Mock Crashes at High Schools Promote Safety

SADD Link Discussing How to Set Up a Mock Crash

Mock Crash in HS Parking Lot

Mock crashes are typically done by school authorities in conjunction with Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS to simulate a real car accident. Mock crashes are typically done near the end of the year and / or before the Senior prom. Some consideration may be done to do this in the beginning of the school year instead of at the end. Some other steps taken are:

• First Responders talk about accident scene experiences.
• Presentation & Discussion by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers).
• Students wearing goggles that simulate visual impairment due to drinking.
• Students sit in a crash simulator (The Convincer)  which allows them to feel how a crash at 5 mph feels.

Anything that can be done to make students and parents more aware of the frequency and calamity involved in adolescent car crashes due to underage drinking, distracted driving, fatigue, and excessive speed. 

Parents, Guardians, & Counselors Asking Kids About Inappropriate Conduct By Adults

 The Jerry Sandusky / Penn State Child Abuse Cover Up, Steubenville Ohio House Party Rape of a Minor, a former Danbury Gymnastics Coach found guilty of sexual assault against minors in his charge...these are reminders of why anyone (parent, guardian, teacher, etc.) responsible for the safety and security of a minor needs to remind kids of all ages of what is appropriate and what is not. Too often the safety and security of minors is assumed to be taken care of, but it may not be so. Having that discussion with children and especially adolescents (who assume they are grown up) is an important part of prevention. Letting teenagers know what the age of consent means is also important or they maybe convinced or groomed to believe otherwise. 

In the case of Child Predators, these individuals are driven, experienced in gaining access and trust, target kids lacking strong supervision, and often have multiple victims before they are discovered. Guardians of children and teenagers need to trust their instincts to err on the side of caution and make sure NO ONE is performing any inappropriate conduct (touching, speech, nudity). Child Predator Jerry Sandusky took a benign event (have a teenager take a shower after an athletic event) and used that as an opportunity to abuse children.  

PA Grand Jury Transcript Against Jerry Sandusky

TRUST NO ONE WITH YOUR CHILD THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW WELL. EVEN THEN, IT IS OK TO ASK YOUR CHILD IF ANY ADULT HAS EVER DONE ANYTHING INAPPROPRIATE AROUND THEM OR WITH THEM.

Atlanta Elementary School Shooting Disaster Averted (Aug 20, 2013)

School Gunmen, Michael Hill Booking, 20

Bottom Line Up Front: This appears to have been a barricaded hostage situation at a school where the mentally deranged gunman was trying to commit "Suicide- By- Cop" by getting police to kill him. It WAS NOT an Active Shooter Situation (Newtown, Va. Tech, etc.) where a gunman comes in and starts shooting everyone. The gunman can be suicidal in either type situation and often are. 

Incident: Law enforcement stated it could have been a massacre for the school, but ended with nobody hurt. Officials believe the gunman walked into the front office of the school Tuesday afternoon at about 1 p.m. with an AK-47, despite the school security system that requires visitors to be buzzed in. He may have followed behind someone who was authorized to be in the building, but never got past the front office. 

     Once he was inside, the gunman told the school secretary to call a local TV station.  He told the TV station editor to "start filming as police die." "All the time of doing this, I never experienced anything like this," TV station editor said. "It didn't take long to know that this was serious."  Inside the front office, he held one or two employees captive for a period of time. School bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff said she was one of the hostages. Tuff said she tried to convince the gunman to put down his guns. 

     She said the gunman told her he had no reason to live because nobody loved him. "And I just explained to him that I loved him," Tuff told ABC News. "I didn't know much about him. I didn't know his name but I did love him and it was scary because I knew at that moment he was ready to take my life along with his, and if I didn't say the right thing, then we all would be dead." Tuff also said the suspect told her he hadn't taken his medication. In an effort to calm him down, she told him about her own troubles: how her marriage fell apart and about her struggles with opening her own business. "I told him, 'OK, we all have situations in our lives," she said. "It was going to be OK. If I could recover, he could, too." 

      "I think we can all make a reasonable assumption he came here to do some harm." said law enforcement as Hill "did not have anything else in the bag that would harm people." Only one weapon was recovered. During the standoff, Tuff told the media the gunman "went outside several times and shot at police officers." Police Chief Alexander said the suspect fired about six rounds while officers from at least a half-dozen law enforcement agencies that raced from the school returned fire. After they had talked, she asked him to put his guns down and empty his backpack. Law Enforcement sung Antoinette Tuff's (school secretary / clerk) praises. "She was in there, she was able to talk him down," he said. "She's a real hero in all this." 

Source of the Weapon: Authorities are looking to locate the owner of the AK-47, who they believe is an acquaintance of Hill's. Davis said officials believe Hill got the weapon from an acquaintance's house, although he wouldn't say whether the weapon was stolen or not. There was a photo of Hill holding a rifle, found on his cell phone. Hill told investigators he was on medication. "He indicated that he was on medication and had stopped taking it."  

Previous Violent Behaviours:   Tim Hill, the brother of Michael Brandon Hill, said his brother previously threatened to shoot him and suffers from mental disorders and "was bipolar and suffered from ADD," and that the two have not spoken recently. 

• A Henry County sheriff's official said Hill was also charged in March with making terroristic threats for an incident between Dec. 30 and 31 of 2012. He "unlawfully threatened to commit the crime of murder, a crime of violence, for the purpose of terrorizing another."  Tim Hill told the media the charge stemmed from Hill threatening to shoot him. 
• Michael Hill was issued a no-contact order afterwards. Court records show that Hill pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' probation and anger counselling.

