Teen Suicide Due To Sexting

THE DANGERS OF TEEN AGE TEXTING and ONLINE

In September 2009, a 13-year-old girl in Florida named Hope Witsell hanged herself. Raised in a rural Florida suburb, she was the only child of a church-going couple who met in the post office where they're both employed.  Hope's suicide became the second with a clear link to sexting and the peer torture that can follow from it. At the end of seventh grade last spring, Hope sent a photo of her breasts to a boy she liked, and the picture went viral at her school. "Tons of people talk about me behind my back and I hate it because they call me a whore!" Hope wrote in her journal before her death.

Jessie Logan, who was 18 and lived outside Cincinnati, hanged herself last July after nude photos she sent to her boyfriend circulated widely among teenagers she knew. What explains this awful chain of events that leads to tragedy? Is this just the usual bullying, only with different tools, or a distinct harm unto itself? And are these isolated cases or legitimate cause for the wider uproar over sexting?

Points To Consider:
With each technological change in our student's lives, we must consider the positive and negative consequences. Parents need to monitor, and if warranted, modify the texting features of their kids to ensure their kids are doing the right things at the right times.

School Safety Drills News Story

This is a news story which talks about the importance of drills and designing them to cause the school community to think. I do not agree with color codes and am a fan of the use of plain language instead such as LOCKDOWN vice Code Red....

EDUCATIONAL LEADER'S CRITICAL INFORMATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

DETERMINING WHAT INFO YOU NEED TO KNOW & ENSURING THE PEOPLE IN YOUR SCHOOL KNOW TO KEEP YOU INFORMED IS CRITICAL TO RUNNING A SAFE & PREPARED SCHOOL.

AS AN EDUCATIONAL LEADER (PRESIDENT OF A COLLEGE, SUPERINTENDENT, PRINCIPAL), When it comes to Critical Information these are some key questions you may want to ask yourself:

• WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
• WHO KNOWS IT?
• HAVE THEY TOLD YOU YET?

CRITICAL INFORMATION CATEGORIES:

• Death, Injury, Accident, Threat, Crime or Harassment, Bullying of a Student or School Employee
• Dangerous or Poor Weather (Wind, Rain, Storm, Lightening, Ice, Snow, Heat, Tornado, Hurricane)
• Information about the School Facility / Plant (Loss of Heat, A/C, Electricity, Water, Sewage, Air Quality, Virus/MRSA, etc.)

Situation: PRINCIPAL IN THE DARK: A Principal returned to school after a weekend and started his typical Monday morning. Over the weekend a number of things had occurred that the Principal was unaware. A number of individuals within the school community were aware of the negative events which occurred but had not shared with the Principal. A well known & beloved out-in-town after-school community program counselor (who had helped generations of students) had died of a heart attack and a former student had been stabbed out in town by a member of a different racial group. The injured student was dating another student in school as well.

• Some teachers were aware of the student's attack and the community counselor's death, but did not discuss with school leadership. They assumed they knew about it.
• School Resource Officer was on vacation as was not made aware of the act of violence and the police did not communicate this with the school leadership. Principal assumed the police would keep her informed if an act of violence pertaining to a student occurred even if it was out in town. 

The Principal discovered this when the Guidance Department reported a large volume of despondent students reporting to see their guidance counselors about the community counselor's death. The girlfriend of the attacked student was generating drama about what had happened and there were some discussions about concerns about the possibility about retribution. This all made for a tense and frustrating Monday morning leaving the Principal feeling like he was the last one to know about what was going on.

As the Educational Leader of your institution to not be kept informed of important information will cause you to REACT to events instead of PREVENT or be able to shape and influence incidents that ocur and the negative information associated with it.

Animal Threats in the School Community (Natural Threats)

BEAR ATTACKS BOY WALKING TO ALASKA BUS STOP AND DEER CHARGES THRU  SCHOOL WINDOW

Whether it is a freak occurrence like a deer charging a reflection or a human OR a bear which is startled or hungry accidents and attacks can occur to affect our school community.

ALASKA BEAR ATTACK AT SCHOOL BUS STOP:  A 12 year old boy walking alone to his school bus stop in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in Seward, Alaska was attacked by a female brown bear, but escaped serious injuries. It was dark, and the student saw the bear approaching with cubs and turned to leave, but the bear caught up with him and knocked him to the ground. The boy knew to cover up and his backpack bore the brunt of the attack. The bear lost interest and departed. He was taken to Providence Seward Hospital and was released. 

Lesson Learned:

• Parents are urged to stay with their children while waiting for the school bus to arrive
• Garbage left in the area is a draw for bears as a food source.

