Dr. Amy Klinger on NBC news

Dr. Amy Klinger, director of programs and co-founder of the Educator's School Safety Network, a nonprofit that supports safer schools, said she found it "ironic and sad" that the only training being discussed for teachers is weapons training.

"How about training in violence prevention, or all of the other threats that schools face, like severe weather, noncustodial parent fights, and bus accidents?" she asked. "I'm thrilled that the president is having this conversation about school safety. But I'm concerned that we're not looking at the really effective options first."

Dr. Amy Klinger on CBS9 in Los Angeles

“It is alarming,” Klinger said. “We’ve seen a pretty dramatic increase. Normally, we track around 10 or 11 incidents a day and since the tragedy in Florida, we’ve been tracking anywhere from 50-65 threats a day.”

Partly to blame for the increase? What she calls the “copy cat” factor.

“You have this copy cat mentality,” she says ,”where if it worked over there, I could do that, too, and I want to be famous and I want people to be afraid of what I’ve said.”

The number of threats will, likely, go down in time. But Klinger believes the increased conversation about school safety will be a good thing.

“Any threat to a school and any incident in school is one too many,” she says, “so even when the numbers go down, we still need to keep this a priority.”

Dr. Amy Klinger in the Cincinnati Enquirer

There is always a spike after a school shooting, Klinger said, but these numbers are unusually intense. She thinks it reflects the intensity of the Florida shooting, one of the worst in America’s history, and the intensity of the conversation surrounding school safety and gun laws.

People are paying attention, Klinger said, and students interested in causing chaos know that now is their time.

“I would expect this to continue for a while,” she said.

Dr. Amy Klinger on fatherly.com

“You’ve seen a huge spike in kids being arrested,” says Klinger. “We can’t joke about having a bomb in our bag in an airport, and so now we can’t say we’re going to shoot up our school and say that’s a joke ⏤ it’s not.”

Dr. Amy Klinger interview with the BBC

"We always know there's an uptick after an event like [Florida's school shooting] - a contagion effect, a copycat effect," Ms Klinger, who has a 28-year career in education, said. "But this is a significant spike."

Dr. Amy Klinger on Texas Public Radio

While an increase in threats often occurs after a school shooting, Klinger said this time there are more than normal.

“I can make a threat on social media that gets passed around and may impact 10 or 15 schools, not just one school. So I think that is certainly a big part of it,” Klinger said. “It’s a reflection of the intensity of the conversation that’s erupted after Parkland.”

Educator's School Safety Network data in the Washington Post

Ordinarily, according to the Educator’s School Safety Network, about 10 threats or violent incidents are reported each day in American schools. Since Parkland, the network, which has been tracking these incidents for years, said reports have increased sevenfold. The network is recording about 70 incidents every day — 673 since the Parkland shooting.

Dr. Amy Klinger quoted (again) by the New York Times

“It’s reflective of the feeling in the country,” Ms. Klinger said. “You have to think about what someone who’s making a threat wants to get out of it. They want chaos, fear, for people to be upset.”

Dr. Amy Klinger quoted by the New York Times

“These kids are begging us to stop them,” said Amy Klinger, a co-founder of the Educator’s School Safety Network, who consults on school safety from the perspective of the former teacher and principal that she is. “We just have to be better at picking up the warning signs.”

The schools alone cannot do it. Arguably, Dr. Klinger said, the failure to identify Mr. Cruz as troubled was a failure of the entire community, along with law enforcement agencies that had been warned about him.

“A school can identify the individual of concern, but they didn’t create that individual,” Dr. Klinger said. “So yeah, there is a role that the community and parents and our society has to play in identifying and dealing with those individuals as well.”

...

“After Sandy Hook, a lot of schools got very panicky and bought $5,000 buzzer systems,” Dr. Klinger said. “They bought the system that was breached by the intruder in the first 30 seconds of Sandy Hook. He shot out the door and walked into the school. So your buzzer system did absolutely no good.”

Dr. Amy Klinger on Fox News

“There is just not enough evidence to support the idea that a teacher would be able to neutralize a threat,” Amy Klinger, the director of programs at the Educator’s School Safety Network, told Fox News. “What makes us think that a social studies teacher can do something that law enforcement has trouble doing?”