Present Violent Incident Charges: For this August 20th act of violence, Hill is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, making terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was questioned for hours by police, but they have no clear idea of what may be a motive or whether Hill has ties to the school. Police chief Alexander said Hill "may have had prior contact" with someone at the school, but the investigation was still pending. No other individuals are expected to be charged.

Recovery Phase Initiated: Buses transported elementary school students from their school to nearby McNair High School on Wednesday to resume classes, a day after a potential massacre was averted. Students were greeted by counsellors and a sign that read, "Welcome McNair Elementary School. Our prayers are with you".  Excerpts taken from Internet article By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

Discussion Points: Being mindful that the incident is new and the investigation is incomplete, here are some things to consider:

• Hostage Situation vice Active Shooter Situation: The gunman talked instead of just shooting everyone.  He was not (thank God) just trying to kill everyone he saw as fast as he could, or he was convinced otherwise.
• Typical Suicide By Cop scenario, a mentally deranged individual with violent intent who is suicidal attempts "suicide-by-cop" by creating a situation where police end your life because of the imminent threat you pose. His request to a hostage to call the media & his statement to TV editor about "start filming as cops die".    
• Response in a Hostage Situation is different than in an Active Shooter Situation. 
• Hostage situation: if there is no safe escape and you are detained by a gunman, build rapport and empathy with hostage taker so they see you as a person. School Secretary did this and it saved lives. 
• Active Shooter: A Run - Hide - Fight (similar to ALICE) response is more appropriate if immediate mass shooting occurs. 
• School Access Control: Having single access point entrance (critical), a locked entrance (good), and a buzzer access control system (good) still requires a trained human being to make a deliberate decision EVERY TIME they buzz anyone in or not. Once a person is buzzed in there needs to be person-to-person (P2P) screening contact as a seemingly innocent person may now (once in the school) demonstrate threatening behaviour (take out a hidden weapon, display aggression, etc.) once inside the school. A nefarious individual may "tailgate" someone buzzed in so be careful. 
• The P2P screening contact allows the opportunity to alert others (activate 911, announce "lockdown") to trigger an immediate response and possibly mitigate the threat (using your judgement) to regain the initiative against someone planning to do harm. The secretary did this as well by talking to the gunman. 
• Societal Mechanism to Maintain Visibility of a Threatening Member of a Community. "See Something, Hear Something, Say Something" can help identify a threatening individual and in this instance his brother reported him in March (charges filed, arrest, three years probation  and anger counselling, and medication). However who was tracking this and how could this have been prevented. What is the local areas threat assessment and threat tracking process, if any. How could this mentally deranged individual have been prevented from coming to the school to harm himself or others. This area is the critical vulnerability in preventing mass rampage shooters in our society.

Knowledge is Power and School Preparedness 

is about Preparation, not Paranoia.  

Anniversary of July 22, 2011 Norwegian Massacre

Young Survivors of 2011 Norwegian Shooting Massacre
(Click on the Above Link) to see some of the survivors...

On July 22, 2011, a car bomb killed eight people at the executive government building in Oslo, Norway. Shortly thereafter, Anders Behring Breivik, responsible for the bombing in Oslo, opened fire at a summer youth camp for members of the Labor Party on the isolated island of Utøya, Norway killing 69 (mostly young) people and wounding (209) many more; 500 people survived.

15 Year Old Norwegian Survivor

Comment: This was a psychopathic act of violence from a madman who was captured and is in jail. The survivors of these violence acts against these youth will result in recovery for many years, and more than likely the rest of their lives. Not to mention, the impact these incidents have had on their families, friends, and loved ones will need to recover as well. 

Our focus always has to be on PREVENTION of these tragedies, if you SEE SOMETHING, HEAR SOMETHING, YOU NEED TO SAY SOMETHING. If only someone in Anders Behring Breivik's life was concerned about his extremist beliefs and purchases of weapons & bomb making materials; or if someone had stumbled upon his violent cyber postings this perhaps could have been prevented...? 

From a Response standpoint, in the most extreme cases of rampage shootings knowing how to RUN, HIDE, and as a last resort FIGHT (Protect Yourself and Others). Unfortunately in today's world this is a LIFE SKILL that can make us all more resilient.

It is about PREPARATION, not PARANOIA....

Initial Observations from the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

RESPONSE RELATED:  

• This school had trained in lockdown drills and procedures. Teachers and students knew what to do and they did it which lessened the tragedy. Had the law enforcement first responders not arrived or were not activated by the 911 call, the shooter had hundreds of rounds and victims left. Their (school leadership, faculty, students, and law enforcement) preparedness saved lives. 
• The shooter may break into the facility or room even if doors are locked. This speaks to the “Fight / Resist” to make it harder for them to make a smooth entry into the building / room.
• It appears as the adult(s) (Principal pictured above) fighting the shooter slowed the shooter and bought time for others. If someone is going to kill you, don’t make it easy for them. Inaction is not an option.
• Some people heard “booms”, gunshots, or a confrontation over the school announcement system.  There will be different ways of finding out there is an violent threat in the building.
• Teachers hiding, reassessing and improving their hide site for students was critical to saving lives.
• Teachers kept students calm and due to their young age kept them distracted and occupied.
• The arrival of Law Enfocement in the rapid Active Shooter response is believed to have influenced the shooter to kill himself as he had 100s of rounds of ammo left and more potential victims.  (The sooner the Police show and close with the shooter, the sooner many shooters kill themselves similar to Columbine;  Nickel Mine,Pa;  Va Tech, and now Newtown, CT.)
• Sometimes Running (as a response) to get out of threat area or as part of the directed evacuation is key. Responding Police clearing the school directed many children to Run to the Firehouse.
• You may have to evacuate students / people past a violent (blood, bodies, etc.) crime scene.
• School and First Responders had a known location for evacuation and student reunification (the firehouse).

