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New Jersey Educator With Impressive Reputation Accused of Molesting Student

September 5, 2012 by

Erica DePalo, 33 was recognized as one of the state’s best teachers in 2011.  But earlier this week, DePalo was arrested for a series of charges relating to the sexual victimization of a 15-year-old student.  Depalo, who taught at West Orange High School, has been removed from the classroom.  The accused teacher has not been convicted of any offense and we do not assume the guilt of school staff members who have not yet been convicted.  We have seen many regrettable instances where prominent school officials and teachers who have been recognized for excellence in teaching have been arrested and convicted of sexually inappropriate conduct involving students.   This sad reality hurts the many educators who do not engage in this type of conduct. 

Proper pre-employment screening clearly established and enforced rules regulating interaction between staff.  Other measures should be in place to help identify candidates that are not suitable for work with children and to more quickly identify school staff who are attempting to sexually exploit students who have been hired in spite of screening measures.

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Students and Staff in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Taught to Attack an Active Shooter as a Last Resort

September 4, 2012 by

According to a report by the Tuscaloosa News, school officials and students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama have adopted the highly controversial approach of attacking active shooters as a last resort option. A slowly increasing number of school organizations are adopting this approach over the more traditional approach of teaching staff and students to adapt based on the situation at hand if a person with a weapon enters a room and begins attacking others. Our paper Fight, Flight or Lockdown – Teaching Students and Staff to Attack Active Shooters Could Result in Reduced Casualties or Needless Deaths outlines some of the more significant risks and benefits of this approach.

The paper also outlines how there have already been incidents where active shooters were stopped by staff and students and how there have also been injuries in deaths when this approach was attempted. The paper was the result of more than a year and a half of research and encourages additional discussion on this highly controversial and potentially high liability concept. Steve Satterly did a great job in helping to research and write on this important topic.

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Ask Safe Havens Are There Ways to Prevent School Shootings?

September 3, 2012 by

We have posted a short video podcast in the Ask Safe Havens series.  The topic for this podcast is the prevention of school weapons assaults.   This free series of school safety video podcasts can serve as a helpful free staff development resource.

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Jane’s Crisis Communications Handbook is a Helpful Reference for School Safety Personnel who Interact with the Media After Emergency Situations

September 1, 2012 by

Jane’s is without question the most detail oriented publisher I have ever worked with.  When they selected me to head up their school safety consulting projects, my manager told me bluntly that if I was ever publically wrong – once – I would be fired.  He explained that the company aggressively protects its stellar reputation for absolute accuracy.  This helps to explain how a major publisher can still sell books that cost as much as $2,500 each.  It also puts immense pressure on authors for Jane’s to be very accurate.  The extensive peer review and editing process used by Jane’s also creates increased accuracy and reliability. 

Jane’s is also known for a series of compact books such as the Jane’s Crisis Communications Handbook.  This book is a pocket-sized guide to help public information officers, public safety officials and others who must interact with the media under crisis conditions.  Like other Jane’s books I have read, I found this book to be carefully written and helpful in my work in the school safety field. 

 

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100-Year-Old Man Hits 11 with car at Los Angeles Elementary School

August 31, 2012 by

100-Year-Old Preston Carter apparently put his car in reverse and struck 11 victims, nine of them children Thursday.  Four students were listed as in critical condition when they arrived at the hospital but will likely survive according to local fire officials.  The victims were apparently standing on a sidewalk outside a Los Angeles elementary school when the accident occurred.

Students have been struck by vehicles in similar situations at schools around the country.  I recently conducted a forensic evaluation as an expert witness on a case where a student at a private school was struck by a car that was accidently put in reverse by the grandmother of a student at the school.  The victim’s leg was cut off at the hip when she was pinned to a cement column by the car. 

The potential for these types of tragic accidents should be considered by school officials.  Qualified consulting firms that specialize in traffic engineering can conduct paid assessments for schools and school districts.  Traffic officers from local and state law enforcement agencies can sometimes be a valuable free resource in helping school officials who want to re-visit the risk of these types of accidents.  

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Waukegan Illinois Public Schools Make Great use of their REMS Project Grant

August 28, 2012 by

We were pleased to be selected to work on the Readiness and Emergency Schools grant for Waukegan Public Schools in Illinois.  The district accomplished a great deal for the size of their grant including:

-Training for several thousand staff members

-Schools safety, security and emergency preparedness assessments for all schools

-Developing an internal team that was trained to conduct annual school safety, security and emergency preparedness assessments

-Completing a number of custom school safety training videos and web courses

-Completely new emergency plan components for building administrators, teachers, custodians, school bus drivers, front office staff and a new after-hours emergency chart

-A series of tabletop, functional and full-scale exercises

This district accomplished a great deal with its REMS grant and we were proud to be able to work with their dedicated planning team.

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