This unlocked boiler room is the type of location where students sometimes engage in sexual activities. Space management is an important concept for school officials to use to prevent both consensual sexual encounters and sexual assaults.

Sex in K12 Schools

Kevin Wren is a school safety professional in South Carolina who has attended several of my presentations. He recently sent me a link to a news story involving two New York City school teachers who were allegedly caught having sex in a classroom. Both teachers have been reinstated and will continue to teach in the same school because no students were present in the classroom when the alleged incident took place.

Kevin recalled me asking audiences the important rhetorical question “when is it acceptable for people to have sex in K12 schools?”  This case is an excellent example of why I sometimes have this discussion with audiences when I keynote conferences.

Of Course not!

Obviously the correct answer is that it is never acceptable for people to engage in sex in K12 schools. My follow up question to the audience is “but do people have sex in K12 schools?” The answer to that question is that this occurs far more often than the average person realizes. Whether the sexual acts involve a sexual assault or molestation, consensual acts between students, consensual acts between a student and an employee or as in this recent case, and allegation of consensual sex between adults, sex on K12 campuses are a serious problem.

A Significant and Recurring Problem in Schools

Over the years, there have been too many examples of these types of problems to count. I am currently working as an expert witness on two such cases and have just been asked to review a third case involving an allegation of this type for a law firm that is attempting to determine if they should litigate school officials or not. I have seen many troubling cases of this type covered in the national news including one incident where someone videotaped a school principal having sex with a teacher, posted it on the web, and sent it to school board members. I declined a case where a district was being litigated in federal court which involved seven students having sex with a special needs child for more than one hour. I had been asked to conduct a security assessment for the district in their attempt to address the event. In this particular case, I was approached by both defense and plaintiff’s counsel but I advised them both that I felt there would be a conflict of interest.

Preventing Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct in Schools

This recent school sex scandal demonstrates the need for thoughtfully developed and clearly communicated policies for students and staff that are designed to minimize the opportunities for incidents involving sexual assault and sexual misconduct to occur. The policies can include structured student supervision, requiring employees to keep unattended spaces locked, prohibiting school staff from covering classroom and office windows (with exceptions for emergency situations such as lockdown), and guidance on staff and students being alone in private areas.

While no measures are foolproof, implementing, communicating and enforcing appropriate practices can help to prevent these types of incidents as well as to make it easier to respond to them more effectively should an incident occur.

This still from the Safe Havens International Safe Topics The First 30 Seconds evaluation and staff development set depicts a woman with a knife in the front office of a school. School crisis scenario testing is one of the most powerful assessment tools for measuring how well prepared school personnel are to make effective and fast life-saving decisions. Safe Havens has now released five free audio scenarios which can help organizations evaluate and improve emergency preparedness.

Safe Havens International began using verbal scenarios in our school security assessment processes many years ago. About 12 years ago, we began creating video crisis scenarios for use in training for clients and for our conference keynote sessions. While trying to help a large urban school district figure out why an experienced administrator failed to take life-saving action which resulted in a student’s death, we found that it was quite revealing to have school administrators respond to our scenario videos in a real-time fashion. During this assessment, I ran scenarios with five very experienced building administrators. When presented with a scenario of an angry parent depicted as threatening front office staff with a large knife, three of the five administrators stated they would ask the woman to come into their office and that they would persuade her to surrender the weapon. None of the five administrators opted to request police assistance or to issue a lockdown for the school. As some of the administrators had armed and sworn police officers assigned to their buildings, this was quite a shock. As this assessment involved a large urban school district with more than 100 schools we were even more surprised.

School Crisis Scenarios Reveal Astounding Gaps

Since that time, our analysts have conducted more than 5,000 one-on-one crisis simulations where representative school employees were asked to respond to a variety of school crisis scenarios in a real-time fashion. Our award winning video team has now produced approximately 100 scripted, audio and video scenarios depicting a wide array of crisis situations. We have developed scoring tools and have embedded the scenarios and the scoring tools into our web-based school security assessment evaluation tool. The results of these simulations have been nothing short of amazing.

School Crisis Scenario Sets

Several years ago, Safe Havens invested more than $250,000 to produce two sets of crisis simulations which are available on our website. One set includes school-based scenarios and the other set is focused on school bus scenarios. These evaluation and staff development sets have been very popular. Last week, our video unit completed five new audio scenarios that have been designed as a free resource. While this resource does not include the companion training videos, video scenarios, scoring tools, and other resources included in the sets in our web store, they are valuable free tools. The scenarios are available as a free MP3 download so they can be played on smart phones, tablets and laptops to initiate drills, conduct limited evaluations and for use in staff development sessions.