RECOVERY RELATED:  Many of the recovery decisions are almost surreal after the fact so it is important to plan for them ahead of time, despite how distasteful the topics and decision points are. They won't get easier after an incident. 

• The school is a crime scene to be processed for days, maybe a week. Once cleared, then and only then can clean up and repair happen.  Depending on when this happens, how long do you close school for? When do you re-open? 
• It is more than just cleaning up the crime scene (bio-hazard clean-up, repair damage & bullet holes). What parts of the building off limits (library at Columbine, Kindergarten class at Sandy Hook, Norris Hall at Va Tech etc.) and how does that effect classes and a return to normalcy.
• Crisis Intervention and Counseling services for everyone, ask for state and federal assistance. It is required immediately and will continue for years to come.
• Loss of key Personnel (the Principal and School Psychologist, Teachers, Staff) calls for a rapid decision for replacing school leadership and Subject matter personnel. The decision for the assumption of leadership in the absence of others not being there, maybe temporary or permanent.
• Coming back into school needs to be well thought out and phased: Parents visit school, Parents and Students visit school, Parents and students go to school and classes, Students go to school with some Parents visiting.
• Columbine HS planned it as “taking back our school” and they excluded media due to the adversarial & invasive relationship they had at that time.

THESE ARE A FEW INITIAL OBSERVATIONS MEANT FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW. 

GOD BLESS ALL OF THE FAMILIES IN NEWTOWN, CT AS WELL AS THE FIRST RESPONDERS.

3 Norwalk Public Schools Go into Lockdown Due to Nearby Gang Related Shooting

     At 1:40 pm on June 1, 2012, a 22-year-old city man was shot multiple times while walking on Grandview Avenue between Kellogg Street and Leuvine Street. It is believed by the media (The Hour) that the victim is a member of the MGs, a Meadow Gardens-based gang. A car drove by and someone shot at him multiple times. Residents reported hearing between four and seven shots. Police believe the shooter was in a gray, four-door Honda Civic with no front license plate. The car, described by witnesses as a 2006 or 2007 model, was seen speeding from the crime scene. The shooting was the second shooting in three days. A 19-year-old man was shot at the playground of the Meadow Gardens housing complex Wednesday night.
      The shooting happened just a few blocks from Jefferson Elementary School. Ponus Ridge Middle School and Jefferson and Kendall Elementary schools were locked down while the investigation was taking place. Shortly after receiving the initial call, police discovered that the crime scene was on Grandview Avenue, and the road was blocked off from Kellogg Street to Leuvine Street.
     Superintendent Susan Marks said it is standard procedure to lock down the schools during a police investigation of a violent incident that happened so close to a school. "As I understand, the police had a great presence at the school. We always stand down based on what the police direct us to do," said Marks. "Unfortunately we've done this before and our schools do know what to do." 


Points for Discussion:

• Executing a Lock Down to prevent violence from occurring or from spreading within a school OR a Lock Out to secure the school from violence entering the school are incident responses which require a simple plan, discussion, and practice drills to ensure you are capable.
• It is always good to review situations to discuss other related contingencies:
• What if the shooting victim stumbled into the school looking for help?
• What medical capability resides within the school while you awaited alerted 911 response?
• What if the kids were outside in post lunch recess and you heard gunshots? Drop and Cover and Reverse Evacuation back into the building?
• Do you plan for Crisis Recovery teams to help the students and staff recover from the incident?
• Conducting an After Action Review following the incident is critical to capturing vital lessons learned and shared with other schools throughout your district. 

WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS, YOU "MAKE YOUR LUCK" BY RAISING EVERYONE'S AWARENESS OF THE TYPES OF INCIDENTS THAT CAN OCCUR AND PRACTICING THE RESPONSES THROUGH DRILLS. 

 

Talk to Students, Staff, and Parents About SUMMER SAFETY

AWARENESS and PREPARATION, (Not Paranoia) KEEPS US SAFE and SECURE 

As the end of the school year approaches, our concern for our students, staff, and families does not. NOW is the time to talk to them about SAFETY and SECURITY prior to school ending for the summer. All of us would admit that having a SAFETY and SECURITY MINDSET should be a year-round philosophy, it often is not. Life's activities get in the way and the daily grind can distract us from apportioning and allocating the proper amount of time to ensuring the one's we care about are safe and secure. THIS IS ALSO A LIFELONG LEARNING CONCEPT that our students (and kids) need to understand if they are to grow up to be aware, caring, and involved adults, citizens, and parents to their own families. Accidents, attacks, and injuries are often the drastic events that occur, shock us, and remind us to stay focused. HOPING your loved ones and students stay safe and secure is not a recommended technique, instead educate them and if necessary train them so they are prepared. Here are just a few discussion points that may be helpful:

SUMMER TIME HAZARDS

• Swimming and Diving and Surfing
• Boating (power boat, canoe, kayak)   
• Lightning
• Fires
• Public Bathrooms
• Cars
• Extreme sports
• Not wearing helmets (head injury)
• Jogging or Walking or Biking alone or with headphones
• Parties or Dates gone bad

EDUCATION:

• Calling 911 when someone is hurt or unresponsive. Stay on the phone to give information.
• Lost kid: Do your kids know what to do if they get lost? Asking a woman is the safest response.
• Helmet Protection versus Head Injuries: It becomes an inconvenience until it is too late, preventing head or brain injuries from something as simple as falling off of a bike or a skateboard can be a life saver. Kids think it is not "cool" but I tell them look at professional athletes or military folks, they don't do any training without a helmet of some kind.
• Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs): If you go in a watercraft of any sort, do you wear a personal flotation device (PFD)? Remember sometimes the best swimmer gets knocked unconscious...have you ever tried to keep someone besides yourself afloat...?
• Stranger Danger: What to do if approached or accosted by a stranger? Be loud, rude, and assertive and be ready to fight (scream, bite, scratch, gouge, kick, etc.)
• Grown-Up Alone Time with Your Kids: Who has access to your kids, remember most assaults against children (infants, toddlers, teenagers) are by people the family knows, not strangers... be especially aware of those grownups your kids think "are cool or treat them grown up".
• Travel in Groups: Never go anywhere alone if you can help it, to include going into the bathroom at a public place (store, movies, etc.) Make everyone responsible for everyone else, not just themselves.

TRAINING:

• Basic First Aid
• CPR and CPR for an infant  
• Swimming lessons for non-swimmers
• Self Defense: What to do if someone tries to grab them.
• Scenarios Where Grown-ups try to Trick Them: Avoiding being tricked by predators (Can you help me find my puppy? Your mom sent me to pick you up? I am a policeman and  here is my badge...you need to come with me.) Discuss Date Rape scenarios where being drugged, high, or intoxicated at a party can lead to an assault.  

MAKING YOUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FRIENDS AWARE AND EQUIPT WITH SOME STRATEGIES AND SKILLS TO EMPOWER THEM TO BE AWARE OF UNSAFE SITUATIONS AND PROTECT THEMSELVES. AWARENESS OF NATURAL AND MANMADE THREATS TO THEIR SAFETY AND SECURITY IS THE FIRST STEP IN PREPARATION AND AVOIDING THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Combating Girl vs Girl Bullying Program: The Kind Campaign

Interesting Article about an Anti-Girl Bullying Program

Great article by Alyssa Longobucco (Self Magazine) about two Pepperdine University students (Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson) who founded The Kind Campaign. Interesting to see her shared views on an anti-bullying campaign targeted specifically towards females. While it is important to look at the effects of bullying on all students, this article made me think about the unique needs of each gender in that regard. also, the preventative educational measures can be tailored for each gender to be more effective. Also thought the author's insight that youthful bullies can, and often will, grow up to be adult bullies adds more urgency into these anti-bullying campaigns to increase civility and respect not only in our schools, but our society at large. Great article.

TEXAS POLICE RESPOND TO LOCKDOWN CALL AND SHOOT & KILL 15 YR OLD MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT WITH REPLICA PISTOL (PELLET GUN) WHO AIMED IT AT POLICE.

An unfortunate tragedy occurred when police responded to a Lockdown incident at Cummings Middle School in South Texas. The shooting happened during first period at the school in Brownsville, a city at Texas' southern tip just across the Mexican border. Responding officers were required to shoot an eighth grade student who was holding a weapon.

The fifteen year old student, Jaime Gonzalez, had assaulted a fellow student and pulled a black pistol (see picture above) triggering the Lockdown response by school authorities. Jaime had walked into a classroom and punched a boy in the nose for no apparent reason. Police did not know why he pulled out the weapon, but "we think it looks like this was a way to bring attention to himself."  Teachers were notified over the school intercom that the school was on lockdown. They locked classroom doors and turned off lights, and some frightened students dove under their desks. They could hear police charge down the hallway. Students described the panic they felt during the lockdown. Renee Almazon, 15, crouched with her teacher and classmates away from all windows and doors. "We all moved to the corner where they couldn't see us," she said. Her teacher kept telling the class, "This is a real thing,"

A recording of police radio traffic posted on TV website indicates that officers responding to the school believed the teen had a handgun. An officer is heard describing the teen's clothes and appearance, saying he's "holding a handgun, black in color." The officer also said that from the front door, he could see the boy in the school's main office.  The student continued to brandish the weapon while police arrived and police repeatedly instructed him to drop the weapon which he failed to comply. The police were required to shoot him for their safety and the safety of others. Officers shot the teen with assault rifles, the interim police chief said. Unfortunately the boy died and his weapon turned out to be a replica (see picture above) Glock pellet gun. About 20 minutes elapsed between police receiving a call about an armed student and shots being fired, according to police and student accounts. Authorities declined to share what the boy said before he was shot. Police Chief Rodriguez said the teen was pointing the weapon at officers and "had plenty of opportunities to lower the gun and listen to the officers' orders, and he didn't want to." The chief said his officers had every right to do what they did to protect themselves and other students even though there weren't many others in the hallway at the time. Police said officers fired three shots.

