Winner of the Gold Award from the 1991 Houston International Film Festival, this 25-minute documentary DVD focuses on school crisis prevention, preparation, management and resolution. It is designed to help schools and communities prepare for the unexpected by designing crisis prevention and response plans. Such plans improve the ability of schools and communities to deal effectively with and overcome disasters. 

Acclaimed actor Edward James Olmos narrates. News footage of actual school crisis events in Stockton, California, Largo, Florida, Cokeville, Wyoming and Greenwood, South Carolina provide an eye-opening introduction to the video. The video is appropriate for use with school administrators, teachers and staff. 

Featured in the video is a panel composed of school officials who have dealt firsthand with violent tragedies on their campuses. These veterans provide security tips and recommendations that schools can use to guard against and resolve crises, including:

Bullying - synonymous with fear and anxiety - is perhaps the most underrated problem in our schools. Bullying is not a new occurrence in our schools. Most adults have some memory of the school bully or were themselves harassed by a bully at some time during their school years.

But today the problem has reached new levels of severity. Studies have found that one out of seven students are victims of bullying or are bullies themselves. Many victims spend their school days in fear of attack or simply waiting for the next degrading, humiliating incident to happen. Bullying ran begin as early as kindergarten and, if left unchecked, can develop into lifetime patterns of criminal behavior, as well as social, family and job-related problems.

Recognizing a bully and correcting this destructive behavior is of prime importance. Sometimes the bully's tactics take on subtle forms of psychological abuse. Abuses can be carried our verbally or through the use of threatening eye contact and gestures. Often bullying manifests itself in more severe ways when the aggressor intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another. Whatever form bullying takes, only recently have parents and educators recognized bullying for what it truly is criminal activity.

The "Schoolyard Bully Practicum," sponsored by the National School Safety Center, was held in 1987 at Harvard University. Authorities on schoolyard bullying and victimization gathered from around the world to develop a national prevention program for this serious problem.

With the help of guidelines defined by authorities at the Schoolyard Bullying Practicum, the National School Safety Center has produced an 18-minute DVD, "Set Straight on Bullies." This videotape was created to help parents, educators, law enforcers, other concerned citizens and students understand what bullying is and how it can be prevented.

"Set Straight on Bullies" explores all sides of today's bullying problem - from bullying, to victims, to the parents of both, as well as the community and educational system this problem disrupts. Shown through the eyes of a young bullying victim, "Set Straight on Bullies" brings to light the damaging effect that bullying has on all who are involved - physical and psychological damage that can last a lifetime.

"Set Straight on Bullies" is an Emmy-award winning video created to help parents, educators, law enforcers and other concerned citizens understand what bullying is and how it can be prevented. The 18-minute video tells the story of one middle school that is facing the problem of consequences of bullying. Designed with the expertise of authorities from the around the world, the video outlines prevention and response actions for schools and parents. 

In this package, the video is accompanied by a Facilitator's Guide that contains key background information, resources and activities to be used with adult audiences in tandem with the presentation of the video.

In January 2004, the National School Safety Center and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services convened a working group to address the issues and roles of schools in homeland security readiness. Represented at this meeting were 48 practitioners and experts from the fields of educational leadership, school safety and security, law enforcement, community policing, law, homeland security, public policy, health and medicine, military, school transportation, mental health, and social marketing. Most participants at the focus group meeting were keenly aware of the challenge of preparing schools for the unthinkable and the seriousness of asking the question, What if ...? 

The video depicts the positive benefits of planning, collaborating and working together so that schools can be prepared and ready for any kind of crisis. The video explores these advantages by posing a series of "What if... questions to law enforcement and school partnerships:

Also included on the DVD is the Santana Story, a school psychologist's testimony of Santana High School's March 5, 2001 shooting.