As you read the following article, please reflect on the series of events that unfolded and opportunities you may have to enhance communication among stakeholders to help mitigate adverse outcomes.
A school shooting threat was debunked. The next day, a student reported seeing a gun.
By Aya Miller | amiller2@mlive.com, Updated: May 22, 2024
HARTFORD, MI – Hartford Middle School was eerily silent on Friday, May 10. Students and staff were locked in their rooms, bathed in darkness, silently huddling in corners and behind desks. Police were running up and down the halls. They opened every locker, searching through student belongings for a gun, Hartford Police Department Chief Michael Prince said.
It wasn’t a drill.
A student had reported seeing a student with a gun around 9 a.m. After a two-hour lockdown, no gun was found. Prince said he understood why the students thought they saw a gun.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The mother of a student we're told was shot in the face spoke to FOX 17 about the incident Tuesday, saying she's distraught as her 13-year-old son fights in the intensive care unit. She wants to make it publicly clear her son did not shoot himself.
Chief Winstrom explained the victim was conscious, alert and communicating with officers after the shooting.
Grand Rapids police swarmed the Alger Middle School campus after the report of a shooting outside the school Tuesday afternoon.
Uvalde school shooting victims' families announce $2 million settlement with Texas city and new lawsuits
By Alex Sundby, Updated May 23, 2024, 2:43 a.m. EDT / CBS News
Family members of Uvalde school shooting victims reached a $2 million settlement with the Texas city over the deadly 2022 rampage, officials announced Wednesday. The group also said they are filing lawsuits against dozens of Texas Department of Public Safety officers and Uvalde's school district. Among them — a $500 million federal suit against nearly 100 state police officers who took part in the botched law enforcement response
Teens Who Use Marijuana Are 11x More Likely to Have Psychotic Disorders
The use of cannabis, particularly higher-potency products, has been linked to mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.
By Amy Rock, May 24, 2024
Teens who used marijuana in the last year had a significantly higher likelihood of developing a psychotic disorder, according to new research published Wednesday. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto and published in the journal Psychological Medicine, found an 11 times higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder among teens who used cannabis compared with those who did not, NBC News reports. When looking at just emergency room visitors and hospitalizations, there was a 27-fold increase in psychotic disorders in teens who had used the drug.
In Ohio, the Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed a trial court ruling that individual school employees were “not entitled to immunity as a matter of law” for injuries to students. The affirmance involved a case of false identity, in which two individuals with no official position were allowed onto an elementary school campus for several days. The school policy, which requires that everyone – including law enforcement – sign in as visitors, was not followed. “Based upon incorrect assumptions, the employees allowed (the two individuals), …to freely walk the halls …and discipline students.” “The employees gave (the two individuals), access to students’ confidential information and students themselves with no supervision.” The police impersonators “disciplined students by handcuffing them and making them do physical exercise. (They) yelled and cursed at students, assaulted students, arrested students, and took students from school property in a private vehicle.” The appellate court affirmed that Ohio liability law does not apply immunity for “wanton misconduct” and “reckless conduct” by school employees. “Wanton misconduct is the failure to exercise any care toward those to whom a duty of care is owed in circumstances in which there is great probability that harm will result… reckless conduct is characterized by the conscious disregard of or indifference to a known or obvious risk of harm to another that is unreasonable under the circumstances and is substantially greater than negligent conduct.” There would be no immunity based upon the facts that “the employees made dangerous assumptions” and “no one questioned (their) repeated presence at (the school) or whether (they) had any authority to discipline students. None of the employees contacted law enforcement to verify (their) employment with either the Akron Police Department or the juvenile detention center.” M.J. v. Akron City School District
In Illinois, the Chicago Board of Education is proposing a new school safety policy. The Whole School Safety plan, “pushes schools to embrace alternatives to traditional disciplinary practices and teach students how to understand their emotions, known as social-emotional learning.” If enacted, each school will be required to (1) Create a Whole School Safety committee made up of parents, teachers, and students; (2) Hire at least one security guard; (3) Create an emergency management plan; (4) Teach social-emotional learning; (5) Implement restorative justice practices; (6) Include training on “climate, trauma-responsive, and social and emotional learning” in professional development plans; (7) Have behavioral health teams, which are supposed to help students who are in crisis, have experienced trauma, or are in need of mental health assistance; (8) Keep all doors locked, except for bathrooms.
In Virginia, the Charlottesville School Board is preparing to vote on a proposal to bring police back to its school campuses. The proposal, part of a Report by a working group, “would focus on diversion from the criminal justice system and would borrow elements from the world of social work to address student and family needs.” The new partnership with the police department, endorsed by 60% of the community, will deploy “specially trained officers.”
When is the right time to educate your kids on drug safety? What is the new gateway drug? In the past, gateway drugs have typically been cannabis or alcohol. But now, a newer, cheaper, more accessible drug has hit the streets, causing the age of first-time users to decrease annually. The Tall Cop explains how/why kids are starting drugs younger and younger each year along with how drug companies are ensuring customers by increasing their addiction levels.
The establishment of an external door and window numbering system can be extremely valuable to emergency responders and will also assist your students and staff in acclimating themselves to door locations in case of an emergency. Request a free copy of our updated Model Door and Window Classroom Numbering System Guide.
In his mega-bestseller, "Thinking, Fast and Slow," Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think.
System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in our business and personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Topping bestseller lists for almost ten years, Thinking, Fast and Slow is a contemporary classic, an essential book that has changed the lives of millions of readers.
Thank you,
Joey Melvin
Director
Center for Safe Schools
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