Citation

Fast J, Fanelli R. J. School Violence 2003; 2(3): 53-71.

Affiliation

Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, 2495 Amsterdam Ave, New York City, NY 10033

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J202v02n03_04

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article presents a case study of a single incident involving a high school student who brought a "tennis ball" bomb to school. Although the district had recently created a safety plan, with a specific protocol for the discovery of a bomb in the building, the principal and the crises team ignored it. The principal did not refer to the safety plan because the incident did not take on the dimensions of a crisis until relatively late in its course. The crisis response team did not use the safety plan because they felt that they already knew from experience how best to deal with the situation. Both felt a lack of ownership in the safety plan because they had not been involved in drafting it. The article examines these and other problems of safety plan implementation and suggests remedies.