ESSN co-founders Dr. Amy Klinger and Amanda Klinger, Esq. presented a pre-conference workshop in New Orleans for educators, law enforcement and other professionals on emerging issues in school safety. This workshop preceded the Investigation for Identification Educational Conference
ESSN experts lead school safety track at Louisiana School Climate Institute
Educator's School Safety Network Experts presented several sessions focusing on empowering, not intimidating educators during safety training at the Louisiana School Climate Conference in Shreveport Louisiana. Sessions included “Empower, not intimidate: Lockdown enhancement and crisis response strategies that support a positive school climate”.
Dr. Klinger and Amanda Klinger are featured authors in this month’s Inside OESCA with their reflection on “School Safety since Sandy Hook: What Have We Really Accomplished?”. Click HERE for the full article.
Dr. Amy Klinger and Amanda Klinger, Esq. presented on emergency planning at the K-12 School Emergency Preparedness Workshop held in Montgomery County, Maryland. Partipants said that ESSN experts were “very knowledgeable on the subject. They gave great insight on how to execute and maintain an emergency response plan”. Others commented on the amount of information packed into the session and appreciated the “great handouts and resources.”
ESSN experts were in Columbus, Ohio to present at the Ohio Educational Service Center Association’s spring conference. Their keynote address focused on emerging issues in school safety.
Amanda Klinger, Esq. cited and quoted in “School Shootings: How Do WeCope”, featured in the spring 2015 issue of Colleagues, published by Grand Valley State University
Dr Amy Klinger interviewed by ALJazeera America
“You are a sitting duck if you are going to sit in the classroom clutching your soup can, waiting for the gunman to come,” said Amy Klinger, who directs the Educator’s School Safety Network, a nonprofit that trains teachers and students around the country. She worked as a principal and teacher in schools for over 28 years before forming the organization to train teachers and students in active shooter drills. She said her organization does not teach kids to fight back because it’s distracting and ineffective.
Instead, Klinger said, she trains teachers “how to evacuate so they never see that gunman, or how to barricade so that that gunman can never get to them.”
Read the full story here: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/27/guns-in-schools-defense-tactics-could-harm-kids.html
Amanda Klinger, Esq. featured as an expert "How School Security Has Changed Since Columbine, And How It's Stayed The Same" on NPR affiliate, KLPU.
“Klinger says schools still have a lot of work to do. She says they need to work with teachers to develop lockdown procedures that are more developmentally-appropriate for young students. Klinger also says schools need more comprehensive plans in place for assessing threats and for responding to a wide range of crises, not just school shootings.”
Amanda Klinger, Esq. advocating for prevention and Threat Assessment Management
“We really advocate for a multidisciplinary threat assessment team,” Klinger said. “Who are the kids we need to be concerned about and how do we provide appropriate interventions?” She said threat assessment is a process of identifying facts – student drawings, writings and incidents – from many sources, rather than vague impressions.
You can read the full story here: http://edsource.org/2014/compton-latest-district-with-assault-rifles/66582#.U_dq1PldXEN
Dr Klinger in Emergency Management Magazine
Lost in the sensational reporting about bulletproof bookbags and whiteboards, the articles about slick-marketed, self-proclaimed experts, is the very important discussion of how do we place active shooter response in the larger context of an evidence-based, all-hazards, comprehensive approach to school safety.
Klinger said that in more than 75 percent of school shootings, three or more adults were concerned about the individual prior to the shooting, and threat assessments and appropriate training are ways to connect the dots. “But it also is predicting kids at risk for suicide, self-mutilation, substance abuse or running away. So it’s exactly what we need to be doing because it’s an all-hazards approach to preventing these events.”....
The emphasis on an active shooter scenario detracts from other important trainings like tornado drills, CPR and shelter in place, Dorn and Lavarello said. And school districts, deluged with quick fixes from vendors, are investing in things they don’t necessarily need.
