The Role of Unions in School Preparedness (Safety, Security, & School Climate)

It does take a school community (a village) to raise, 

educate, nurture, and protect a child. 

     Unions, as a part of that community, are a vital component in that process. The school community encompasses the school administration, faculty, staff support, SRO, students; but also includes parents and guardians; first responders (law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services); neighborhood and local businesses; school district leadership and staff; unions (teachers, custodian, security, food service); city services (emergency management, transportation, health and human services, etc.), and local elected officials. All of these stakeholders (internal and external) are part of the school preparedness network and must work together. 

     If everyone is involved in school preparedness and any adult in a school might be a "first responder" in a school incident; then the unions that represent them must be integrated into the safety, security, and school climate equation. The school custodian at Sandy Hook Elementary School is credited with warning others about the impending threat and saving lives in the process. 

• The custodian who performs safety checks on machinery and knows the layout of the facility to advise first responders is critical. 
• The food service worker who hears a discussion or comment that causes them to be concerned for the welfare of a child or a co-worker can prevent a disaster. 
• The school security or hall monitor who establishes a professional approachable rapport with students and co-workers is invaluable to the prevention and critical response in any school incident. 
• The teacher who is in the classroom, hallway, and cafeteria with numerous students sometimes before, during, or after school has a powerful role in the safety and security of the school community. 
• The above representatives and a union building steward should have a representative role in any school preparedness committee that meets regularly in the building and district.

As difficult as it may be to believe in today's hyper-sensitive school preparedness environment, if a school or district doesn't take school preparedness as seriously as it should, then the unions provide a voice to make the school community safer and more secure. 

If there is a concern brought forward by a worker to a union representative it may be the worker's perception or a reality, either way it needs to be addressed for resolution. So that in the area of safety, security, and school climate there is a common understanding of what is taking place. 

The key is professional collaboration vice an adversarial accusatory relationship between the unions and the school administrative leaders. If student learning in a positive school climate within a safe and secure school environment is our collective goal, then it is important to work together.  Both sides should welcome the opportunity to collaborate to improve things for all.  It is not about blaming each other for mistakes or shortcomings, it is about working together to fix them as soon as possible for the safety and security everyone.

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.

Furniture Tip Over On Accidents & Kids

For all of the new Moms & Dads and Aunts & Uncles Out There, Educate Yourself About the Danger of Furniture Tip Over Accidents. 

Seven Ways to Prevent Furniture Tip-Over Accidents in Your Home

Furniture and TV tip-over incidents are one of the top hidden hazards in the home. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) encourages you to inspect and anchor furniture and TVs in order to protect young children from a preventable tragedy.

Between 2000 and 2010, the CPSC received reports of 245 tip-over-related deaths, and more than 90 percent involved children 5 and younger. The majority of these children suffered fatal injuries to the head.

You can prevent tip-over accidents by following these safety tips in any home where children live or visit:

• Anchor furniture to the wall or the floor.
• Place TVs on sturdy, low bases.
• Push the TV as far back on the furniture as possible.
• Keep remote controls, toys, and other items that might attract children off TV stands or furniture.
• Keep cable cords out of reach of children.
• Make sure freestanding kitchen ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.
• Supervise children in rooms where these safety tips have not been followed.

Learn more about preventing furniture tip-over accidents.

School Attack In Nigeria: 29 Boarding School Students Shot & Burned Alive

Points for Consideration Up Front: I am exposing the reader to this horrific story of an international school attack by terrorists because as educators it is important to be globally aware. What is the likelihood of terrorists attacking your school? Not probable, and certainly the threat is extremely low, but possible.  

POTISKUM, Nigeria – On July 6, 2013, Islamic militants (allegedly from the Boko Haram sect) attacked a boarding school (1,200 students) in Northeast Nigeria before dawn Saturday, killing 29 students and one teacher. The gunmen are believed to be from the Boko Haram sect whose name means "Western education is sacrilege."  Scores of schools have been burned down in the past year in Northeast Nigeria.  Some of the pupils were burned alive in the latest school attack blamed on a radical terror group, survivors said. Parents screamed in anguish as they tried to identify the charred and gunshot victims.

