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Columbine 9th Anniversary: School Safety Lessons and Legacies
Cleveland, OH
Monday, April 07, 2008
SCHOOL SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TRENDS:
THE LESSONS AND LEGACIES OF COLUMBINE NINE YEARS LATER
Cleveland (OH) - School safety requires as much time, attention to small planning details, and leadership as it does money, according to one of the nation's top school safety experts.
"Parents will forgive school officials if their test scores go down. They are much less forgiving if something happens to their children that could have been prevented or better managed," said Kenneth S. Trump, president of National School Safety and Services.
Trump has over 25 years of school safety experience working with school and public safety officials from all 50 states and Canada. He most recently trained school board members and superintendents from across the United States, Canada and Australia at the National School Boards Association convention in Orlando.
There have been 61 non-fatal school-related firearms discharge shooting incidents since the beginning of this current school year in August of 2007, according to data collected by Trump. Rumors, text messaging, bomb threats, and threats of violence have forced school closings, a drop of over 40% in school attendance at one school, and parental anxiety from California to Atlanta in recent weeks. Federal funding for one school safety program has been cut from $644 million in 2002 to $295 million in 2007.
Trump says that gaps in school security and emergency plans often include:
1. Stark differences between written school safety policies and actual day-to-day practice;
2. School emergency plans with questionable content and put together by school staff without the input of public safety officials;
3. School emergency plans not tested and exercised, and staff not trained on the plans;
4. Schools practicing drills to reflect convenience, instead of reality; and
5. The absence of basic security measures, such as school staff greeting and challenging strangers in their schools.
Trump noted that school safety experts are increasingly finding school administrators and boards trying to "do school safety on the cheap" and with "quick fixes" that fail to take a comprehensive approach to school safety. Throwing up security equipment after a crisis to appease parents and the media, hiring less qualified and questionably competent but cheap safety consultants, taking a low bid and low cost approach to school security, and even doing nothing in hope that school safety issues "blow over" occur far too often, he said.
"The good news is that school leaders have the power to reduce risks, improve preparedness, and protect their reputations in the process --- if they choose to do so," Trump stressed.
Information on school-associated violent deaths, non-fatal school shootings, and other high-profile incidents can be found at www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/school_violence.html
Expert Background and Contact:
Kenneth S. Trump, MPA
President
National School Safety and Security Services
Cleveland, Ohio
216-251-3067
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. He has authored two books and over 50 articles on school security and crisis issues. 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.
THE LESSONS AND LEGACIES OF COLUMBINE NINE YEARS LATER
Cleveland (OH) - School safety requires as much time, attention to small planning details, and leadership as it does money, according to one of the nation's top school safety experts.
"Parents will forgive school officials if their test scores go down. They are much less forgiving if something happens to their children that could have been prevented or better managed," said Kenneth S. Trump, president of National School Safety and Services.
Trump has over 25 years of school safety experience working with school and public safety officials from all 50 states and Canada. He most recently trained school board members and superintendents from across the United States, Canada and Australia at the National School Boards Association convention in Orlando.
There have been 61 non-fatal school-related firearms discharge shooting incidents since the beginning of this current school year in August of 2007, according to data collected by Trump. Rumors, text messaging, bomb threats, and threats of violence have forced school closings, a drop of over 40% in school attendance at one school, and parental anxiety from California to Atlanta in recent weeks. Federal funding for one school safety program has been cut from $644 million in 2002 to $295 million in 2007.
Trump says that gaps in school security and emergency plans often include:
1. Stark differences between written school safety policies and actual day-to-day practice;
2. School emergency plans with questionable content and put together by school staff without the input of public safety officials;
3. School emergency plans not tested and exercised, and staff not trained on the plans;
4. Schools practicing drills to reflect convenience, instead of reality; and
5. The absence of basic security measures, such as school staff greeting and challenging strangers in their schools.
Trump noted that school safety experts are increasingly finding school administrators and boards trying to "do school safety on the cheap" and with "quick fixes" that fail to take a comprehensive approach to school safety. Throwing up security equipment after a crisis to appease parents and the media, hiring less qualified and questionably competent but cheap safety consultants, taking a low bid and low cost approach to school security, and even doing nothing in hope that school safety issues "blow over" occur far too often, he said.
"The good news is that school leaders have the power to reduce risks, improve preparedness, and protect their reputations in the process --- if they choose to do so," Trump stressed.
Information on school-associated violent deaths, non-fatal school shootings, and other high-profile incidents can be found at www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/school_violence.html
Expert Background and Contact:
Kenneth S. Trump, MPA
President
National School Safety and Security Services
Cleveland, Ohio
216-251-3067
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. He has authored two books and over 50 articles on school security and crisis issues. 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.
Kenneth S. Trump
President
National School Safety and Security Services
Cleveland, OH
216-251-3067
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