Dennis Lewis

Training Staff and Students to Respond to the Armed Intruder　 Recently a school district in Texas hired a company to instruct teachers and students in how to fight back if a gunman invaded a classroom. As the first district in the country known to institute this type of training, media attention was inevitable. While some applauded the effort, others, including local law enforcement, were critical of the tactic. The idea was heatedly debated across the Internet and in the print media. In the...

Assessing Students Threats of Violence - A School's Responsibility Hardly a month passes without a student somewhere in the United States being arrested or detained for making a serious threat of violence against individuals at a school. So what is a principal to do when aware of a possible threat of violence made by a student or students? First, administrators should be aware that in 2002 the United States Secret Service and Department of Education published two critically important books...

With the beginning of each school year administrators all across the country provide orientations, professional development opportunities, and assistance to new employees as to the way "we do things around here". These procedures include, but are not limited to student attendance, computerized record keeping, school improvement plans, master schedules, lunchroom procedures, etc. Granted, all of these are critical functions in the secondary schools of today, but administrators should reserve...