DEER JUMPS THRU OHIO SCHOOL WINDOW:  A big antlered buck deer charged through a glass window pane and into a student union at an Ohio Denison University before it was killed. The deer was locked inside the room before it was killed. It is believed the deer saw his reflection in the glass and mistook it for another male deer and charged the image through the glass.

DEER CRASHES THRU WINDOW AT DESALES UNIVERSITY (PA) BEFORE CLASS: On November 3, at 8:54 a.m., a 6-point, 300 pound dressing weight buck slammed through a first floor window a few minutes before a History and Philosophy of Sport class was about to begin. About 6 students were in the classroom at the time. The buck was chasing a doe up to the window. After crashing through the window, the buck began to thrash, kicking over desks and backpacks and scattering papers throughout the classroom. The commotion caused student Harry Getty ’13, to exit through the window. “I didn’t see anything until I heard a thud against the wall and then a huge crash, a black thing landed right next to me …. I saw its legs start kicking and knocking over bags and when I saw the antlers I knew what it was so I tried to jump through the bottom window, but since the blind was still down I banged my head on a metal bar before I landed outside. In hindsight, I probably should have gone through the big hole the deer had just made, because I cut my hands up on the glass that fell on the counter,” said Getty.

Getty sustained cuts on his hands, forehead and thigh, but was immediately treated by EMS and was taken to the hospital. 2 members of Campus Police arrived at the scene after receiving multiple emergency calls.   “When we arrived on the scene we found an injured buck in the classroom with one of its rear legs broken to the extent where it could not make the leap back out of the classroom,” said Officer Tempinski. Because of the deer’s injuries and out of concern for student welfare, Tempinski decided to put the deer down and two shots were fired from to do so.  The classroom was cleaned extensively and was in use the next day.

Points for Discussion:

• CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE: Not every school is located in an urban environment and even so, sometimes nature invades even heavily populated areas due to overpopulation. For example, in some suburban areas of New Jersey their have been an over population of bears and increased opportunity for bear-human interaction.
• SURVIVAL KNOWLEDGE: The boy who was attacked by the brown bear had been taught to play dead in order to survive. This knowledge may have saved his life.
• SEASONAL ANIMAL THREATS: Various animals behavior changes during various seasons and can as discussed above, can affect our school communities.
• RECOVERY PHASE of EM PROCESS: Post incident part of an incident requires tasks in the RECOVERY PHASE such as counseling (kids afraid of waiting at bus stops, terror of a 300 lb buck jumping thru their class window) and class room clean up and repair.

REMEMBER, SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS IS AN ALL HAZARD MINDSET.

High Wind Gusts can create Natural Hazards that can Kill or Injure

HIGH WINDS CAN INJURE AN KILL, NOT JUST HURRICANES AND TORNADOES!!!!

High wind gusts knock over hydraulic lift and kill a student taping a college football practice.
A 20 yr old college student (Declan Sullivan) who was videotaping a Notre Dame football practice was killed when high winds knocked over the hydraulic scissor lift he was standing upon. The lift was used as a platform to provide an overhead vantage point to film the practice. According to sources, the directions that came with the lift warned against its use during high winds. The wind gusts caused towels and a Gatorade cooler to fly into the air as well as the netting on the goal post to bend. Sullivan even tweeted that it was "terrifying" during the 51 mph wind gusts before he was killed. Sullivan died en route to the hospital in South Bend Indiana.

Strong winds knock over a 10 foot high brick wall at a school killing a construction worker.
In July 2010, a storm in the small town of Edgerton, Ohio destroyed a small town and damaged homes. In August 2010, a construction worker was killed at a northwest Ohio school construction site when a brick wall fell on him following some strong winds that blew through the area. It was undetermined if the previous storm weakened the wall or if it was strong winds that day caused it to collapse.


 Commentary:

• Unless we receive a dangerous weather warning, we typically don't pay much heed to bad weather. It is important for all school personnel to develop an ALL HAZARD MINDSET to identify what CAN or MIGHT cause injury, damage, or death to people in our school community. While not being paranoid, it is important to THINK and PLAN WORST CASE SCENARIO when it comes to school preparedness. 
• Hope for the best, PLAN for the Worst, and you will be READY for anything in between.
• Following the storm in Ohio, was their a structural safety assessment conducted at the school / construction site to identify hazards? 
• The RECOVERY PHASE of an incident (June storm) can often get overlooked, but the inability to recover from an incident can create conditions for another hazardous incident.
• The GIFT of FEAR: Imagine if Declan Sullivan listened to his inner voice that caused him to tweet he was terrified and he got down from the hydraulic lift instead of tweeting his concern. Often times we can only lessen the hazards (seen and unseen) by degrees, but that might make all of the difference. In the preparedness business, it is often said, "you make your luck" .

