Thursday, March 19, 2009

NATIONAL EXPERT SHARES COLUMBINE 10th ANNIVERSARY LESSONS LEARNED

Progress made but many glaring gaps remain, expert says

While school safety awareness and preparedness has noticeably improved since the April 1999 attack at Columbine High School, that progress has stalled and slipped backwards in many school communities in recent years, says Kenneth S. Trump.

"The result is a mixed bag of many lessons learned and implemented, and at the same time many glaring gaps and a lot of work yet to be done," said Trump, a Cleveland-based national school security expert and President of National School Safety and Security

Services.

Trump said that in general, schools have a higher level of awareness of safety and preparedness for emergencies than they did prior to the April 1999 attack at Columbine high school. Administrators and boards have reduced access to schools, implemented visitor management systems, improved communications

capabilities, boosted the number of surveillance cameras, and taken security into account with new school design and remodeling. School leaders have also

improved school climate, engaged students in school safety programs, created threat assessment protocols, implemented new drills, and formed ongoing partnerships with first responders and other community partners.

The bad news, Trump says, is that much of the progress made in the months and early years following the Columbine incident has stalled and even slipped backward in recent years. Federal and state grants for school safety have repeatedly been cut, and school district budgets have been cut and redirected to instructional activities to improve test scores. While schools have invested in security equipment,

they typically have shorted time and money for staff and student training, and have allocated less time than what is needed for emergency planning, training, and delivery of prevention services.

For example, Trump says that support staff such as food service workers, school bus drivers, secretaries, and school custodians are often under-trained and under-represented on school crisis teams. Assessments conducted by school safety experts

also typically reveal glaring gaps between written policies and plans, and daily practice within the actual schools.

"The first and best line of defense is always a well-trained, highly-alert staff and student body. The weakest link in the chain will always be the human factor. The question for school officials is how weak will they allow that chain to be?," Trump said.

Congress has repeatedly cut funding for K-12 school safety over the past decade, including slicing the state grant component of the federal Safe and

Drug Free Schools Program in half from over $600 million to $300 million. Funds for the Readiness and Emergency Management in Schools (REMS) grant

programs dropped from an already pithy amount of $39 million its first year of awards in 2003 to currently around $26 million. The COPS in Schools program

in the U.S. Department of Justice that funded police officers for our nation's schools was decimated over the past eight years, Trump said.

"As we approach the 10th anniversary of the horrific attack upon Columbine High School, the inaction of Congress to tackle school safety funding tells me

that our national leaders have forgotten the Columbine tragedy and lessons learned in that event and other school shootings over the past decade, especially in their policies and budgets," Trump said.

Trump called upon President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan to exercise immediate leadership to restore and expand funding targeted exclusively for K-12 school safety, security, and emergency planning.

For a listing of school-associated violent deaths, non-fatal shootings and other high-profile incidents since the start of this school year in August of

2008, see www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/school_violence08-09.html

Trump is a three-time invited Congressional expert witness on school safety issues, most recently testifying to the House Education Committee and the

House Homeland Security Committee in 2007. He has authored two books and over 60 professional articles on K-12 school security and emergency preparedness issues. Trump has appeared on all cable and network news channels, and is quoted regularly as a school safety expert in national daily newspapers and professional publications.

EXPERT BACKGROUND AND CONTACT INFO:

Kenneth S. Trump, MPA

President

National School Safety and Security Services

Cleveland, Ohio

216-251-3067

For full biographical see

www.schoolsecurity.org/school-safety-experts/trump.html

Kenneth S. Trump, M.P.A., is the President of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national firm specializing in school security and emergency preparedness training and consulting. Ken served as a school safety officer, investigator, and youth gang unit supervisor for the

Cleveland City Schools' safety division, and as a suburban Cleveland school security director and assistant gang task force director.He has authored two books and over 60 articles on school security and crisis issues. As one of the leading U.S. school safety experts, Ken has 25 years experience in the school safety profession and has worked with school and public safety officials from all 50 states. He is one of the most widely quoted school safety experts, appearing on all national news networks and cable TV and in top market newspapers. Ken is a three-time invited Congressional witness testifying on school safety and emergency preparedness issues. For more background, see www.schoolsecurity.org/school-safety-experts/trump.html