School shootings have generated great public concern and fostered a widespread impression that schools are unsafe for many students; this article counters those misapprehensions by examining empirical evidence of school and community violence trends and reviewing evidence on best practices for preventing school shootings. Many of the school safety…

Threats of violence are not uncommon to counselors, faculty, or teachers. Each must be taken seriously, quickly analyzed, and safety procedures implemented. Yet, there exists a paucity of brief, face-to-face, assessments designed to aid threat assessment. To address this paucity, the author created The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment…

Ten months after the massacre at Virginia Tech, colleges of all kinds continue to weigh campus-safety concerns. How can they help troubled students? How should they respond in emergencies? Preventing some campus incidents may involve luck, but responding to them effectively requires planning. Like residential colleges and universities,…

"MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" provides, in a single document, information about the reporting of incidents related to school safety and security, school climate, local school safety program descriptions, and serious incidents. Information is presented for each Montgomery County (Maryland) public school. While much of this…

When school administrators hear that the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School attack is approaching, most shake their heads in disbelief. They are amazed that 10 years have passed since this watershed event, which changed the landscape of K-12 school safety. In this article, the author reflects on the lessons learned from the Columbine…

Crises affect schools across the country every day. While natural hazards such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes may be thought of more commonly as emergencies, schools are also at risk from other hazards such as school violence, infectious disease, and terrorist threats. Through the vulnerability assessment process, schools can…

The impact of the rampage shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 continues to be felt across the U.S. and the world. Clearly this incident, along with other active shooter incidents that have occurred since the Virginia Tech tragedy, has impacted one's awareness of campus safety and security. A number of states, other governmental entities,…

West Virginia University at Parkersburg uses a two-way emergency system as a baseline for emergency communications. The college has found that such a system, a key component of its safety and crisis management plan, can be integrated with other communication initiatives to provide focused security on the campus.

Within an incredibly short period--perhaps less than twenty-four months--the need for emergency preparedness has risen to a higher level of urgency than at any other time in the history of academe. Large or small, public or private, higher education institutions are seriously considering the dual problems of notification and communications…

The recent rash of school violence has again brought to the fore a need to investigate ways to enhance the safety of America's children. With its emphases on prevention and collaboration with schools, a counseling psychology perspective can add much to the growing body of research on lethal school violence. This article aims to understand school…

In June the U.S Climate Change Science Program, which is sponsored by 13 government agencies, released a report saying that extreme weather like heat waves, heavy downpours, and superpowered hurricanes would be more common in the future. The timing of the report--coming just as officials in Iowa were surveying the damage from the swollen Iowa…

The gun smoke had barely cleared from the lecture hall at Northern Illinois University where last week a former graduate student had executed five students before killing himself when local and national scribes began speculating about a new trend in mass murder American-style. The "Chicago Tribune" Web site, quick with coverage of the…

The basis for this study was to determine: (1) If school districts in North Dakota have an emergency response plan; (2) How comprehensive their emergency response plan is; (3) How well prepared school districts in North Dakota are for any type of disaster; and (4) The extent to which North Dakota LEAD Center school emergency response training and…

Because of recent violent crimes, natural disasters, and other emergencies or crises, colleges and universities are convening committees and task forces to reexamine or conduct a comprehensive review of policies, procedures, and systems related to campus safety and security. As with many critical areas on the agendas of administrators, campus…

Conducting exercises provides a critical bridge between the theory of an Emergency Action Plan and its effective implementation. When conducted properly, exercises can fill the gap between training and after-action review to close the preparedness loop--before an actual emergency occurs. Often exercises are planned and conducted on campus based on…