Terrorism in Schools: Fact or Fiction?

Today we had another two-hour delay due to a wind chill advisory.  The cold doesn't bother me too much.  My feet are nerve-damaged, my body burns hot, and I'm from Welsh-Celt stock.  But truth be told at about this time of year, I'm ready to go find Punxutawney Phil and punch the wee beasty in the schnoz!

Not a lot happening on the school safety front today, but I had a few moments to think about a current event that has me thinking. The news was reporting that the terror group al-Shabaab called for attacks on the Mall of America in Minnesota.  Secretary Jeh Johnson was on TV Sunday telling Americans that this signaled a "new phase" in the War on Terror.

So of course, I started thinking of schools as terror targets.  At this time it is highly unlikely, but schools have been targeted around the world.  Schools are soft targets, and the effect of an attack on schools in America would be catastrophic.  In 2002 the Beltway Snipers in the Washington, DC area created millions in economic damage.  A 13-year old boy was wounded in front of his school in Bowie, Maryland, and parents began keeping their kids home, and staying home themselves.

Michael Dorn and Chris Dorn wrote a book, Innocent Targets - When Terrorism Comes to Schools, that goes into detail concerning school terrorism.  The nice thing is, the book helps to dispel the alarmist view that many people have, while offering practical solutions to help schools prepare.

The good news is that schools are better prepared now than they were on September 11, 2001.  The bad news is that schools still remain soft targets, and I hope and pray that a school or schools in the U.S. don't become a target.

A Special Day

In 2004, I was in my second year as a middle school assistant principal.  I had been given all responsibility for the safety of the school of over 800 students.  We did monthly fire drills initiated by me.  Teachers lined their students up, walked them outside, then waited for the all clear to return to their rooms.  My military background had created a voice inside me that screamed that more could be done.

In the fall of 2004 I was provided an opportunity to attend the Indiana Department of Education's School Safety Specialist Academy, to work on obtaining a certification as an Indiana School Safety Specialist.  For two days I listened to national-level experts like Bernie James and Dave Grossman speak on different aspects of school safety.  Then Michael Dorn took to the stage for a general session on safety plans, ending with his Weakfish presentation.  Bernie James is a top-notch expert on school safety law.  Dave Grossman is a world-class expert on the psychology of killing and combat.  Yet, I found Mike's presentation to be everything I was looking for.  Sound, thorough preparedness, response and recovery concepts, a realistic approach to implementation, and through it all, a passion for protecting the innocent that called out to why I joined the Army, and why I got into education.

I left that training overwhelmed with the amount of new information I'd been given.  I had a sheath of notes on school safety law, two books to read; On Killing and On Combat, and a structure for applying all of this new knowledge in a realistic, thorough way.

Over the years, I have learned a lot about school safety.  Since 2004 I have been applying that knowledge to serve the children and staff of Southern Hancock Schools.  Mike taught me how to create safety plans unique to each school, plans that followed best practices.  He taught me to make drills more realistic, and that the responsibility for the safety of school children was not my responsibility alone, but of all adults in the building.  He taught me how to conduct thorough safety and security audits, and that the best ways to make schools safer required little money, just an alteration of my mindset.  Mike taught me that properly conducted school safety efforts could raise student achievement, and could help make schools feel like warm, wonderful places to learn.

As time wore on, Mike took time out from his very hectic schedule to mentor me on becoming better at what I do.  He coached me on seeing the bigger picture, while still maintaining a focus on the details.  He pushed me to improve my writing, resulting in the fulfillment of a life-long dream; becoming a published author.  Somewhere along the way, he became a friend.

I have not had many true friends in my life.  Mike Schill was a teacher at a Catholic school at which I taught.  He died many years ago from mesothelioma.  George Emmick was an Army buddy of mine.  He was like a brother to me, and was the godfather of both of my daughters.  He died a few years ago from complications of a degenerative neuropathic disease.  My wife Robin is my best friend, having survived contact with me for 25 glorious years.

I have come to appreciate true friendship, and Mike is a true friend.  For all he has done for me, he has never asked anything of me except to continue to strive to be better, so that I can better serve others.  My life has become distinctly better for having known him, and his impact on the field of school safety is real and widespread.  He is a true gentleman, and frequently shakes his head at my oft-times raw approach to dealing with various issues in life. He has had a true world-wide impact on school safety,

We can ask for nothing more from life than to leave it a better place than when we entered it.  Mike has done that, in spades.

For all you've done, Mike, I thank you.

Oh, and Happy Birthday!  May you have many more years of serving the children of this great country!

Just What is a School Safety Expert?

School Safety Expert

A dictionary will tell you that an expert is, "A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area." That leads to the meaning of authoritative, "Able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable," and the meaning of comprehensive, "Complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something."

Putting all that together, a school safety expert is one who has comprehensive knowledge of or skill in the area school safety, and is able to be trusted as accurate, true and reliable.

School Safety

So now that we know what an expert is, what is school safety?  Michael Dorn says, "School safety is a process of education being able to continue without disruption, without harm, without danger. It's basically the best way to get the most out of the learning process. It's actually the foundation for an effective learning environment." Here Michael gives us the goal of school safety.

In the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, we find that school safety is providing a safe and healthy learning environment for public and nonpublic schools from threats and hazards. Threats are man-made, and hazards are natural, so now we get a clearer picture of school safety.

