Here is a link to an article I had published in this month's issue of School Planning & Mangement magazine.
This is a synopsis of the article:
"Because we are so accustomed to hearing people engage in the art of exaggeration, we often don't worry when someone relates a minor disappointment and refers to it as a "complete and total disaster." Where school disaster planning and preparedness is concerned, however, we cannot afford to take the topic lightly. Unfortunately, many school districts do just that. Let's discuss some of the reasons why this may occur, propose some remedies and provide some resources."
I hope the article will be of assistance to you. As always, your comments are welcome.
PT
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Facebook Security Issues
"More Questions for Facebook"
Wall Street Journal (10/18/10) Fowler, Geoffrey A.
U.S. Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) have sent a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asking him to provide information about the latest security breach at the social networking site. The breach consisted of third-party applications gathering and transmitting personally identifiable information about Facebook users and their friends--including identification numbers, which can be used to look up a user's real name and find other information users have made public--to advertising and Internet tracking companies. The letter asks Zuckerberg to disclose how many users had been affected by the breach, when Facebook became aware of the problem, and what steps the social networking site plans to take to deal with the privacy issue. A Facebook spokesman said that the company wants to work with Markey and Barton in order to address any confusion surrounding the incident, but said that passing a user ID to an application may not constitute a "breach." Meanwhile, Facebook executive Mike Vernal acknowledged that user IDs were passed on to advertising and Internet companies inadvertently in violation of the company's policies. He added that while knowing a user's ID does not allow anyone to access a user's private information, Facebook is taking steps to ensure that applications comply with its privacy policy and to prevent even the inadvertent passing of user IDs to third parties.
Wall Street Journal (10/18/10) Fowler, Geoffrey A.
U.S. Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) have sent a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asking him to provide information about the latest security breach at the social networking site. The breach consisted of third-party applications gathering and transmitting personally identifiable information about Facebook users and their friends--including identification numbers, which can be used to look up a user's real name and find other information users have made public--to advertising and Internet tracking companies. The letter asks Zuckerberg to disclose how many users had been affected by the breach, when Facebook became aware of the problem, and what steps the social networking site plans to take to deal with the privacy issue. A Facebook spokesman said that the company wants to work with Markey and Barton in order to address any confusion surrounding the incident, but said that passing a user ID to an application may not constitute a "breach." Meanwhile, Facebook executive Mike Vernal acknowledged that user IDs were passed on to advertising and Internet companies inadvertently in violation of the company's policies. He added that while knowing a user's ID does not allow anyone to access a user's private information, Facebook is taking steps to ensure that applications comply with its privacy policy and to prevent even the inadvertent passing of user IDs to third parties.
Friday, October 15, 2010
San Diego, CA -
Children in Carlsbad ran for their lives last Friday after a gunman — whom a witness described as deranged — scaled a fence and opened fire. The heroic actions of a neighbor and a pair of construction workers finally put an end to the terrifying ordeal. The shooter reportedly leapt a fence to gain access to the campus at about 12:10 p.m. Police later confirmed that two children, who had been playing outside at recess at Kelly Elementary School, were “shot in the extremities” and had “non-life-threatening wounds.”
Lesson: Now is the time to improve your exterior activity monitoring practices! Ensure that an adequate number of staff are positioned along the perimeter of the activity. In addition to being equipped with two-way radios and First Aid supplies, staff should be clearly marked with reflective safety vests or arm bands.
What other practices have you implemented?
Children in Carlsbad ran for their lives last Friday after a gunman — whom a witness described as deranged — scaled a fence and opened fire. The heroic actions of a neighbor and a pair of construction workers finally put an end to the terrifying ordeal. The shooter reportedly leapt a fence to gain access to the campus at about 12:10 p.m. Police later confirmed that two children, who had been playing outside at recess at Kelly Elementary School, were “shot in the extremities” and had “non-life-threatening wounds.”
