Attorneys General issue call to address serious safety deficiencies

Meeting in Washington DC earlier this month, 27 state Attorneys General “issued a call to federal and state leaders to address serious deficiencies in federal and state laws and educational policies that leave students vulnerable to violence in their schools and on college campuses.” NAAG News.

Among 7 recommendations by the National Association of Attorneys General’s task force are these two that can be met in important ways by harnessing school administration and teacher mobile phones to increase safety and to provide information, coordination and rescue during emergencies:

• State legislators should mandate that all schools and colleges that receive state funding create, maintain, and update emergency management plans.
• Colleges should implement a multi-point, redundant communication system that leverages existing technology and provides information to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

Although the second point only mentions colleges, K-12 schools can equally benefit from the safety methods it describes. Children are safer at school when adults who are in charge know where they are, have rapid access to their contact and health records, and are able to summon help immediately to emergency situations.

Teachers in mobile times

Last week the City Council of the City of New York voted 46 to 2 against a veto of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Council was trying to weaken the Mayor’s ban on cellphones in the public schools. The New York Sun explained before the vote:

“If nothing else it is a statement of exasperation on behalf of tens of thousands of parents,” he said. “I continue to hold out hope that they will get the message that their current policy just doesn’t make sense in this day and age.” Mr. Fidler said he expects the veto override to pass today with overwhelming support from council members.

The battle that has been going on in New York City — and in many school districts — is to what extent, if any, students should be allowed to use mobile phones in schools. This battle has so far been between the potential for students to be protected by having their phones available to keep in touch and/or summon help in an emergency vs. the potential for the devices to be disruptive inside of schools.

In the agitation over the issue of students using mobiles at school, it is possible to overlook the key safety role a teacher can perform with her mobile phone? Defywire created the mobile guardian to be sure that does not happen.

Technorati Tags: New York City, teachers, safety