By Adamu Adamu and Michelle Faul, The Associated Press

     Farmer Malam Abdullahi found the bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old shot in the back as he apparently tried to run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the chest. "That's it, I'm taking my other boys out of school," he told The Associated Press as he wept over the two corpses. He said he had three younger children in a nearby school. "It's not safe," he said. "The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers." Survivors at the Potiskum General Hospital and its mortuary said gunmen attacked Government Secondary School in Mamudo village, 3 miles from Potiskum town at about 3 a.m. Saturday.

     They killed 29 students and an English teacher Mohammed Musa, who was shot in the chest, according to another teacher, Ibrahim Abdu. "We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me," said 15-year-old Musa Hassan. He put his arm up in defense, and suffered a gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand, the one he uses to write with. He said the gunmen came armed with jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch the school's administrative block and one of the hostels. "They burned the children alive," he said, the horror showing in his wide eyes.

     He and teachers at the morgue said dozens of children from the 1,200-student school escaped into the bush but have not been seen since. Some bodies are so charred they could not be identified, so many parents do not know if their children survived or died. Islamic militants from Boko Haram and breakaway groups have killed more than 1,600 civilians in suicide bombings and other attacks since 2010, according to an Associated Press count. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency May 14, and deployed thousands of troops to halt the insurgency, acknowledging that militants had taken control of some towns and villages.

     Military attacks against the Muslim extremists appear to have driven the extremists into the mountains with caves, from which they emerge to attack schools and markets. The militants have increasingly targeted civilians, including health workers on vaccination campaigns, teachers and government workers. 
© 2013 The Associated Press.  

Final Comment: The techniques, tactics, and procedures of Islamic Extremists (VEO: Violent Extremist Organizations) terrorists used abroad can and have been visited upon our shores. 

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....

HVAC Noxious Gas Leak Hospitalizes 28 Students in Tenn.

Nashville, Tenn:  More than two dozen students have spent the night in a hospital after carbon monoxide leaked at their Nashville private school. A hole in the school's heating unit is the reported cause of the leak. Drexel Preparatory Academy principal Cheryl Bowman told WTVF-TV students began coming to the office Monday morning complaining of flu-like symptoms. Officials decided to cancel classes. After students were sent home, the school got a call from Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital, saying several students had been brought in and showed high levels of carbon monoxide. Workers found a hole in a heating unit that serves the central part of the school, where the kindergarten and first-grade classes are located. Twenty-eight students were admitted to the hospital and put on oxygen overnight. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced by combustion.

Discussion Point:  

• BE AWARE. If more than one student or school member complains of a headache or seems uncharacteristically drowsy there may be a gas leak. REMEMBER Carbon Monoxide can KILL. Always Err on the side of caution. 
• This may also be triggered by the school healthcare personnel if they have a number of student's complaining of headache, drowsiness, or lethargy.
• LEAVE & VENTILATE. Have the students and faculty members leave the room and take them as a group to the school nurse. Let adjacent teachers be aware as you depart. Ventilate the room by opening the window (s). Don't necessarily open the door because you may spread the gas throughout the school if it is localized to your room.
• REPORT ASAP. Contact the school leadership and the School Nurse to let them know what is going on, which room you are in, and where you are taking the students. School Leaders will quickly assess and contact the Fire Department and their facilities personnel. The Fire Department will check the air quality and the Facilities (Maintenance) folks can assist in determining if there is a leak and where it may be coming from. Leave this to the professionals. 
• May REQUIRE a LOCALIZED OR FULL EVACUATION? If Fire Department Incident Commander deems the air quality to be dangerous, they may direct the school leadership to evacuate a part (ie., 2d floor) of the building, relocate personnel (to the gym or cafeteria), or direct an evacuation of the entire building to mitigate the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning or noxious fumes. 
• This situation may be further complicated by the time of year or season. If it is winter and you need to have a full evacuation you now have another issue: cold injuries if you have to stay outside for an extended period of time and if the weather is severe. 
• NEED TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK OR THE FACILITY REMAINS UNSAFE. Identifying the source of the leak is critical to preventing further injury to people and of secondary importance to determine when you can continue school operations. When does the school get cleared to re-open if it needed to be closed. The collaboration between the school and district leadership, Fire Dept., School District Facilities representatives, and District Public Affairs are vital to keeping the school community informed of what happened, what has been done to fix the problem, and the impact on the safety of students and teachers, and impact on school operations .  
• PREVENTION. 
• Does your school have Carbon Monoxide Detectors? If not why not?
• How often is the HVAC system inspected to determine if their are leaks, damage to ducts, intake or exhaust valves block?