Lesson: Now is the time to improve your exterior activity monitoring practices! Ensure that an adequate number of staff are positioned along the perimeter of the activity. In addition to being equipped with two-way radios and First Aid supplies, staff should be clearly marked with reflective safety vests or arm bands.
What other practices have you implemented?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
18,000 Texts?!?
OMG!!!
A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project study found that the typical teenager sends 50 text messages a day! That translates into 18,000 per year! In fact, texting is the NUMBER ONE form of communication for those between the ages of 12 and 17. BTW - the study also found that girls send three times more texts than guys. Hmmm...
R U UP 2 SPEED?
A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project study found that the typical teenager sends 50 text messages a day! That translates into 18,000 per year! In fact, texting is the NUMBER ONE form of communication for those between the ages of 12 and 17. BTW - the study also found that girls send three times more texts than guys. Hmmm...
R U UP 2 SPEED?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Bomb Threat
Here is an excerpt from a Chicago Tribune article last week:
"We can think of few things more unsettling than learning that a headless body — alongside an unexploded pipe bomb — has been discovered near your child's middle school.
That's what parents in Evanston faced Tuesday (09/14), after a man walking his dog made the grisly find at a park adjacent to Nichols Middle School. Parents were especially upset that they heard about it only when they arrived to drop off their kids for school — or when the school bus returned the youngsters to the bus stop with the news that classes were canceled. The school remained closed the next day, and questions from parents were flying much faster than answers from school officials or police.
We share parents' alarm, their concerns for their children's safety and yes, their curiosity. But their dissatisfaction at the pace of information strikes us as a sign of the times. Thanks to the cell phone and the BlackBerry, to e-mail alerts and text messaging and continuously updated Internet news sites, we've come to expect nearly instant communication.
The timeline of events is not so damning. Though the explosion was reported at 3:53 a.m., police who searched the area couldn't find anything to explain it. They left. It wasn't until around 5:15 a.m. that the dog walker found the body; by the time he got home and notified police, it was 5:48 a.m.
The body was found near the city tennis courts and play lot, at the south end of the block; the school is at the north end. It's fair to assume the responding officers had their hands full. The area was taped off, but it was more than an hour — 7:15 a.m. — before police sat down with school officials. The call to close the school was made around 7:30 a.m., a notice was placed on the district Web site by 8 a.m. and an e-mail blast was sent to parents 10 minutes later.
No, that wasn't enough notice to prevent many people from showing up for an 8:30 a.m. start. But it doesn't sound like anyone was being lackadaisical or indecisive. And those who showed up for school weren't allowed anywhere near the crime scene. They may have been inconvenienced, but they weren't endangered.
A very few years ago, the district's ability to notify parents of the emergency would have been far more limited — the local radio station, a rudimentary phone tree. If you rewind the years (or months) to mark your own technological milestones, you may be surprised to realize how recently you learned about texting or how little time has passed since the entire family relied on a single land-line phone. This drama would have played out very differently even five years ago. Then, as now, nobody would have gotten hurt. Nobody would have complained that the e-mail came too late, either.
Evanston school officials have had blessedly little experience with headless bodies on the playground. Short of staffing a 24-hour crisis line, we're not sure they could get the word out much faster, though this week's lessons — and tomorrow's technology — might change that. Let's hope we never find out."
Congratulations, José M. Osorio (author of the aricle). I consider this to be responsible journalism.
What are your thoughts?
"We can think of few things more unsettling than learning that a headless body — alongside an unexploded pipe bomb — has been discovered near your child's middle school.
That's what parents in Evanston faced Tuesday (09/14), after a man walking his dog made the grisly find at a park adjacent to Nichols Middle School. Parents were especially upset that they heard about it only when they arrived to drop off their kids for school — or when the school bus returned the youngsters to the bus stop with the news that classes were canceled. The school remained closed the next day, and questions from parents were flying much faster than answers from school officials or police.
We share parents' alarm, their concerns for their children's safety and yes, their curiosity. But their dissatisfaction at the pace of information strikes us as a sign of the times. Thanks to the cell phone and the BlackBerry, to e-mail alerts and text messaging and continuously updated Internet news sites, we've come to expect nearly instant communication.