Parents Reaction: Jaime’s distraught parents demanded to know why police took lethal action against their son. "Why was so much excess force used on a minor?" the boy's father, Jaime Gonzalez Sr., asked The Associated Press outside the family's home Wednesday night. "Three shots. Why not one that would bring him down?"  Then she flipped through three close-up photos she took of bullet wounds in her son's body. "What happened was an injustice," she said angrily. "I know that my son wasn't perfect, but he was a great kid." Jaime had gunshot wounds on his shoulder and rib cage, and one in the back of his head. "That's the shot that bothers me the most," Jaime Gonzalez Sr. said to The Brownsville Herald.

The officers will be placed on leave, a normal procedure in this type of event. Students, who were bused to another high school after the incident to meet their parents, Administrators said the school would be closed Thursday but students would be able to attend classes at a new elementary school that isn't being used.

Superintendent Carl Montoya remembered Gonzalez as "a very positive young man… Just something unfortunately happened today that caused his behavior to go the way it went. So I don't know," he said Wednesday. Gonzalez Sr. said he had no idea where his son got the gun or why he brought it to school, adding: "We wouldn't give him a gift like that." 

The Associated Press and The Brownsville Herald contributed to this report.

Points For Discussion: 

• While this is certainly a tragedy, if ANYONE in a school commits a violent act and then brandishes a weapon (real or a realistic replica) causing a LOCKDOWN which then triggers an emergency law enforcement response (active shooter or hostage situation), and that individual refuses to put the weapon down when directed by police, they will be shot, and if shot, they stand a good chance of being killed.
• Many school shootings are over in the first few minutes before law enforcement arrives adding to the sense of urgency by law enforcement.
• Where did the boy get the replica pellet gun from? Why did he bring it to school?  Who else knew he had it?
• If this young man brought the replica gun to school to get attention, he did, and the replica gun put his own life at risk, and his failure to comply with armed officers cost him his own life.
• All students KNOW any weapon or something that looks like a weapon is FORBIDDEN to be brought into a school for this very reason.
• When Law Enforcement tells you to do something requiring them to draw a baton, taser, or firearm, YOU DO IT. You can ask questions later, complain, or make a complaint if you feel justified, but YOU COMPLY, especially in an emergency.
• After the fact, hindsight can appear to be 20/20 but unless YOU have ever responded in-extremis to a life threatening situation requiring the use of deadly force with even a rudimentary understanding of terminal ballistics, then you shouldn't second guess the police.
• This shooting like all shootings will be professionally investigated and the results and actions will be reviewed and disseminated.   

Final Comment: I feel sorry for the young loss of life (although understandable under these circumstances) and for the law enforcement professionals that were required to use deadly force because they faced a threat to the safety of the school community and their fellow officers. My prayers go out to his family and the law enforcement officials (and their families) who will bear the burden of what happened. God Bless.  

Sophisticated & Protracted Threat Against Ohio High School

A VARIETY OF SOPHISTICATED THREATS (IEDs, BIO-CHEM) SENT VIA MULTIPLE

EMAILS WITH THE FBI NOT IMMEDIATELY ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE...? 

For a two week period, Orange High School has received a number of cyber threats sent via email (first threat email on Nov 6) and to local television stations. Initially the school was shutdown for a few days and then re-opened and the threats continued. These protracted threats are serious and involve a variety of bomb threats including cell phone bombs, backpack bombs, and car bombs. The situation was further complicated by information put out on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) were it can be difficult to distinguish between gossip, information, and fact. The school and local police have contacted the FBI who have collectively opened a joint (state & federal) investigation. These email originated threats at present have been unable to be exploited by the FBI due to the high tech software used by the unidentified perpetrators. The full resources of the FBI to include their Behavioral Science Unit are involved. The Orange School District and Pepper Pike Police Dept. held a joint presentation with the FBI at a school board meeting with numerous parents in attendance. The school & Pepper Pike PD formulated a security strategy to address the serious threats involving limitations on student cell phones, student backpacks, bio-chemical agents, and single door entrance with accompanying searches. There was an increased police presence at the school and bomb searches by bomb detection dogs. There was also restrictions on students not being able to leave class without an adult escort. The duration and active measures fluctuated based on the changing threats over the course of the two weeks.

FBI Briefing at the Orange District School Board:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/00d19a8b167c4869be06/11_21_11_FBI%20Briefing

The School posted a special page on their website as an information forum for students and parents. The credibility of the threat appears to be diminishing, but due to the seriousness of the threats the authorities are taking no chances. Since the emails are considered evidence in the federal investigation, the contents cannot be directly released to the parents.  

While we hope this is a hoax or veiled threat resulting in a future arrest, this ongoing incident shows how unprepared our educational institutions are with no federal strategy towards school preparedness. Imagine if any one of these threats actually occurred, how would we be looking at this differently?

Mexican Cartels Recruiting American High School Students Part I

“Mexican Cartels have corrupted nearly an entire generation of youth living in Northern Mexico and they seek to corrupt our youth as well to further their smuggling operations,” said Steven C. McCraw, DPS Director. “The Mexican Cartels value American (Texas) teenagers for their ability to serve as expendable labor in many different roles and they have unlimited resources to recruit our children.”

