School Stabbing in Front of Kindergarten Class

July 7, 2014 by

School Stabbing

A school stabbing took place in Paris, France.  A mother of one of the students entered the class and stabbed the teacher, Fabienne Terral-CalmΦs.  The school stabbing took place early in the morning, shortly after school began.  No one else was hurt.

The teacher had two small children.  The mother was taken into custody.  She was described by the French education minister Benoit Hamon as having “serious psychiatric problems.”

School Stabbing Analysis

We frequently hear that school violence is uniquely American, but that is far from the truth.  A look at the timeline of school attacks around the world is all one would need to see the error in that thinking.  Laws do not stop people intent from doing harm to others.

What is needed is better psychiatric evaluations, and better threat assessment processes for schools.  Schools should also take a hard look at their security procedures.
There should also be an understanding that all the planning in the world will not stop every event.  Therefore schools should also have robust response and recovery protocols.  There should also be quality interaction with local law enforcement.  The US Department of Education has an excellent Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans available for free.  This includes a threat assessment process.

There are more school stabbing attacks and attacks with weapons other than guns than their are attacks with guns.  It is therefore important to plan and prepare for them, ecven as schools prepare for Active Shooters.  In fact, an article in Education Week quoted this statistic, “Seven percent of public school students in grades 9-12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon at school in the 2010-11 school year, according to the most recent data available from the
U.S. Department of Education.”

Don’t let “Active Shooter Fever” consume your school’s emergency planning.  Best practice is the All-Hazards approach.  Identify your local risks/threats, prepare for the identified risks/threats and mitigate against them.  Practice for them and be ready to respond and recover from them.

School stabbings are more frequent than you would like to think.  Make sure to include them in your school emergency planning.

Keep your eye on the big picture.

Filed Under: Safe Havens Blog, Stephen Satterly Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

School Attack Meant to ‘Destroy Everyone’

July 3, 2014 by

School Attacks

A Minnesota teen revealed to police the extent of his plans for a school attack.  His plan was to “destroy everyone”.  He planned on entering Waseca Junior and Senior High School, throwing Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs.  When the SWAT team arrived, he planned on killing himself.

He planned on killing his family as well, as he “wanted as many victims as possible”.  He acknowledged that they had done nothing wrong, that he had not been bullied, and claimed mental illness as the source of his violent fantasies.  He worked to hide them from others, especially his family.

School Attack Analysis

Here we see another school attack plot based upon Columbine, the unholy gift that keeps on giving.  Like other school attacks, the perpetrator was going to kill himself at the first sign of armed opposition.  Like other school attacks, the plan was to involve explosives, seeking a high body count.

According to audio tapes of his interrogation, the attacker hid his plans from everyone, yet there were You Tube videos posted showing him playing with knives and experimenting with homemade explosives.  This is called leakage, and is one of the warning signs to look for.  Other warning signs can be found in the following video:

Schools should be training their staff to look for these warning signs, and should have multidisciplinary threat assessment teams to evaluate students that exhibit clusters of signs.  The US Department of Education has created a great tool, along with the U.S. Secret Service.  Schools can conduct a threat assessment inquiry, in which the school seeks to assist the student.  They can also conduct a threat assessment investigation, for those times in which a threat has been made.

In either case, the goal is to get as many qualified, trained minds working on the assessment as possible.  This assessment requires a working relationship with local first responders.  It also requires a lot of coordination.

Plan well, plan ahead.

Filed Under: Safe Havens Blog, Stephen Satterly

School Safety Lawsuits – Exhibit A

July 2, 2014 by
This type of photo can serve as “exhibit A” in school safety litigation. This photo was taken during a school safety assessment and depicts a security gate that was left unlocked and open. The primary reason for this security gate is to prevent unauthorized people from climbing the tower and falling to their death. Evidence that a safety feature was not utilized, a policy was not followed or video footage of staff ignoring safety precautions can be among the most powerful evidence in a school safety lawsuit.

This type of photo can serve as “exhibit A” in school safety litigation. This photo was taken during a school safety assessment and depicts a security gate that was left unlocked and open. The primary reason for this security gate is to prevent unauthorized people from climbing the tower and falling to their death. Evidence that a safety feature was not utilized, a policy was not followed or video footage of staff ignoring safety precautions can be among the most powerful evidence in a school safety lawsuit.

 

Powerful Evidence in School Safety Lawsuits

A multi-million dollar school safety lawsuit against a security company was recently dismissed by a federal court judge.  The case involved an accident where a student fell four stories in a large open stairwell during a school dance.  I reviewed the case for defense counsel and determined that school officials had failed to secure a series of expensive electronic safety gates that had been installed to prevent this exact type of event.  There were also a series of tragic and blatant safety errors on the part of several school administrators.  Instead of suing the people who had failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the tragedy, plaintiff’s counsel attempted to sue the contract security company.  While the district enjoys qualified immunity, the security company did not and would have appeared to be an easier target. 

Don’t depend on luck for school safety

In effect, the plaintiff’s attorney had sued the wrong defendant.  He did not properly evaluate the circumstances of the case, missing critical facts such as the failure of school administrators to lock the safety gates.  Fortunately for the school district, by the time the judge reviewed my report and dismissed the suit, the statute of limitations had passed.  The attorney could not file what would have been a much more solid lawsuit against the school district.  I would not suggest school officials rely on attorneys making such errors.  The attorney who made this mistake was actually a highly competent personal injury attorney not prone to such errors in judgment.  School officials were blessed with unusual luck in this case.

A better approach

A better approach is to develop a school culture where people do what they are supposed to do to enhance school safety.  Following proper safety precautions makes schools safer while reducing liability exposure.  This approach reduces the chances of successful school safety lawsuits.  More importantly, it makes schools safer and more effective.  While no safety system will be perfect, efforts to reduce these types of oversights can be worthwhile.  Being alert to safety devices that are not being properly utilized can keep you out of court while preventing serious injury and death. 

 

 

Filed Under: Safe Havens Blog
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