Safety In Schools

Welcome to my blog! I'm going to write an ongoing blog regarding safety and technology in schools, and how we can use technology to augment the most important facets of our safety strategies. Never before has safety been more on the forefront of our minds as parents, teachers, and administrators. There are so many thing we can do to improve safety, that a frank, and open discussion about our schools' policies and practices can only lead to positive results. I plan on covering topics such as "who is responsible for safety", "how much falls on the principal", "why some schools have fences and some schools don't", and "what are schools doing to address safety on a daily basis".

For teachers who read my blog, I'm sure you feel the burden of protecting your students from danger, and the weight put on your shoulders by the parents who trust you. For principals and district administrators, you confront these very issues every day, and you need a place to voice your ideas, and find out ways you can help your schools. Hopefully, together, we can all learn something and take our newfound knowledge directly to the people who can make a difference - parents, other teachers, and school and district administrators.

A little bit about myself. I live in Folsom, California, and have two children, ages 2 and 6. My youngest is in pre-school, and his life basically consists of building sand castles, singing the ABC's (something he does every night now), and, well, learning how to GO. My oldest has now just started 1st grade, and to be honest, I am a worrying parent. I ALWAYS worry about my child when she leaves my sight. Every day I drop her off at school forces me to confront my fears about my child leaving the safe confines of my home. I think these are fears that every parent faces, especially as we see one incident after another on other school campuses. I tell myself I am being irrational, and I probably am, but still, I worry. So what can I do about it? I do my best to teach her what I can, and I try to help her school do things in the safest way possible. I am always reading about safety, new practices and policies, and I put these lessons to use as much as possible.

In the last year, I started a software company to help me turn my negative energy into a positive focus. Our company has created a product designed to give students, parents, teachers, and administrators a place to report events affecting safety, and forces the school to review these events, and affirmatively remedy the event whenever possible. It ensures that district administrators are aware of our concerns as parents and teachers, and that if we report it, the school and district will have to at least review it. Too many times I have voiced complaints or reported issues in the past that fell on deaf ears or were lost in a sea of paper. So I developed a system to end this madness, and give schools and districts a fighting chance to keep track of all of these things and manage them the way I, myself would want them to be managed. You can find more information about my own dealings by looking at my profile.

Look for informative and discussion-oriented blogs regarding safety and technology in the near future.

Until then, BE SAFE!

Michael Jacobs