Recommended Book: Shooter Down! by John Giduck

Shooter Down! The Dramatic , Untold Story of the Police Response to the Virginia Tech Massacre by John Giduck

This book is an exceptionally well researched book (452 pages) by the author (who has worked with US Special Forces and possesses a Law Degree and a Doctorate) who is able to look at this complex tragedy from many levels.

The book has nine chapters which discuss:

• 2 Previous School Shootings consisting of the shooter using obstacles and barricades to prevent police response to save the hostages
• Sept 27, 2006: Platte Canyon HS in Bailey, Colorado
• Oct 2, 2006: Amish Schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania
• Background on the educational institution (Va Tech) and how it planned to handle an incident,
• Evolution of the mass shooter (Seung-Hui Cho)
• Early Morning Murder of Two Students in a Dorm and police response
• Follow On Shooting Rampage on campus (Norris Hall) 
• Police and 1st Responder Response to the Mass Shooting
• Ongoing Recovery (Police, School, Victims, etc.) from the Mass Shooting Incident
• Post Incident Issues and Lessons Learned

2 Addendum's:

• Tactical Review of the Law Enforcement (LE) Response to the Mass Shootings
•  Legal Review of Federal Legal Standards for LE in US.

Final Comment: The "silver lining" in these tragedies are the lessons learned from them so that they can be applied to ideally prevent and worst case to more effectively respond and recover from a school violence incident. This book is designed for law enforcement, school administration and teachers, and parents so that we can all protect our societies most innocent, our children.

Anniversary of Columbine Rampage Shooting on April 20, 1999

Twelve years ago the shocking school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado took place and stunned our nation. How could this happen? Why would two students become mass murderers in their own school? Why wasn't this prevented? Why wasn't the response more effective?  Despite how much this school shooting has been talked about, studied, and discussed; how prepared is your school?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA22SKaQ5hU&feature=player_embedded

I strongly recommend you read Dave Cullen's book, COLUMBINE which he wrote after ten years of research. It is the consummate case study of what occurred on that fateful day and will help you determine how your school can answer the above challenging questions. 

Back To School & Back To School Preparedness Blog

I have been busy this summer and have not had much opportunity to blog, but I am back. I have read three books and am in the process of reading a fourth that pertain to school preparedness. I approached each reading with the goal of identifying observations, lessons learned, and issues unresolved to apply to the school preparedness process. The following books I completed are:

• NO RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT by Lucinda Roy.  The author was the English Dept Chair at Va Tech who individually taught Seung-Hui Cho and attmepted to ensure he received treatment before he went on a rampage shooting in April 2007.
• MY BLOODY LIFE: The Making of a Latin King by Reymundo Sanchez. The author tells of life as a child, young adult, and adult in the Latin Kings gang in Chicago. Provides insights into the recruiting of kids and day-to-day activities of gang members.
• COLUMBINE by Dave Cullen. The author was one of the original reporters involved with the April 20, 1999 reports of the horrific school shooting at Columbine HS. He conducted ten years of research and conducted a detailed review of police, FBI, and shooter's records, files, videos, etc.

I am presently reading:

• RAMPAGE: The Social Roots of School Shootings by Katherine S. Newman. This Harvard Professor and Dean lead a team of doctoral students who conducted a Dept of Education funded two year research project focused on school violence (shootings) and the possible causes associated with school rampage shootings.

Good to be back, and looking forward to preparing our school's for a safe and secure academic year!!!!!

Recommended Book: A Young Girl's Perspective From Being Bullied

Recommended Book:
Please Stop Laughing at Me...One Woman's Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco

As a male high school teacher, I was trying to gain some insights from a female perspective on the the high school experience and picked up this (NY Time Bestseller) book. It was extremely enlightening on the topic of bullying especially from the perspective of the author as a young girl in middle school and high school. She does an excellent job of describing the experience of emotional cruelty that can ocur in our school if we are unaware and not in tune with our students, and most importantly take a "kids will be kids" approach to bullying. This young girl was highly intelligent and came from a great set of parents whose adult philosophy of "ignore these small minded" or "show them how strong you are by ignoring them" kids is not a successful approach with kids. IF VICTIMIZED, YOU HAVE TO EMPOWER YOUR CHILD TO RESIST AND PROTECT THEMSELVES AND THEIR PRIDE. She is an accomplished adult but the book is written from her perspective as a young girl. THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ AND WILL SHOCK YOU.

• Bullies can destroy your self-worth and cause you to hate yourself 
• A bullied child effects the entire family
• Biggest problem with school bullying is mass denial
• Kids intentionally academically underperforming to not be labeled.
• Bullies never remember, and victims never forget
• Kids taking a Bully or Be Bullied Approach (Kid Cycle of Social Survival)
• Don't align with other victims because they are glad it isn't them
• A student standing up and doing the right thing as a kid in a school environment where the adults don't reinforce (as a social teaching moment) and actively support this behavior can be disasterous. 
• Sometimes the issue becomes Teen Popularity NOW vs Adult Character LATER 
• Unsupervised slumber parties or mixed gender parties without proper parental supervision can have disasterous and life-altering consequences for kids
• Transferring schools or even moving does not fix the bullying problem for the victim
• Parents considering their child a misfit that doesn't fit in or referring them (the victim) to a psychologist, can distract adults away from the source of the problem (the bullies). 
• Why doesn't anyone consider THE BULLY going to see a psychologist or couseling?
• The importance the "network" of adults play in our child's development process and sense of security (bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, school nurse, librarians, school security not just teachers, housemasters, guidance counselors, and principals)
• Social proximity and density in a classroom (who sits next to who and how close, small group activities, same or mixed gender) can increase or decrease issues, but not solve the problem.
• As an adult, knowing how to talk to a kid and make them feel comfortable and safe enough to tell you WHAT and / or WHO is bothering them is a critical teaching skill.
• Bully vicims develop a misplaced sense of justice or gratitude ("thanks for not teasing me or for ignoring me...I understand why you can't talk to me.") or normalcy (I get picked on everyday)
• Physical attacks, improper touching, damage to property in the guise of bullying or "just kidding around" need to be identified and treated as CRIMES or violations of school property. Administrators can enable bullying if proper consequences are not dealt to students violating anti-bullying policies. (If I punish these students they will make it even worse for you...)
• End result is confiding in adults = more bullying and pain
• Truancy and absentee-ism can become a safety net (I can't be bullied if I am not in school or do not go to that class)
• Parents, if your child is victimized don't let physical assaults get "watered down" involve the school resource officer or police, and if substantiated PRESS CHARGES!!! The bully (s) will be emboldened if you don't and it sends a message to the school body that this will not be tolerated. It adds teeth to the school policies.  

    Read this book it will increase your level of awareness of the frailty and social challenges facing teenagers and how you the adult (parent, teacher, administrator, etc) can play a more effective role in ensuring that what happend to Jodee would not happen in your school or family.