Here is a warning for parents about a disturbing new trend. Mexican Drug cartels are seeking younger and younger recruits, and they're finding them in American schools, at present in Texas. Six of the seven Mexican cartels have established command and control networks in Texas. The link between Mexican Drug Cartels and gangs which help promote and sell drugs is apparent. There are thousands of potential candidates for cartel recruitment in Houston area schools. They include kids who are U.S. citizens, speak Spanish and can blend in on both sides of the border. The DPS says parents should pay attention to who their kids are hanging out with since recruiters may not be who you might think. "The people recruiting them may not be much older, maybe a 16 or 17-year-old, but they're tracking them down, talking to them, telling them how glamorous it is to deal and traffic drugs," said Commander Steen.

A couple of incidents within the last 30 days prompted the warning, but the increased threat began a few years ago. Here are some examples:

• Elisabeth Mandala (an American 18 yr old) left Kempner High School in Sugar Land for Mexico. She wound up beaten to death in a pick up truck along with two men carrying fake identification. It's believed the violent drug cartels recruited Mandala to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the border.
• Just last week in a border county officers caught a 12-year-old American boy driving a stolen pick up truck with more than 800 pounds of marijuana.
• Last month two Texas teens were lured to Mexico where they were kidnapped, beaten, ransomed and released in a remote area along the Rio Grande River.
• Within the past year, more than 25 juveniles have been arrested for drug trafficking in one Texas border county alone.

"The cartel influence is here," said Duane Steen, regional commander for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The DPS is warning parents across the state that children are at risk of being seduced by the cartels that seem to be stepping up their game. "Sometimes this may be delivering drugs. It may be crossing drugs over from Mexico or involvement in some of the other violent activities," said Steen.

"Recruiting is easy for such a vulnerable population," said Kim Ogg, the former gang task force director for the city of Houston. Ogg suspects the cartels are recruiting through gangs. "Some see it (the gang) as their family. Some are attracted to the money, drugs, guns, women, and others are attracted because they have family members in gangs and it seems normal," said Ogg. What the cartels won't tell recruits is how it all could end with jail, injury or death.

As the Hispanic and Latino demographic in America and our schools increase, we must remain vigilant against the impact of Mexican and Latin American cartels and groups, drugs and gangs in our communities, schools, and population. All Drug Cartels from Mexico or anywhere else are a national security problem and threaten the safety and security of our schools as well. We must protect our children.


SIMILAR TO MUSLIM EXTREMIST GROUPS THE LEVEL OF INDISCRIMINATE AND TARGETED VIOLENCE (Beheading, Public Burnings, Body Parts Publicly Displayed, Families Slaughtered, etc.) FROM DRUG CARTELS IS DIFFICULT FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CITIZEN TO COMPREHEND.



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.

Adults (Teachers, Staff, etc.) Need To Maintain Control and Morale during a School Incident

A Mexican Teacher Setting The Example:  The accompanying video is of a kindergarten teacher (Martha Rivera Alanis) in Mexico. The teacher is keeping her young students calm during a drug cartel shootout adjacent to the school where five people outside of the school were killed. The teacher and the students were not injured. The teacher keeps the students focused on singing a song as you can hear the gunfire. While this was not an Active Shooter attack against the school, each incident requires adults to assess what is occurring and influence as positive an outcome as you can influence.

Points for Consideration:  The adults (teachers, substitutes, cafeteria staff, etc.) are the authority figure in the classroom (library, cafeteria, main office, etc.) who needs to maintains their composure in a crisis. Students will often gauge their response based upon the adult's example and response to a crisis. In numerous past discussions with students about their Sept. 11th experiences, the memory that most often sticks out in their minds is how their teacher and other adults in the building / room reacted on that fateful day. A hazardous incident can be scary enough, but it can be made even worse by adults losing their bearing and emotions in front of students. As I have often told young military leaders, that in a crisis situation they need to control their emotions in front of their subordinates to maintain group control and unit morale. Teachers, staff, first responders, and military leaders are human and have human reactions which can't be denied, but need to be self-managed in a crisis if at all possible. Sometimes you need to "act calm" even if you don't feel that way. Focusing on the professional tasks you need to complete in an incident will distract you from your personal feelings. In a crisis, "the eyes of Texas" are upon you so always consider what you are doing, saying, and even how your face looks. Try to keep the students focused on something (keeping quiet, singing, playing hangman, etc.) appropriate for the incident at hand.

We all hope we will have the presence of mind to help our students RESPOND to a crisis which helps lessen the psychological trauma in the RECOVERY to an incident.   

11 YEAR OLD STUDENT KILLED DURING A SCHOOL FIELD TRIP

On June 3rd, 2011 at approx. 1230 pm, in Wildwood New Jersey a tragic event took place where a 11 year old student fell to her death from over a 100 feet from the top of a Ferris Wheel ride during a school sponsored trip. It appears the deceased was the only passenger in that particular Ferris wheel car at the time and fell while it was in motion. The Morey's Mariner's Landing Pier sponsored its annual EDUCATION EXTRAVAGANZA as a day where the park invited students and teachers. The Ferris Wheel had been recently inspected for safety with no previous findings. The loss of life, especially a student, that a parent or guardian entrusted to the child's safety to their school is especially tragic. The park was closed for a day and reopened a day later. She was treated at the scene, but was announced deceased at the hospital 45 minutes later.

