PSW Location: Booth #1013

  
PublicSchoolWORKS Presentation
Title: Bomb Threat & IED Response to Schools: The Importance of Planning for Effective Communication, WS168
Track: Ancillary Services
When: Friday, September 24, 2010
Time: 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Location: Workshop 08
 
Southwest EPC 21st Annual EPC Vendor Fair
Date: September 29, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Where: Hara Arena, Dayton, Ohio
 
OSBA Capital Conference
When: November 7-10, 2010

Where: Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH

PSW Location: Preferred Vendor Concourse 

Title: Bomb Threat & IED Response to Schools: The Importance of Planning for Effective Communication

Time:9:00-10:15 AM

 

Time: 9:00-10:15 AM

When it comes to child abuse, it is a not an issue that should be ignored. A recent article in the Washington Post should alarm many, if not all, administrators who hire staff to work with our nation's children. It was recently discovered that a local Washington area teacher had a history of severe child abuse that went back decades. As many states begin to require child abuse training, districts should become more aware of who they are hiring.
 
Kevin Ricks was well liked by students and staff, yet he had a very dark secret. On most occasions Ricks would be seen carrying a leather bound journal, which most thought was a planner of some sort. It turns out this tattered journal held a decade worth of dark secrets and commentary about the abuse he inflicted on others, specifically students.
 
One of the most appalling facts from this story is that not only was he fired from many jobs in other school districts before moving to the Washington, DC area, but in fact other administrators let him go when they heard rumors of the abuse and didn't investigate it or report it to the authorities. A four-month Washington Post investigation of Ricks' career as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor revealed a pattern of abuse that dates to at least 1978 and has left a trail of victims spanning the globe.
 
Often when Ricks was thought to have been involved in 'situations,' the administration said there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case. However many parents warned staff that they felt their sons/daughters were being groomed by Ricks and their concerns were not investigated. Many times he was fired from the district for an unrelated cause and he moved on to another district.
 
Until recently, Ricks was under investigation by federal courts in Maryland and Virginia. They were considering charges based on materials found in his Maryland home and on his laptop he was carrying when arrested in Manassas, VA. On July 30, 2010, Kevin Ricks plead guilty to abuse of one teen. As of this printing, he is awaiting sentencing.

 

As an administrator, you should put programs in place to protect your employees and students from feeling helpless. Here are some recommendations:

1. Whether you set up an anonymous online reporting system or implement a 1-800 help line for staff, students and parents to report concerns, the school community should not feel helpless or as if their concerns are not being heard. Behaviors as serious as child abuse should be reported immediately, dealt with properly and tracked by authorities.

2. School staff and parents should be made aware of the signs of abuse and how to report them should they occur.

3.Districts should have procedures in place to effectively investigate and deal with perpetrators. Don't just pass them down the road to other unsuspecting schools.
 
PublicSchoolWORKS can assist with building a custom child abuse prevention plan. PSW staff can work with district staff to set up a training program, along with creating an anonymous Student Bullying Reporting System and a Student Safety Reporting System for students, parents and staff that will assist in alerting the administrators should an issue arise. Through PublicSchoolWORKS' reporting systems, each incident reported is tracked from submission through investigation. Because the system is Web-based, any administrator, teacher or staff member can submit a concern from any computer where there is Internet access and administration is immediately notified.

 

If a student can't be safe at school, we are failing them. Take action today: don't let this be said about your district:

From parents: "My biggest disappointment lies with the school system and the teachers union for failing to identify any type of behavior that this perpetrator obviously displayed," a father said in an emotional interview.
 
From staff: Some staff said privately that they had concerns about his closeness with students and rumors of possible abuse, but that they felt powerless to do anything about it.