School Safety & Related Research / Stats

TRAP-18 will present serious issues when schools begin to implement it for early identification of the “lone wolf” terrorist (AKA – student active shooter)

Commonalities of school shooter narratives… Bullied Told others prior to event Male While those points are typically accurate, the development of a profile rapidly fades following the “given” characteristics mentioned above.  For example, many shooters had good grades, many had a clean discipline record and many regularly interacted with a peer group.  There is no…

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Proximal (to school) Shootings Appear To Be Increasing. What Does This Mean For Schools? What Does This Mean For The Feds?

It’s widely acknowledged that Federal school violence data is, at best, a very broad, lagging estimate of the field. Safety experts Kenneth Trump and Michael Dorn have exposed the data hodge-podge mess before several congressional hearings (over several years). It’s almost just accepted that the data is, and will be, “bad”. The issues of inter-rater reliability…

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Alarming Start to 2014 As United States is Rocked by 9 School Shootings in January (so far)

The first four weeks of 2014 were rocked by nine school shootings in just 18 school days across the United States (Peck, 2014).  Shootings occurred at elementary, middle, high and post-secondary school levels. Schools that experienced mass casualty intended shootings, in order:  Liberty Technology Magnet High School  Berrendo Middle School  Albany High School…

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CODE OF SILENCE: Assess Bystander Behavior in the School Setting

Schools embrace a range of student discipline measures including zero tolerance and restorative practices.  In addition, schools are becoming increasingly efficient with threat reporting (input) systems, such as anonymous text numbers and online submission software.  However, the piece often not studied is what student bystanders do when they are aware of a potential act of…

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Why We Should Consider the Hawthorne Effect Before We Decide to Fortify the Physical School Environment

What is often overlooked, or greatly under-estimated, when planning to fortify the physical environment of a school is the impact those changes will have upon students – and ultimately student learning and student performance.  As communities demand steel doors and fewer windows in schools it is important to weigh those changes against the potential impact on students.…

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Federal Efforts to Protect Our Schools: 77,400 Voices Heard and Viable Plans Presented to Congress – Now it is Time for Action!

On May 17, 2007, there was a Full Hearing of the Committee on Homeland Security House of Representatives on Protecting Our Schools:  Federal Efforts to Strengthen Community Preparedness and Response.  The 89-page recording of that hearing and its numerous testimonials can be found in a downloadable PDF version at  http://www.crisisprepconsulting.com/Resources___Downloads.php  under the LINKS heading.  It certainly is…

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What’s My Safety Priority – Radio Communications or Video Surveillance?

There’s a debate brewing in the school safety world as radio communications is pitted against video surveillance for a northern notch on the priority ladder.  Here’s my two cents on this discussion. Let’s begin with an examination of the everyday use of radio communications and video surveillance. Everyday Use – Radio Communications Playground supervision. Custodians (talk group). Special education…

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Interesting Statistics Related to School Safety

School Statistics 53 million students attend public or private school each in the United States (Loyola University, 2012) The National School Boards Association (1993) estimated that 135,000 American children carry guns to school each day. The Department of Education (1999) reported that 3,930 students in public K-12 schools were expelled for bringing a firearm to…

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Leading Causes of Death in the United States for Children Ages 5-14

Leading Causes of Death in the United States – 2010 (CDC) Children ages 5-9 Unintentional injury (758) Motor vehicle, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fire/burns, falls, sports & recreation Malignant neoplasm (439) Congenital anomalies (163) Homicide (111) Heart Disease (68) Children ages 10—14 Unintentional injury (885) Motor vehicle, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fire/burns, falls, sports & recreation Malignant…

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