Resources for Developing a School Safety Program

In decades past, schools were pretty much safe havens. Schools would be open to the public. Public would be allowed to hold meetings there. The situation has greatly changed. Today, schools face multiple potential safety hazards. Whole websites are dedicated to reporting school safety incidents. Fortunately, school administrators do not need to face these potential hazards alone. There are many resources to aid school administrators in developing a comprehensive emergency management program.

United States Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools has created a portal dedicated to assisting schools in developing a comprehensive emergency management program. United States Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools emergency management page's offerings include an Action Guide for Emergency Management at Institutions of higher Education, Tips for Helping Students Recovering from Traumatic Events, Crisis Planning Resources, and Webcasts on Emergency Management for Schools Training.

United States Department of Education has also developed the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center. United States Department of Education describes the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center as:

"A primary service coordinated by the Center is the provision of responses to emergency planning questions and technical assistance needs. Requests for assistance could range from example REMS plans; to strategies and materials to help with staff trainings; to tips for creating buy-in with stakeholders; to help evaluating REMS plans. Center staff collaborate with a network of local and national crisis planning experts to provide answers to REMS-related questions and to meet any specific technical assistance needs."

Federal Emergency Management Agency has created several free online training courses dedicated to school emergency management. Federal Emergency Management Agency's school emergency planning course offering include Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools and Incident Command System for Schools.

For school administrators emergency management is often a new topic. School administrators may want to take some emergency management courses in a classroom. Unlike online courses, classroom courses allow students to ask questions of the instructor and interact with other students. Many state emergency management agencies offer classroom emergency management courses for free. Contacting your state's emergency management agency can yield a plethora of free course offerings.

National School Safety Center was created by Presidential Directive in 1984. National School Safety Center provides technical assistance including template for conducting school site assessments, a list of speakers available for keynote speeches, and specialized technical assistance developed specifically for your district. National School Safety Center also provides books, videos, resource papers, and school safety updates.

Many states have established school safety centers. States that have established School Safety Centers include Texas, Kentucky, Washington, New York, Minnesota, and Missouri. These are only examples and is not meant to be an exhaustive list of state School Safety Centers. Similar to the National School Safety Center, state school safety centers offer schools many technical assistance resources including research briefs, fact sheets, trainings, and conferences. These are examples. Resources may vary from state to state.

While not free, there are also many private businesses dedicated to making schools safer. Private businesses offer such services as conducting school site assessments, making recommendations to increase school safety, collecting critical site data, and aiding schools in writing their emergency plans. Often, these private contractors are established by retired public safety officers such as firefighters, police officers, and emergency management officials.

While schools face many potential emergency incidents, developing a comprehensive emergency management program can help prepare schools to respond to and recover from these incidents. School administrators do not need a background in emergency management. Many agencies offer resources to help school administrators develop an emergency management program. Local public safety agencies and city/county Emergency Management Directors are also great sources of technical assistance.

References
Welcome to the National School Safety Center. n.d. National School Safety Center. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.schoolsafety.us/
Introduction.n.d. Texas School Safety Center. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.txssc.txstate.edu/K12/
Introduction.Kentucky School Safety Center. n.d. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.kysafeschools.org/
What's Happening. Washington School Safety Center. n.d. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.k12.wa.us/safetycenter/
Welcome. New York State Center for School Safety. n.d. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://nyscenterforschoolsafety.org/
Introduction. Minnesota School Safety Center. n.d. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.mnssc.state.mn.us/
Lead & Manage My School - Emergency Planning. United States Department of Education. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/index.html
REMS TA Center. United States Department of Education. n.d. Retrieved on November 20, 2009 from http://rems.ed.gov/