The timeline of events is not so damning. Though the explosion was reported at 3:53 a.m., police who searched the area couldn't find anything to explain it. They left. It wasn't until around 5:15 a.m. that the dog walker found the body; by the time he got home and notified police, it was 5:48 a.m.
The body was found near the city tennis courts and play lot, at the south end of the block; the school is at the north end. It's fair to assume the responding officers had their hands full. The area was taped off, but it was more than an hour — 7:15 a.m. — before police sat down with school officials. The call to close the school was made around 7:30 a.m., a notice was placed on the district Web site by 8 a.m. and an e-mail blast was sent to parents 10 minutes later.
No, that wasn't enough notice to prevent many people from showing up for an 8:30 a.m. start. But it doesn't sound like anyone was being lackadaisical or indecisive. And those who showed up for school weren't allowed anywhere near the crime scene. They may have been inconvenienced, but they weren't endangered.
A very few years ago, the district's ability to notify parents of the emergency would have been far more limited — the local radio station, a rudimentary phone tree. If you rewind the years (or months) to mark your own technological milestones, you may be surprised to realize how recently you learned about texting or how little time has passed since the entire family relied on a single land-line phone. This drama would have played out very differently even five years ago. Then, as now, nobody would have gotten hurt. Nobody would have complained that the e-mail came too late, either.
Evanston school officials have had blessedly little experience with headless bodies on the playground. Short of staffing a 24-hour crisis line, we're not sure they could get the word out much faster, though this week's lessons — and tomorrow's technology — might change that. Let's hope we never find out."
Congratulations, José M. Osorio (author of the aricle). I consider this to be responsible journalism.
What are your thoughts?
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Security Practices for Volunteers
Chicago, IL - According to a suburban police report from this past weekend, a female volunteer at a local catholic school/church was robbed and assualted as she prepared to sell fundraiser gift cards.
The offender approached the victim, who was alone at the time, and demanded money while displaying a black semi-automatic handgun. The victim complied by retrieving $4.00 from her purse. The offender became irate and struck the victim underneath her right eye with a closed fist. He then demanded and stole the "manna" fundraiser gift cards (for grocery stores and gas stations) from the victim.
What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this incident have been avoided? What staffing and cash handling practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?
The offender approached the victim, who was alone at the time, and demanded money while displaying a black semi-automatic handgun. The victim complied by retrieving $4.00 from her purse. The offender became irate and struck the victim underneath her right eye with a closed fist. He then demanded and stole the "manna" fundraiser gift cards (for grocery stores and gas stations) from the victim.
What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this incident have been avoided? What staffing and cash handling practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Chicago, IL - According to a recent Chicago Sun-Times article, the families of nine elementary school girls who were molested by a band teacher in a suburban school district have been awarded $3.5 million.
The band teacher pleaded guilty four years ago to kidnapping and sexually abusing more than 20 girls. The lawsuit claimed that one of the school's principals was aware of the alleged activities, did not report the abuse, and hid evidence from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Local police reportedly found letters from school officials during a search of the band teacher's residence warning him to stop inappropriately touching students.
This story may not be so much about the perpetrator as it is about school practices for handling allegations. I think school communities would rather know about potentially serious issues and how they are being addressed than find out about them after "damage control" efforts fail.
What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this lawsuit have been avoided? What practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?
The band teacher pleaded guilty four years ago to kidnapping and sexually abusing more than 20 girls. The lawsuit claimed that one of the school's principals was aware of the alleged activities, did not report the abuse, and hid evidence from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Local police reportedly found letters from school officials during a search of the band teacher's residence warning him to stop inappropriately touching students.
This story may not be so much about the perpetrator as it is about school practices for handling allegations. I think school communities would rather know about potentially serious issues and how they are being addressed than find out about them after "damage control" efforts fail.
What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this lawsuit have been avoided? What practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?
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