Classes to Resume after Bomb Threat

Bomb Threat

Classes resumed at Southwest High School in Minneapolis January 29 after the school received a phoned bomb threat January 27.  The threat prompted officials to cancel classes January 28 while they investigated the threat. Police cleared the campus after nothing suspicious was found.

Analysis

My previous blog outlined the issues surrounding bomb threats in schools.  Last October, the city of

Boston had a string of them that involved the FBI.  On today's world, emailed bomb threats could come from anywhere.  Threats could be made by school kids to terrorists seeking to map out the responses of law enforcement and fire departments.

The actual threat to schools from terrorists is quite low, but as was pointed out in the previous blog, schools have no choice but to treat each threat seriously.

Monticello High School Evacuated after Bomb Threat

Monticello High School in Charlottesville was evacuated for approximately 3 hours January 28 due to a bomb threat. Police cleared the scene after nothing suspicious was found.

Bomb Threats

Bomb threats occur with varying frequency, most often in middle and high schools.  Children will think that calling in a fake bomb threat can get them out of class for while.  In fact, false reporting of a bomb threat is a crime.

Schools cannot ignore bomb threats.  Each one must be taken seriously, with schools acting as if each bomb threat is real.  School personnel should have a bomb threat checklist by their phones.  This will allow them to collect as much information from a caller as possible, to pass along to law enforcement.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has such a checklist HERE.

Be Prepared

Schools should provide training to all school personnel on not only how to use the checklist, but being able to use one under duress.  When a person realizes they are talking to a person who is threatening them, their heart rate will elevate, reducing cognitive function and fine motor control.

A functional exercise involving the calling in of a bomb threat to each of its five schools showed a Central Indiana public school district that its personnel, who had been recently trained, did not always handle stress well.  The exercise was coordinated with the county's 911 Call Center.  The person taking the call had to use the checklist, then call 911 to relay the information.  Such exercises can identify issues that need to be addressed, and can help innoculate the participants against stress, and so will be more capable in a real bomb threat.

Are your schools prepared?

School Safety Specialists - Part of the Thin Blue Line?

Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line refers to the fraternity of police officers.  They stand between order and chaos, protecting the public from danger.  Should School Safety Specialists be considered part of the Thin Blue Line?  This is not asked to disrespect anyone in law enforcement, but is actually in honor of them.  While there are numerous law enforcement officers that serve in schools, many more are educators, which begs the question.

In reference to my last blog, law enforcement officers have to meet certain requirements to become a sworn law enforcement officer.  There are training requirements, as well as other statutory requirements.  Becoming a School Resource Officer (SRO), requires specialized training, and is an additional area of certification.  While School Safety Specialists do not yet have similar characteristics in regards to training and statutory requirements, they do protect a precious, and specialized population.

I should point out that the state of Indiana does certify School Safety Specialists, under statutory requirements.  However, I have to also acknowledge that the certification only requires the completion of training established by the Indiana Department of Education, but has no assessment afterwards, therefore the amount of knowledge retained by individuals is unknown.  With that being said, the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy (ISSSA) is the first of its kind, and is the standard used by other states in their school safety training efforts.  Dave Woodward, Program Director for the ISSSA, is to be commended for his excellent work in making this a globally recognized institution.

More and more schools are placing qualified, passionate people in these important positions, even as other schools are just handing the job to the newest school administrator.  Until schools treat the position of School Safety Specialist as the specialized position it is, we will continue to be distant cousins to the Thin Blue Line, and not brothers and sisters.

It is my hope this happens in my lifetime.

Thoughts?

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?