WEATHER CAN KILL, IF YOU DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO IT.

A 65 yr old Teacher Stops a Fight Between a Student Couple, Collapses, and Dies

THE STRESS OF A SCHOOL INCDENT CAN TRIGGER A SECOND INCIDENT

On Friday morning (7:25 am) June 4 in Fitchburg, Mass; a 65-yr-old teacher was found unconscious without a pulse. The school nurse attempted to revive him but he was later pronounced dead at the local hospital. His collapse occurred after breaking up a fight between a boyfriend and a girlfriend in the hallway of Fitchburg HS. There was no indication that he was injured or struck while intervening in the student fight.

Commentary: While the exact cause of this teacher's death are unknown this incident raises some issues for consideration.

• Teachers health and welfare are important especially stress management. Teaching can be a stressful profession and establishing activities which can help one manage stress is important.
• Following a school incident, school leaders and everyone must be hyper-vigilant for a sceondary response to the first incident.
• School members may be in poor health.
• Anxiety or asthma attacks
• A student with defacto PTSD from violent family experiences from the country he immigrated
• Teachers need to consider what they will and should do when violence occurs in the school environment. The goal is to maintain safety at all times, but how does one do that:
• Girls can be just as violent as boys when they fight, sometimes can be more unpredictable.
• Prevention requires continual vigilance and strict policies as consequences for fighting. 
• What is the protocol in your school if someone is seriously injured or unconscious. Remember, It always starts with activating 911 by phone, not a call to the main office or the school nurse.
• Are there AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) at your school? How many? Where are they located? Who is trained to use them?
• If not how do you obtain funding to get them....?

Gunman Fires Weapon at California Elementary School, Two Injured

GUNMEN RANDOMLY OPENS FIRE AT A ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LUNCH RECESS, INJURES TWO STUDENTS BEFORE SUBDUED.

At approximately 12:15 local time during a school lunch break, Brendan O'Rourke, 41, dressed in dark clothing parked his car jumped a fence and walked onto Kelly Elementary School (Carlsbad, CA) campus carrying a .357 Magnum and a small gas can. He opened fire with five shots into a crowd of children on a playground at a Carlsbad elementary school Friday, leaving two female students (ages 6 & 7) with minor gunshot (grazed by the bullets) injuries. Teachers and students escaped into the nearby classrooms from outside including the two injured female students. They were transported via Mercy Air to a local hospital for treatment.  

The assailant "sprayed" gunfire before apparently running out of ammunition and trying to flee. A nearby construction worker drove his vehicle and knocked the gunmen down as other nearby adults grabbed him. He was attempting to reload before he was stopped. There was a propane gas tank found in the gunman's car. At present it is not believed that the gunmen is associated with anyone at the school, making the school's selection as a random act of violence. The combination of the gas can the gunman carried coupled with the propane tank lead one to believe he had even more destructive intentions. (Note: The Columbine School shooting was actually designed as a propane bomb attack gone awry with the attackers planning on shooting the survivors as they tried to escape.)

The school, located approximately 35 miles north of San Diego, was placed on lockdown until further notice as police gathered evidence. Parents of students were asked to meet at Laguna Rivera Park, which is a short distance from the school. Counselors will be at the school Monday to help students, staff and families "handle the anxiety and fear that can result from a traumatic experience."

Points for Consideration:

• Unfortunately violence at school can occur at anytime whether it is pre-planned or random. 
• Developing a PREPAREDNESS Mindset is important. Think of school incidents not as IF whether something is going to happens but WHEN something happens .
• Some questions to ponder:
• What would you immediately do if you saw a suspicious person at your school or on school grounds? Demonstrating strange behavior (jumping a fence)?
• What would you immediately do if you saw someone with a gun or a dangerous object ( a gas can)?
• After an attacker was subdued what immediate actions would you take?
• Does your school have a student reunification site at a remote location? Does the receiving remote location know they have been chosen as the site? Have you developed a plan and conducted a talk through /walk through between agencies? How will students be transported to that location? How will you maintain accountability during this process and when a parent asks "where is my child?"
• Following an act of violence, the school (or surrounding area) is a crime scene until processed (hours, days) and cleared by law enforcement. You may not be able to go back into the building. Teacher's and driving student's car keys, purses, cell phones, jackets with wallets, etc. may not be available until the next day. If there was a bomb threat or incident may not be until much later....
• If damage was done to the facility it needs to be repaired which is part of the recovery process. Who from the school or school district conducts this coordination and with what business? Identify these businesses ahead of time.
• What children and staff saw what part of the incident? This is critical for determining potential witnesses and for on-scene and post-incident counseling.

WHY REACT, WHEN YOU CAN PLAN AND DRILL TO DEVELOP A CAPABILITY.....