Points for Discussion:

• The serious injury, abduction, or death of a student during any school sponsored activity (school day, sporting event, or trip) is perhaps the most unsettling and tragic incident that could occur for a school, but it can unfortunately happen. 
• The reaction of most educators to a tragic incident is "why did this happen?"..."how did this happen?"..."how could we have prevented this from happening?"
• Following a tragic incident there will be an investigation and then undoubtedly there will be lawsuits. While everyone knows "hindsight is 20/20" especially when assigning blame or culpability for an injury or death of a student.
• What were the school district's policies or procedures for school trips?
• Were they sufficient to ensure the safety and security of students and school personnel?
• Did the school event planners, executors, and supervisors follow the spirit and letter of the school district policies and procedures for the school trip?
• Did unusual circumstances occur that were not covered by the school district policies and procedures, and what decisions and action did they take to ensure the safety and security of the students? 
• The school will need to RECOVER from the incident which starts as they RESPOND to an incident. 
• Individual students and staff members will require crisis counseling taking an individual approach. 
• The school will need small group counseling taking a collective approach. 

BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE, AND WHEN THEY DO GOOD PEOPLE NEED TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS.  

Irate Parent Confronting A Student in School Cafeteria

One month prior, the March 29th post titled Irate Parent & The Response of School Leadership. http://schoolpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/04/irate-parents-response-of-school.html talked about a disruption at CT school in Thomaston. (I suggest you review that post for the recommended protocols).

Now on April 29th in East New Haven at Joseph Melillo Middle School (pictured above) a warrant has been sworn out for the arrest of a parent who allegedly (after receiving a cell phone call from her daughter) came to school and confronted another student in the cafeteria during the school. An excerpt from the story is as follows:     

        

INCIDENT: What precipitated the confrontation? According to East Haven PD an official stated:  “I guess there was a situation ... where there was food being thrown, and this girl called her mother from the cafeteria, saying that this other girl was throwing food at her.”  “I guess she’s had problems with her in the past.” According to police, “it appears the parent was ‘buzzed’ in the front door but did not follow the clearly printed rules,” which require visitors to report directly to the main office. The school has a security camera that shows who is at the front door, but does not have a camera that covers the area between the door and the office, he said. But he said the incident “happened so quickly,” and that as soon as the secretary realized that the woman hadn’t come to the office, she told Principal and they went looking for her. “Instead, she stormed into the cafe and confronted a female student about a situation regarding her daughter,” police said. The mother “went up to the other girl, and from what the other officer was telling me, got physical with her,” he said. “A male student tried to stop the parent and was pushed away by that parent,” police said.

East Haven Police Department Youth Detective Michael D’Amato said the investigating officer, will seek a warrant to charge the mother, whom police have not yet identified, with breach of peace. There may be other charges as well, he said.

What should the Irate Mother Have Done If She Was Concerned:  “Regardless of what the situation was between her daughter and the other girl, the parent had no right to take the situation into her own hands by entering the school and confronting anyone other than the principal,” police officials said. “She should have gone to the main office to the principal and handled it the proper way,” he said. 

 FINAL THOUGHTS: 

• Students and Parents need to know and be reminded of how to respond if they are being bothered by someone in school. Contacting a teacher, guidance counselor, housemaster or vice principal, or principal OR even the police are a multitude of options for a student or parent to use to solve a problem.
• Students and parents need to be reminded of the PROPER way to contact each other during the school day. 
• Parents and students calling each other and texting each other throughout the school day are an interruption to the educational process. It happens more often then people may think. This does not even address student to student calling and texts which is highly disruptive and can be used for nefarious purposes or have unintended consequences.
• Parent or student communication during the school day will be addressed in a future blog.           

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. 

YALE STUDENT KILLED IN LAB ACCIDENT

COMPLACENCY CAN KILL

http://bcove.me/j1t2cn8s

Tragically, a Yale student was killed in a school chemistry lab accident when her long hair got caught in a fast-spinning lathe. She was killed by accidental asphyxia by neck compression. She was due to graduate in about a month. The Sterling Chemistry Laboratory machine shop is a state-of-the-art facility to support the building and modification of research instruments. Only students who completed a shop safety course had access. Due to the accident, access to lab machinery facilities is limited until a review of procedures was completed. The lab and classes were cancelled. Yale is offering counseling to students. OSHA is conducting an inspection and investigation to determine if the lab complied with safety standards. The Yale Police are conducting an investigation to determine if any laws were broken.


Final Comment: Like all fatal accidents, this is a tragedy. Any loss of life especially a young student a month from graduation makes one wonder, how could this happen? One general safety rule is the two person rule. Hindsight is 20 /20, but the purpose of studying accidents after the fact is to learn from the mistakes or tragedies of others. In a lab or any facility where someone can be injured or killed, there should be no lone individual. A second set of eyes,  a second brain in the room, or another person's intuition can sometimes (not always) be a lifesaver. While another individual in the room may not have prevented this tragic accident, it may have provided prompt assistance and first response to help her.

Va Tech Fined $55K for Delayed Notification of a Potential threat on Campus

VA TECH FINED FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL LAW REQUIRING TIMELY NOTIFICATION OF A THREAT TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY.