Free Audio Crisis Scenarios for any setting

These free crisis scenarios are intentionally recorded to be used in any setting. Developed in cooperation for Campus Safety Magazine as a free resource for attendees at the 2015 Campus Safety Conference in Chicago, they have already generated considerable interest. Be sure to check out these scenarios at: http://safehavensinternational.org/staying-alive/

This type of signage failed to deter an attacker who opened fire on U.S. Military personnel in Chattanooga Tennessee today. While communication of policies and legal requirements can have value, schools should emphasize proven techniques to prevent acts of violence. Pattern matching and recognition has been helping to avert school shootings and other types of incidents for more than two decades.

Dealing with School Safety Threats

I had the opportunity to keynote the Campus Safety Conference in Chicago earlier this week. When a group of us went to a high-end restraint in the suburbs, I noticed a graphic notifying the public that firearms are not allowed in the restraint. While I know that many businesses post these types of signs to prevent concealed weapons permit holders from carrying guns into their establishments, I have always questioned what they do to enhance safety. Today’s attack on two U.S. military properties in Tennessee highlight the limitations of this type of signage. A similar sign is posted on the glass door of the recruiting station where one of the attacks took place. The sign clearly failed to deter the attacker from firing a number of rounds through the very door the sign was posted on. While signage relating to rules, regulations, and laws can be helpful, we must be realistic on what deterrent value they can provide.

Emphasize Proven Approaches

While we should use an array of prevention strategies, we urge our clients to focus on measures that have been proven to be effective.  One strategy that has been repeatedly proven to be effective in preventing numerous tragedies on school campuses for more than two decades is pattern matching and recognition.   Though this behavioral approach to awareness has been referred to by a number of names, the oldest reference to this strategy I have found thus far is pattern matching and recognition which has been used to save lives since the 1980’s. Apparently originating in an Australian cardiac care unit to help reduce patient mortality by as much as 50%, the concept is now widely utilized in military, law enforcement, emergency medicine, and a number of other high stakes settings.

How Pattern Matching and Recognition Works

Pattern matching and recognition involves people recognizing behaviors that are not typical for the context and the setting. Pattern matching and recognition can help people notice people and situations that pose potential danger ranging from bullying, medical emergencies, and a wide range of acts of violence. Because its use requires that people pay attention to others, pattern matching and recognition can help enhance school climate and connectivity while improving safety, security and emergency preparedness.

Free Video on Pattern Matching and Recognition

Safe Havens International has developed an excellent six-minute video which provides several real-life examples of how pattern matching and recognition has been used in the field. This video features an interview with a former member of the United States Army Delta Force who describes how application of this concept led to the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The author easily smuggled these replica firearms through an improperly run metal detection checkpoint during a security assessment of a high-rise school board office building. He could have just as easily carried these items through every metal detection checkpoint he passed through in Washington D.C. last week.

Tempting Targets for Terrorists

I decided to stay over in Washington D.C. for the weekend after my keynote session at the National Campus Safety Forum on Friday.  There is always much to do and see in our nation’s capitol and I decided to spend some time visiting some of the city’s awesome attractions.  I could not fail to notice that the way metal detectors are utilized to protect the millions of visitors to many of these high profile venues is troubling.  As was the case when I visited some of the same sites last summer, it was readily apparent to me that the entry point metal detection approach used at each of the venues would not stop them from entering with not only one, but if they desired, several firearms and a large quantity of ammunition.  More importantly, my experience has been that it would be obvious to any reasonably intelligent aggressor that they could easily carry weapons through these same checkpoints.  This struck a cord as the problems I observed related directly to my keynote topic for the Campus Safety Forum.

Like some other tourist attractions I have visited in other cities, the weapons screening checkpoints provide only a façade of weapons screening.  For example, I was able to clear the weapons screening checkpoint at one site while carrying two umbrellas, a portable phone and several other metallic objects that set off the detector.  But like other patrons who had waited for half an hour in the rain to pass through the detectors, no effort was made to determine what metal objects I had on my person.  I observed a number of parents being instructed to push baby strollers through the detectors as well as other blatant breaches of proper entry point weapons screening.  An obvious cue that a metal detector checkpoint is not even remotely effective is when security personnel are not using handheld wands to conduct the secondary screening that is required to determine what metal objects have triggered the detector.  Almost every person I observed passing through the walk through units set off the detectors, yet no additional screening was taking place.

Terrorism Warnings and Public Trust

As we have seen in many instances, attackers have not had any trouble figuring out that they can smuggle firearms, knives and other weapons through these types of checkpoints.  Setting up and operating ineffective checkpoints involves either a serious lack of security expertise or more commonly, a conscious decision to put on an illusionary show of security with knowledge that people are not really being properly protected.   Such efforts also play well into the hands of terrorists and other types of attackers who plan attacks on places where people gather in large numbers.  For example, terrorists have often reveled in the opportunity to demonstrate government incompetence in protecting civilian populations.  For most K12 schools, implications for civil liability are enormous.  Whether the security approach involves dummy security cameras or woefully ineffective weapons screening checkpoints, intentionally presenting a false sense of security can be very problematic during the litigation following an act of violence.  High levels of concern relating to the potential for terrorism in Washington D.C. have been expressed by numerous government agency heads.  The potential for loss of life followed by a significant loss of public confidence should be a very real concern.