Klinger seconded O’Neill’s comment and added there are other safety concerns that should be addressed before school decided to put guns in the hands of teachers.

Among the changes Klinger suggested were better mental health programs in schools, and implementing systems to identify students who potentially pose a threat, better building and perimeter security on campus and changing the arrival and dismissal procedures.

Teachers and school officials in districts that allow concealed carry firearms don’t disagree with Klinger that there are other issues at play. But they say arming educators is something that can immediately make a difference – particularly when other tactics fail.

Educator's School Safety Network Data quoted in the New York Times

Since the Florida shooting, schools around the country have seen an uptick in threats, incidents of violence and false alarms reported in the media. A group that tracks such reports, the Educator’s School Safety Network, says an average of 70 incidents have occurred daily in the weeks since the Florida shooting, as compared to a more typical pace, of about 10 to 12 incidents a day. Hard to measure, though, is how many of these incidents represent an increase in false alarms, due in part to heightened vigilance, and how many reflect a new surge in truly dangerous threats.

ESSN data (slightly mis-quoted) by Petula Dvorak

Ordinarily, according to the Educator's School Safety Network, about 10 threats or violent incidents are reported each day in American schools. Since Parkland, the network, which has been tracking these incidents for years, said reports have increased sevenfold. The network is recording about 70 incidents every day -- 673 since the Parkland shooting.

ESSN data on California Public Radio

Educators School Safety Network says it recorded about 50 threats a day on average since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people died.

The Ohio-based national organization that tracks school threats says that compares to about 10 threats a day on average.

Violent incidents or threats have occurred in 48 of the 50 states so far this school year, according to the network, with 10 states accounting for 48 percent of all the threats and incidents that have occurred so far.

The organization says California leads the list of schools that have had an increase in threats. Pennsylvania, New York, Florida and Illinois round out the top five.

ESSN research in the York Daily Record

But the “huge” uptick in school-based violent incidents and threats across the country since the Florida shooting has been somewhat unusual, according to the Educator’s School Safety Network, which tracks those incidents.

Since Feb. 15, the organization has been tracking anywhere from 70 to 80 threats a day nationwide – up from 10 to 12 per day in January.

“That’s a significant increase and much more than you would anticipate after an event,” spokeswoman Amy Klinger said.

Dr. Amy Klinger - Eye on Ohio

"I'm saying there's a lot of things we can do ... that are proven to work, before we talk about putting more guns into a school," she said.

Klinger said she thought Ohio could improve by implementing regular, rigorous teacher training on spotting potential hazards.

Amanda Klinger on Voice of America Radio

“This is something educators are asking for. Educators aren't asking to be armed with guns. But they are asking to be armed with education and training and the empowerment to be able to do some of these things to keep kids safe in their schools.”

Amanda Klinger quoted in New York Times article about EDGE school safety simulation tool

It was important to adapt that software for teachers so it would be instructive rather than intimidating, said Amanda Klinger, the director of operations for the Educator’s School Safety Network, a nonprofit consulting group that has a contract to create lesson plans for it.

“Scaring the daylights out of people with blood and gore and trauma doesn’t empower people,” Ms. Klinger said.

You can read the full piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/us/school-shooting-simulation.html

Amanda Klinger, Esq. quoted in articles about Department of Homeland Security EDGE training tool

The Educator's School Safety Network consulted with the development of the EDGE simulation tool, and has been tasked to create supplemental, education-focused materials for effective use of the tool.

Director of Operations, Amanda Klinger Esq. is quoted in several AP articles:

“I hope that people will sort of see this simulation as a really cool and engaging way to think about school safety.” 

The simulation tool was also profiled in SlashGear, Gizmodo, and other news outlets.

NBC News Features ESSN Co-Founder

ESSN Director of Programs, Dr. Amy Klinger, was one of the featured experts in an NBC News article examining the changes in school safety on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy. 

Click here to see the full article.

Dr. Amy Klinger One of the Featured Experts in Future Trends Article

Dr. Amy Klinger of ESSN was one of the experts featured in an article by District Administration on current and future trends in education. It's wonderful to note that school safety was given the same level of educational attention as other relevant concerns such as academic performance and teacher evaluation!

To read the full article go to www.districtadministration.com/article/learning-leans-forward