Rescheduling a Sports Event due to an Incident in the Community

Points to Ponder:

• Violent acts from our community can sometimes spill over into our schools and school related events.
• School officials need to maintain situational awareness in the community so they can prevent situations from developing that could result in increased danger to the school community.  
• Rescheduling events (a game or a lunch period, etc.) can throw off a planned event (fight, food fight, riot) if you have information that some nefarious elements (gang, criminals, expelled former students, etc.) may have planned to cause violence.
• Individuals and groups (gangs) that participate in routine substance abuse often have unusual sleep cycles due to the daily recovery cycle required to function.
• Night time is typically the time where larger groups of people can assemble due to school being let out and work over. 
• Collaboration between decisionmakers and public safety professionals is critical to prevent incidents or mitigate potential problems.

Rescheduled Football Game:
On Sept. 30, 2010, Stamford School Superintendent (Joshua Starr) rescheduled a football game after collaboration with their city's police department due to the shooting deaths of two adult males (a 31 yr old male and a 20 yr old male) from both cities, Norwalk CT and Stamford CT. There was some concern pertaining to the possibility of retaliation from the death of these two men. The two teams playing were Stamford High School and Brien McMahon High School from Norwalk. The game was rescheduled from 6 pm to 3:30 pm.

Rescheduling a school event due to a potential problem or threat sends a message to those considering causing a problem that the school is aware and proactively maintailing control of the safety and security of their school community.