Deliver the Security that you Promise

Having extensive experience with entry point weapons screening for venues as large as the 2001 Winter Olympic Games, I understand that effective entry point screening for these venues would be extremely expensive and would create severe backlogs of patrons waiting to be screened.  For the same reason, many K12 schools have opted not utilize this approach.  We have a moral and, in many cases, legal obligation not to mislead people with illusions of security that are severely out of sync with reality.  If you cannot achieve a reasonable level of deterrence through appropriate security measures, it is often best not to employ them in the first place.

I just returned from a two week trip to South Africa. As with my previous trips there, I found it to be a fascinating journey. A beautiful country that I love to visit, South Africa also has its share of violence in and out of schools. A shooting rampage in Alexandria last Wednesday demonstrated that active shooter events can occur in any country. In this tragic case, a South African Police Services Constable attacked a police station and killed four people including his former partner. The officer also fired upon two other police officers but missed them.

Police Officer Becomes an Active Shooter

The officer had taken his girlfriend and a man hostage about a month earlier after he found them together. During the standoff, he threatened to shoot responding officers. Police seized his service pistol and he was not apparently able to purchase another one because of South Africa’s strict gun laws. Instead, the officer was able to convince an officer at the police station to give him another police service pistol which was then used in the attack. After the attack, the officer fled to a residence and killed himself with the weapon after firing upon responding police tactical team members.

Media Reporting on Active Shooter Events Distorts Reality

Like a number of active shooter events in other countries, this case received little if any national media coverage in the United States. In fact, I only learned of the incident when I read a South African newspaper on my flight home. The way media organizations cover active shooter events has considerable bearing on how we perceive the chances we will directly experience them. Active shooter events in many countries make it clear that any public or non-public school in the world could be the next school to experience and active shooter incident. No school official should ignore this possibility. At the same time, available data confirms that more than 99% of all deaths at American schools do not involve active shooter incidents. In fact, more than 90% of all homicides at school do not involve active shooter incidents.

Appropriate Responses to Active Shooter Events

Careful data evaluation reveals that it is exceedingly dangerous to focus most of our available time, energy, and fiscal resources on active shooter events. We urge our clients to thoroughly address the risk of active shooter incidents while devoting appropriate effort to address the array of hazards that claim far more lives each year than active shooter events. Taking the time to carefully review accurate school safety incident data can help to overcome the natural tendency to overemphasize active shooter risks for schools.

Student Suicides at School Require Our Attention

According to Campus Safety Magazine, an 18-year-old student committed suicide with a firearm at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona in May. Two of our clients have experienced multiple on-campus suicides. Suicides on school property rarely garner national media attention unless they follow an active shooter situation. The reality is that there have been far more deaths from suicides on K12 campuses than from active shooter incidents.

School Suicides Result in More Deaths than Active Shooter Events

Steve Satterly’s 2014 report Relative Risks of Death in U.S. Schools  indicates that individual schools are eight times more likely to experience an on-campus suicide than an active shooter incident. His report also reveals that twice as many deaths resulted from suicides on campus than from active shooter incidents during a recent fifteen year time period. Suicide prevention measures take on even greater importance when we also consider that many active shooter incidents have ended with suicide by the aggressor. These incidents are extremely painful. They leave a lasting and very negative impact on families and the school community.

School Suicides Demand Appropriate Resource Allocation

Our analysts have seen a number of instances where school staff have received extensive training on active shooter response while staff development on evidence-based suicide prevention concepts has not been provided. While the very real threat of active shooter incidents should not be ignored, failure to address a far more common type of event that has caused twice as many deaths is not advisable.

With many on-campus K12 suicide attempts being public in nature, these types of incidents may are beginning to receive more media coverage. A number of mental health experts feel this may in turn increase the risk of on-campus suicide by students and staff. Graphic and public suicide attempts such as those where students have lit themselves on fire in schools could easily result in a sudden shift in media exposure just as we have seen with K12 active shooter incidents. Active shooter incidents were largely ignored by the national media until the deadly shooting at Pearl High School received unprecedented media coverage. A number of school shootings have received similar intensive national media coverage since that time.

With evidence-based approaches to suicide prevention available today, it makes sense to devote time, energy and fiscal resources to prevention strategies that have been validated as effective before schools tie up precious resources on questionable and perhaps even dangerous measures for less common threats. Fortunately, a number of school districts and non-public schools have done excellent work in this area. We urge school officials to take a close look at their suicide prevention measures.