"When it comes to student and staff safety, there are no excuses. The authors have created a handbook that is comprehensive, explicit, and relevant to educational environments."
—Darlene R. Jones, Principal
Francis Howell North High School, St. Charles, MO
"Brunner and Lewis have done an outstanding job creating a series of commonsense reminders that will guide school leaders in creating and enhancing safety in their school and community."
—Ronald Stephens, Executive Director
National School Safety Center
Make a difference in school safety and security with these practical, realistic strategies!
This timely resource for new, veteran, and aspiring school administrators offers cost-effective techniques for creating a safe environment for students, staff, and the community. The authors use their experience in education and law enforcement to show how administrators can combine the need for a secure campus with the desire to maintain an open, welcoming environment.
Succinct and user-friendly, this handbook offers practical, realistic methods for designing general and event-specific safety plans, forming safety committees, and creating security checklists and visitor screening procedures. Sections on staff training include methods for handling harassment and bullying as well as recommendations for:
- Helping prevent or minimize a potential crisis
- Facilitating a stronger, more informed response when needed
- Aiding in school recovery and a return to normalcy
For easy reference, readers will find strategies organized by categories and concluding with a top ten list of security recommendations.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Dr. Gerald Tirozzi
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction
1. Planning
Strategy 1: Starting the School Year: A Checklist for Safety and Security
Strategy 2: The Principal′s Homework: What Does Your Teacher Handbook Say About Safety and Security?
Strategy 3: Strategic Supervision: The Foundation for School Safety
Strategy 4: A Safety Game Plan for Cocurricular Events
Strategy 5: On the Road Again: Discipline Investigations Away From School
Strategy 6: Visitor Check-In and Screening Procedures: It′s More Than Just Signing the Visitor Log
Strategy 7: Ensuring the Safe Evacuation of Students With Physical Disabilities During an Emergency
Strategy 8: Invest in a Safety Committee: Creating Strategies You Can Bank On
Strategy 9: Speaking of School Safety: Creating a Conversation Within the School Community
Strategy 10: Closing Out the School Year
2. Response Strategies
Strategy 11: Planning for School Emergencies: Part 1
Strategy 12: Planning for School Emergencies: Part 2
Strategy 13: Assessing Student Threats of Violence: A School′s Response to a Growing Problem
Strategy 14: De-escalating an Angry Parent: You′ll Never Have to Answer for What You Don′t Say
Strategy 15: Fights at School: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Strategy 16: Head ′Em Up! Move ′Em Out!: Relocating Students During an Emergency Event
Strategy 17: Student Searches: A Practical Application
Strategy 18: Managing Electronic Devices: Sending the Right "Signals" to Parents and Students
Strategy 19: Full-Court Press: A Media Management Plan
3. Professional Development
Strategy 20: Is Your School Up to Speed on Safety?
Strategy 21: What Teachers Must Know About Safety
Strategy 22: Training Support Staff to Respond Appropriately
Strategy 23: Intimidation, Harassment, and Bullying: Fear Factors in the Twenty-First-Century School
Strategy 24: Holiday Blues: Responding to Seasonally Despondent Students
Strategy 25: Tabletop Exercises: The Ultimate Tool for School Safety Training
Strategy 26: There′s No "Substitute" for Good Safety
4. Top Ten
Strategy 27: School Safety′s Top Ten: The Top Ten Things to Remember When Creating a Safe School Environment
Resources
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Judy Tilton Brunner is an author and consultant having served as an elementary, middle, and high school principal. She is currently Clinical Faculty at Missouri State University in the Department of Reading, Foundations, and Technology and a regular presenter at national and state conferences on the topics of literacy, differentiated instruction, student engagement, classroom management, school safety, and the prevention of bullying behaviors.
As consultants, Judy and Dennis K. Lewis work with school districts across the United States on topics related to creating and maintaining safe schools, crisis planning and management, managing aggressive and violent students, and the prevention of bullying behaviors. They have served as expert witnesses in matters of litigation on school violence and bullying and have written numerous articles for national school safety magazines, periodicals and served as guest lecturers for several universities. They are the co-founders of Edu-Safe LLC, a school safety and advisory service, as well as Instructional Solutions Group.
Their method of training school staff and crisis management teams for responding to classroom and school emergencies by problem solving events through the use of tabletop exercises has been featured in a variety of national publications. Both are widely respected in the field of school safety.
Dennis K. Lewis has over thirty-eight years of experience in working to provide safe schools and communities, including seventeen years as the director of a school police department for a large mid-western school district. He has held numerous offices for the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers (NASSLEO) and is the past President of that organization.
As consultants, Dennis and Judy Brunner work with school districts across the United States on topics related to creating and maintaining safe schools, crisis planning and management, managing aggressive and violent students, and the prevention of bullying behaviors. They have served as expert witnesses in matters of litigation on school violence and bullying and have written numerous articles for national school safety magazines, periodicals and served as guest lecturers for several universities. They are the co-founders of Edu-Safe LLC, a school safety and advisory service, as well as Instructional Solutions Group.
Their method of training school staff and crisis management teams for responding to classroom and school emergencies by problem solving events through the use of tabletop exercises has been featured in a variety of national publications. Both are widely respected in the field of school safety.
Review :
"An indispensable resource for practicing administrators and central office personnel. When it comes to student and staff safety, there are no excuses. The authors have created a handbook that is comprehensive, explicit, and relevant to educational environments."
"Brunner and Lewis have done an outstanding job creating a series of commonsense reminders that will guide school leaders in creating and enhancing safety in their school and community."
"A pioneering leap for school safety. It should be in the hands of every school leader."
"A definite asset to all administrators involved with safety and crisis response planning and protocols in their districts. The succinct information can be used to effectively train staff, students, and the community to help ensure a safe and secure school."