Threats and Hazards

Man-made threats include: Assaults, bullying, victimization, theft, classroom disorder, fights, robbery, use of weapons, sexual attacks and violent crime.  Comprehensive knowledge of threats includes knowing their causes, as well as strategies to prevent, mitigate, respond and recover from them.  A school safety expert will have skills and knowledge of threat assessment, crime, suicide prevention, weapons and bullying. 

FEMA defines a hazard as, "Anything that can cause loss or damage to a school or its occupants." These can include natural disasters, fire hazards and accident hazards.  A school safety expert will have skills and knowledge of risk assessment, mitigation and prevention, as well as current laws, regulations and codes relating to the physical facility.

There will come a time where school safety will evolve as a true profession, with a standard set of knowledge and skills.  A profession that provides licensing or certification based on a knowledge set learned in a formal setting.

But before that happens, we have to define what it is. 

What do you think?

School Safety Training - Who's Being Trained?

In the last blog, I wrote about Criterion-Referenced Instruction, and how it can be applied to Active Shooter Training, as well as other forms of school safety training.  In this blog, I will ask the most important question a trainer should be asking, "Who is being trained?"

Professional educators who do not consider their students do not last long in education.  What considerations do school safety trainers today give for their classes?  Some give great thought to whom they teach.  Dave Grossman, when presenting at the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy, doesn't train educators the same way he trains law enforcement, or the way he trains military personnel.  Michael Dorn is the same way.  He adjusts his training to the audience he is training. 

That is what master educators do.  They learn about their students, and find the best way to teach them.  What they don't do is teach the same from class to class.  They discover the learning styles of their students, and design their lessons to match those learning styles.  So again the question becomes, "Who's being trained?"

Educators, as a whole, are not like law enforcement personnel.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality survey used by researchers.  The MBTI of educators shows that they are: Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Judging (For a more detailed explanation of what these terms fully mean, check out the Wikipedia entry on Myers-Briggs).  INFJs may come across as individualistic, private and perhaps mysterious to others, and may do their thinking in a vacuum, resulting in an unrealistic vision that is difficult to communicate.

Law enforcement, as a group, are ESTJs, Extroverts, Sensing, Thinking, Judging.  According to the MBTI of law enforcement personnel, "ESTJ people tend to be so focused on the objective pursuit of their goal that they ignore the ideas or feelings of others. Situations where an intimate rapport is needed are likely to be less comfortable for them. They may not collect enough information before jumping into action, and risk missing new opportunities that are not already part of their plan.

A look at the two types, even knowing that they don't apply to all within the group, show that law enforcement and educators are vastly different.  This becomes problematic when law enforcement trains educators.  Most law enforcement trainers are used to training cops, not educators.

I am not saying law enforcement officers can't train educators.  As noticed above, some do very well.  Those that do, know their audience, and teach to that audience.  They know whom they are training.

The question is, do you?

School Shooting "Response" Options?

School Shooting Response

The Greenfield Daily Reporter reports that Appleton, WI schools are considering ALICE.  ALICE stands for Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate.  With each new shooting, schools are looking for a quick fix, based upon emotions from Sandy Hook and other shootings, and ALICE seems to give it.  But does it really provide what people hope?

Analysis

Michael Dorn, in a soon-to-be-released blog, outlines some hidden financial burdens of this program in the form of workmen's comp claims.  There is also a lack of a research base, and issues with implementation of poor training practices.

Around the country, Safe Havens International has found schools that have replaced their emergency plans with ALICE, which is not for what ALICE was intended.  While such implementation is not at the direction of any ALICE proponent, this shows the care that schools need to take when implementing a new program.  The courts require, and parents expect, due diligence by the school when considering changes to a school's emergency plans.

Some questions parents should ask of their schools, and schools should ask of themselves:
1. Does the school utilize All-Hazards planning?
All-Hazards planning helps a school prepare to face any threat, natural or man-made, that the school has identified as a viable risk.  A 'proactive response' strategy like ALICE is best used as a tool in this toolbox, not as a plan in and of itself.

2. Is the school properly training its staff in the implementation of its emergency plan?
The workmen's comp claim mentioned above are a sign of improper training.  Are the teachers actually being trained, or are they being presented to?  Training involves the attainment of an established criteria that demonstrates basic competence, followed by repetitive training that keeps the learned skill fresh and possibly even increase the level of competence.  Presenting is just passing along information, and passes along the burden of retaining the knowledge to the recipient.

Specifically, a program like ALICE is teaching teachers, and in some cases students, how to employ Close Quarter Combat (CQC) against a shooter.  While we can all agree that passively sitting in a room and getting shot is a bad thing, telling a lay person what to do without giving them the true means to implement it is just as bad.

A soldier in US Army Basic Training is provided 40 hours of basic hand-to-hand training.  This provides a trainee with the basic knowledge of unarmed combat, and is at least 20 times more instruction than an ALICE trainee receives.

3. SHOULD a school be providing such training to its staff and students?
There is an old saying, "Just because one can do a thing doesn't mean a person should do that thing."  We can tell our teachers and children to attack an attacker without giving them the proper tools, but should we?

People enter into law enforcement and the military knowing ahead of time what may be expected of them.  There is extensive screening and training that takes place to allow these people, who already have a propensity to deal with aggression, to face aggression.

Education is not one of those professions.  It is a caring, nurturing profession that does not lend itself to facing aggression. Do we want this profession to turn into one in which steely-eyed, square-jawed warriors will face any threat?  While this sounds great, in theory, how practical is it?

Great consideration should be given before we turn our schools into Spartan enclaves.  In subsequent posts, I will examine facets of ALICE, and provide sound, researched tactics that will help schools better respond in the unlikely event a shooter enters their school.