Check out the rest of the article here: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/training/Are-Schools-Focusing-Too-Much-Active-Shooter.html?page=2
Dr Klinger and Amanda Klinger discuss safety improvements for Rochester Public Schools
Dr Klinger advocating for threat assessment management in the wake of PA school stabbing
“Threat assessment management is a very powerful tool that pulls from all aspects of a student's life — teachers, coaches, parents and others in the community — and uses trained teams to connect the dots,” Klinger said.
“For the same cost of a single door buzzer, we can train five threat assessment teams. We've heard of shootings, suicides, fights, all kinds of things that have been prevented,” she said.
You can read the full article here: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/5919429-74/security-detectors-metal#axzz2z1QmAu7N
Dr Amy Klinger interviewed in Security Management magazine Sandy Hook article
Klinger emphasizes that training personnel should be part of any security plan. “The important thing going through the Sandy Hook report is the notion of buzzer systems. We have a lot of schools that have purchased a buzzer system and say, ‘Oh good, now we’re safe.’ Well you saw in the photos and in the report how easily [Lanza] breached that buzzer system. So if you don’t have a second and third line of defense, the buzzer system is essentially worthless,” she notes.
Klinger says the second line of defense is adequately training staff in how to screen individuals coming through the building. “We see thousands of times where you walk up, push the button and they let you in. They don’t screen to ask a visitor, ‘what can I help you with,’ or ‘what are you doing here,’ or even to find out what your demeanor is like, if you’re acting suspiciously, so there your first line is getting people who are trained to screen visitors.”
You can read the full article here:
Dr Klinger and Amanda Klinger provide school safety training for the state of New Mexico
Dr Amy Klinger and Amanda Klinger, Esq. in Rochester Post-bulletin
"There are many times when a traditional lockdown works," Amy Klinger added. "But the 1 percent of the time, when you have an active active shooter, an extra component for safety is needed."
ESSN consultants featured on KAAL tv in Rochester, MN
“There’s a lot of school districts in this country that are playing catch-up,” said Amanda Klinger, director of operations with the Educator’s School Safety Network. “Our calendar is very full in the coming months of districts that are panicking."
Amanda, along her mother Amy, helped Rochester Public Schools develop new emergency procedures, and on Wednesday night they spoke to a few dozen parents at John Marshall High School about how they can help keep their kids safe.
ESSN consultants featured in Rochester Post-Bulletin article
Their nonprofit has a unique family twist in that the consultants form a mother-daughter team. Amy Klinger, Amanda's mother, has more than 28 years of experience as an educator and administrator, their website says. Amanda Klinger has experience as both a teacher and attorney and is an expert in cyberbullying and school safety.
"We work very hard to make sure that the things we talk about are grounded in good solid research," Amy Klinger said.
Unlike many in the school safety field, which is primarily populated from the ranks of law enforcement, their perspective comes from the classroom and brings a "research-oriented" rigor to their conclusions, they say.
Dr Amy Klinger quoted in Facilities.net article
Staff members should know to watch for and engage visitors in the facility, as this forms a second line of defense, says Amy Klinger, director of programs with Educator's School Safety Network. Simply walking up to the visitor and saying something like, "Good morning, how can we help you?" not only helps legitimate visitors feel welcome, but lets those who aren't supposed to be in the building know that their presence has been noted.
Dr Amy Klinger quoted in Business Insider article about GA school.
“If schools put more focus on early detection of warning signs and [the creation of] threat assessment teams, that would be doing more to prevent school shootings than putting more guns in schools. [The latter is] not prevention, that’s emergency response,”
“In the vast majority of the schools we assessed, our professional intruder was easily able to access the building without interference,” Klinger said in a press release.
Dr Klinger interviewed by "Canadian Family" magazine
“We see a lot of schools where their reaction is to buy stuff. Those things are great, but we push really hard to get institutions to think about training their people. Buying a piece of hardware is not going to increase the capabilities of people to respond to an event. Training is really critical to the whole discussion.”
You can see the rest of the article by clicking here.