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Pawlas on PR: Crisis Planning -- Have You Done Yours?
No one can predict when or where the next disaster or tragedy will strike, so principals must be prepared to deal with any possible crisis. Principals who develop effective crisis plans are those who understand the true meaning of the saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Using Student Ears, Eyes to Stop Crime
Building on the success of its community programs, Crime Stoppers USA is encouraging schools to set up Crime Stoppers in Schools programs. These programs allow students to anonymously pass on tips to authorities about potential crimes or threats.

Learning to Heard Off Violence
The U.S. Secret Service helped the U.S. Department of Education develop a manual and training program for school staff and community members to head off violence in schools.

Bang Bang's Message Reverberates
Author William Mastrosimone has been overwhelmed by students' response to his Showtime movie Bang Bang You're Dead. Mastrosimone hopes schools use the movie as part of anti-bullying efforts.

School Resource Officers Seeing Results
A survey of almost 700 school resource officers reveals the high number of crimes and assaults prevented by school-based police officers. A principal who lived through a school shooting said officers help students feel safe and also serve as confidantes.

Kids and Violent Play
Jane Katch, author of Under Dead Man's Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play, reflects on students' violent fantasy play and sometimes real violence. Included: How parents and schools can limit exposure to media that portray violence.

Strategies to Stem School Violence
National school crisis expert Scott Poland discusses the causes and similarities of school violence, and offers strategies to help prevent violence in schools. He has been a member of the National Emergency Assistance Team that responds to school shootings.

Secret Service Report Targets School Violence
School shooters don't snap. They plan. And somebody usually knows before they attack. The Secret Service advises schools to get troubled kids help before they plot an attack, and to encourage students to tell an adult about a planned attack.

The School Shooter: One Solution Doesn't Fit All
An FBI report helps educators systematically evaluate student threats. The report provides criteria to help educators determine the risk-level of a student threat, describes risk factors that should serve as warnings about a student, and suggests interventions.

Information Sharing to Make Colorado Schools Safer
In 2000, Colorado enacted a law that allows school and criminal justice officials to share information about violent and disruptive students. The law is intended to help prevent future school violence.

FEMA Program Helps Schools Develop Emergency Response
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has introduced a planning process to help schools develop procedures to respond to all types of disasters, including school violence. Youth Violence Expert James Garbarino Talks a Year After Columbine
A year after the killing spree that left 13 dead and 21 injured at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, James Garbarino, a national expert on youth violence, talked about ways to make schools safe again.

Are Our Children Safe In School?
The shots that killed 13 people April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School were heard throughout the nation. What have we learned from the Columbine tragedy? What do we still need to do?

A Slow Healing: Jefferson County Schools Move On
Six months after the shootings at Columbine High, how is the community doing? What changes have been made? Are they moving on? Education World looks back at the tragic events and how schools in Jefferson County, Colorado, are coping.

Schools Combat Violence
What is being done to combat violence in America's schools? What can school administrators and teachers do? Should disruptive students be expelled? These are some of the problems educators, lawmakers, and other experts are tackling.

Badge, Please? Schools Turn to ID's to Enhance Security
While many school districts require visitors to sign in and wear a badge while in a school, some schools are choosing to issue photo identification badges to all staff as well. Administrators say badges add an extra feeling of security to buildings.