full scale drills.
Educators need to
test and exercise
their security and
crisis plans before
they become tested
by an actual
emergency, a
lawsuit, and/or the
media. Tabletops
help school leaders
get a feel for how
their administrators
and crisis teams
would think, and
whether their
written plans might
actually work, in a
real emergency.
We commend District
56 Superintendent
John Hutton, a
veteran school
administrator who
has overseen a
number of safety
initiatives and a
major crisis
recovery during his
education career,
and Tami Kroc for
their proactive
leadership with this
tabletop. Many
thanks for sharing
your lessons with
your peers!
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Columbine Anniversary
Brings Threats & Rumors |
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Schools
should review threat
protocols with staff
Spring season in
schools in general,
and the April
anniversary of the
Columbine shooting
specifically, tend
to be surrounded by
more school violence
threats, plots and
rumors than at other
times of the school
year.
Earlier this month,
police and school
officials in
Trenton, NJ,
revealed that a
"military-style
assault" plot
against a high
school had been
prevented as arrests
were made in the
case. This past
Friday, March 14th,
police in DeLand,
FL, arrested three
seventh-grade middle
school students for
plotting to kill as
many students as
possible and then
kill themselves with
a gun.
School leaders
should consider the
following steps NOW:
- Meet with
administrators,
crisis team members,
school police and
security staff, and
threat assessment
teams to review
school threat
assessment
protocols.
- Touch base with
law enforcement
liaisons to discuss
threats and other
security issues that
may arise during the
remainder of the
school year.
- Update the
entire school staff
on school threat
protocols, being
visible in the halls
and common areas,
interacting
regularly with
students, reviewing
school crisis plans,
and reporting
security concerns.
The season for
heightened awareness and
preparedness is among
us.
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School Shooting
Survivors Sue Safety
Firm |
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Lawsuit
claims firm lacked
qualifications for job
Survivors of
the 2005 school
shooting at the Red
Lake, Minnesota,
Native American
reservation filed
suit against an
environmental and
engineering
consulting firm that
had been hired to
create crisis plans
for the school. The
consulting firm has
denied the charges.
The lawsuit claims
that the consulting
firm lacked the
qualifications to
create the plans for
the school
district. It also
claims that the firm
failed to
follow-through on
developing and
implementing the
plans.
This lawsuits
follows a number of
lawsuits against the
school district
itself which have
been resolved.
The plaintiffs
believe had the
company been better
qualified and
provided certain
follow-through on
their contracted
services, the school
would have been
better prepared to
respond to the
shooting. In
essence, the
qualifications of
the firm and their
work may be on
trial.
Administrators and
boards need to be
better educated
consumers when
selecting school
safety
consultants. Due to
poor budgetary
planning and a lack
of knowledge about
the types of school
safety consultants,
educators are
increasingly making
decisions "on the
cheap" by selecting
less qualified and
questionably
competent
consultants.
The low bid, low
cost, and low
qualifications approach
to hiring school
safety consultants
puts school
districts squarely
in a position to
become the target
for significant
financial liability
should an incident
arise that lawyers
can prove could have
been prevented or
better
managed. Selecting
poor quality
consultants puts
districts at
higher-risk of
getting bad advice,
which means the
districts may end up
poorly prepared for
preventing and
managing an
incident.
Keep in mind that
before an attorney
goes after a
consultant, they
will first go after
the school district.
Many school leaders
do not understand
the different types
of school safety
consultants and the
pros and cons of
each. These types
include:
- "Big-box"
consulting firms
that dabble in
school safety
consulting;
- Security
generalists with
excellent
credentials in
corporate or
military security,
or backgrounds in
law enforcement,
but minimal-to-no
experience working
with K-12 schools
or K-12 school
security;
- Smaller,
specialized school
security consulting
firms;
- Part-timers and
retirees, such as
former educators and
retired police
officers, consulting
for extra cash; and
- Overnight
experts and
opportunists.
The most important
factor for school
leaders in selecting
school safety
consultants is to make
sure their consultants
have K-12 school safety
experience with
extensive knowledge of
school climate, culture,
and school-community
relations and school
political
considerations.
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Send Your Board &
Super to Safety School
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March
28th Safety Workshop at NSBA
Conference
Next Friday, March
28th, Ken Trump will
be leading a
full-day,
pre-conference
workshop on school
security and
emergency
preparedness best
practices, current
trends, and new
resources at the
2008 National School
Boards Association
annual convention in
Orlando. He will
also present a
shorter workshop the
next day on managing
parent and media
communications on
school security and
crisis issues.
Pass this
information along
NOW to your school
board members and
superintendents
who may be attending
the NSBA
convention next week
and encourage them
to sign-up for the
school safety and
emergency
preparedness
pre-conference
workshop.
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National School Safety and Security Services
is a Cleveland-based national consulting firm
specializing in K-12 school security and emergency
preparedness training, security assessments,
emergency planning evaluations, and related
consultation. Visit our web site
www.schoolsecurity.org for details.
Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. Information in
this newsletter is not provided as legal advice and/or
as professional advice on specific situations. We do
not assume, and hereby specifically disclaim, any
liability to any person or entity with respect to any
loss or damage alleged to have been caused by any
error or omission contained herein or on linked sites.
Kenneth S. Trump, President
National School Safety and Security Services
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