US Department of Education fined Virginia Tech University for their failure to notify their school community about a potentially ongoing threat to campus safety. On April 16, 2007, when they failed to alert the campus after the discovery of two murdered students at 7:30 am. The 911 call occurred at 7:15 am and the police (Va Tech PD & Blacksburg PD) confirmed the murdered students in a dormitory. Classes start at 8:00 am daily. At 8:52 am, the University President (Stenger) had his office put into a lockdown and off campus PD (Blacksburg PD) placed their public schools into lockdown. Between, 9:05 and 9:15 am the shooter (Seung-Hui Cho) walked into Norton Hall and chained the doors shut. It wasn't until 9:26 am that President Stenger chose to notify the campus by sending out an email to campus staff, faculty, and students about a shooting incident in a dormitory (concerning the 2 murdered students). The campus was not placed in a lockdown nor told that a potential threat and gunmen still existed because they made an assumption that the 7:15 murder was an isolated incident. (In a crisis situation you can never assume away the potential or realization of a threat) At 9:42 am Cho's Norris Hall shooting rampage started and lasted 9 minutes and at the end of the day 33 people were killed.

Points for Consideration:

• Analyzing past and more recent school shootings is key for school leaders and communities to determine how to best prevent, mitigate, respond, and recover from a horrific act of violence.
• If the potential for violence, (let alone if a violent act has occurred) you must make decisions based upon worst case scenario and err on the side of caution.
• President Stenger (ready or not, prepared or not, trained or not) waited entirely too long to put the campus into a lockdown. Two hours after a confirmed double murder on campus did not result in a campus lockdown even after two hours...? Unacceptable. 
• Educational Leaders (Superintendents, University and College Presidents, Principals) need to ensure they have thought through and "done their homework" to prepare for all hazards, especially acts of violence. 
• School Leaders will have to make decisions in a crisis with incomplete information, and if an assumption is made it is in preparing and responding to a worst case scenario vice HOPING everything will work out OR encounter the "paralysis of analysis: by trying to come up with the perfect decision vice a good enough decision that protects LIVES first.  
• School Leaders need to take educate, train, and exercise their organizations and themselves to make good decisions.
• Taking free online courses from FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) on:
• Courses on: Emergency Management Planning for Schools, Emergency Management Planning for Universities, Active Shooter Response, Workplace Violence, and Incident Command Posts  

DELAWARE GOVERNOR STANDARDIZING SCHOOL SAFETY PLANS

Governor Jack Markell made a promise in his State of the State to make Delaware's schools safer. "It is often the response during the first critical minutes that will determine the outcome," says state Secretary of Safety & Homeland Security Lewis D. Schiliro (a former FBI Director in NYC). He's tasked with creating a model plan for public schools to follow in the event of an emergency of any kind. "It's really designed to work whether it's a fire, a chemical spill, some kind of intruder, and we're gonna do our best to plan for all those kinds of things," says Gov. Markell. With Delaware students spending more than a third of their time within an educational setting it is imperative that school safety be a priority, Governor Markell said.

Having public safety experts create a model plan for schools to utilize is the first step toward better preparing for any type of emergency. The first responders are often school administrators, teachers, and students so it is important that each school be aware of potential threats and be prepared to manage them should they occur.” Markell says they'll be trained by State Police School Resource Officers (SROs). "Here's how you deal with this kind of emergency, with this kind of intruder; very specific, step by step, which will then be used to help train the staff in the school, to help train the kids, to make sure everybody's kept safe," said Governor Markell.

“The model will be prepared as a standardized resource for school administrators to use in creating their comprehensive emergency plans. It will contain a scalable and flexible set of checklists that can be customized by administrators to address all-hazards preparedness. It will enhance multiagency coordination between the schools, stakeholders and first responder community to foster an integrated approach to emergency management and incident response,” said Secretary Schiliro.

Who is Watching The Kids? Toddler Assaulted at Sea World by Family Friend.

STUDENT / CHILD PHYSICAL SAFETY IS THE NUMBER ONE PREPAREDNESS GOAL.

Orlando, Florida. — A 26-year-old man is alleged to have raped a 2-year-old girl at SeaWorld Orlando and saved pictures of the crime on his cell phone.  Michael Grzybowicz has been held without bail in the Brevard County Jail. He is accused of raping the child on Feb. 17 after her mother had asked him to briefly watch the toddler inside the theme park. Pictures of the alleged rape were found on Grzybowicz’ phone and sent to his e-mail account. Records state that four photographs in the phone's memory chip showed the violation of the youngster wearing a diaper and a yellow sun dress while she rode in a dark blue stroller.  Grzybowicz told investigators that he didn't know how the photos got onto his cell phone.  The victim’s mother said the only time she left her daughter with Grzybowicz was when she and her boyfriend went on an amusement ride. The four had spent the day at the amusement park. A warrant indicates Grzybowicz faces charges of sexual battery and lascivious molestation on a child younger than 12.

While this horrific story is about failed parental supervision resulting in a predator's abuse of a child, there are numerous points for consideration for student safety and security. THIS WAS NOT A SCHOOL TRIP.

Points for Consideration:

• As a parent, do you know the adults that come in contact with your child?
• As a teacher or educational leader, do you know the adults who come in contact with your students throughout the course of the school day and extracurricular activities?
• Schools which have Child Development Centers, have special considerations about child safety & security.
• Volunteers for school trips must be vetted. Just because you think you  "know" someone (as the mother in this story did) doesn't mean that you truly know who they are. 
• If students see, hear, or expereince something they feel or know is inappropriate do they know who and how to report it?
• If a student has a drastic change in behavior, what resources do you have available to try to determine if there is a problem?

Sea World issued a statement and takes active steps to protect the safety of all visitors to their park. Ultimately, parents are responsible for the safety and security of their children. Parents and Educational leaders must take a team approach to this critical school preparedness goal.