Visit the REMS TA Center Calendar
to find trainings, Web chats, conferences, and other stakeholder activities and
events for K-12 and higher ed practitioners on comprehensive school safety topics. All
events featured are FREE to participate in and range from virtual to in-person
opportunities for engagement and professional development.
and professional development.
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Focus on Cybersecurity This October
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Every member of the school and campus community plays an
important role in mitigating, preventing, protecting
from, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity
incidents. This October, strengthen your organization’s
cybersecurity posture by participating in Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
Now celebrating its 20th year, this stakeholder
event brings together collaborative partners from the public
and private sectors and tribal communities with the goals of
sharing resources, raising awareness, and increasing buy-in for
good cyber safety practices. This year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month
focuses on four tips for increasing cyber safety: (1) using strong passwords
and a password manager, (2) turning on multifactor authentication, (3) recognizing
and reporting phishing, and (4) updating software.
The REMS TA Center has NEW resources and trainings that can support your
education agency in understanding threats to educational digital
infrastructure, preparing for cyber threats, and incorporating
cybersecurity into emergency operations plan (EOP) development. Learn
more about new cybersecurity brief from the U.S. Department of Education
and find best practices, tips, and strategies in the resources below:
View the REMS TA Center calendar to access cybersecurity-focused
events that will be hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office
of Federal Student Aid and Student Privacy Policy Office.
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Test Your Alert, Communication, and Notification Systems
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One critical component of emergency preparedness is ensuring that your education
agency is ready to receive and communicate timely information
about emergencies.
On Wednesday, October 4 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
and Federal Communications Commission will conduct a nationwide test
of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA).
The back-up testing date will be Wednesday, October 11. You are invited to spread the word about this important test to your school or campus community and actively participate.
This is an opportunity to test
your NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Weather Radio(s), other
radios, and televisions on campus that receive EAS messages. You may notice an
update in this year’s EAS message; it will be disseminated as a Common Alerting
Protocol message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Open
Platform for Emergency Networks. This will be the seventh nationwide test of
EAS, which was first launched in 2011.
Administrators, faculty, staff, students, and their families can expect to receive
a WEA on mobile devices. The WEA will be disseminated through IPAWS to participating
wireless providers, which will then deliver the alerts to compatible devices in geo-targeted
areas. This will be the third nationwide test of WEA, which was launched in 2012.
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Get Ready to ShakeOut for Earthquake Preparedness
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This year’s International ShakeOut Day is Thursday, October 19. Join
millions of people worldwide by participating
in Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills at
10:19 a.m., or at the time and date
that works best for you and your school/campus community. Participants
practice recommended earthquake safety
guidance (Drop, Cover, and Hold On) and adaptations
for those with disabilities or mobility aids. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency provides support to the Southern California
Earthquake Center, Earthquake Country Alliance, and
partners across the country to coordinate ShakeOut
and provide guidance for drills at
both K-12 schools and
institutions of higher education (including presentations for leading drills).
Want to participate?
- Register your ShakeOut drill. Drills can be scheduled for any time and day, not just International ShakeOut Day.
- Promote earthquake protection measures and ShakeOut participation.
- Participate in/Host an earthquake drill.
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Teaming Up With Students for School Safety
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K-12 emergency management planning should involve
collaborative input from the whole school community.
As one of the largest groups of stakeholders in schools,
students can serve as a key partner in school safety efforts.
Planning teams can involve students in EOP development
and in preparedness activities before, during, and
after an emergency. When partnering with students, it is
important for schools to ensure that everyone is physically
and emotionally safe so that the whole school community
can effectively work together for a common mission of preparedness.
To support core planning teams and safety leaders in integrating
students into this work, the REMS TA Center
released a NEW fact sheet:
K-12 Students as Partners in School Emergency Management.
This resource outlines strategies for engaging students in
school emergency management planning while still safeguarding
their well-being. You can find more resources on integrating
students into school safety by exploring our topic-specific Web page on
whole community planning
and by watching our recent REMS TA Center
Webinar
on the role of students in school safety efforts.
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Learn More About Your National School Safety Center
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This month, take some time to review our interactive brochure to learn more about the REMS TA Center.
Flip through the brochure to find pictures and videos,
along with detailed information about the REMS TA Center,
including the practitioners we serve, the free products and
services we provide, and how to contact us. The
interactive brochure contains helpful quick links to our
- Synchronous and asynchronous trainings;
- EOP interactive tools;
- Topic-specific resources;
- Publications and guidance documents; and
- Technical assistance and support contacts.
Share our interactive brochure with other practitioners to spread
the word and access our most requested resources and services. The
interactive brochure also shares tidbits about the REMS
TA Center that you might not know — such as that
we travel nationwide to deliver in-person trainings and
that we answer a variety of questions and technical assistance
requests via our toll-free phone line (855-781-REMS [7367]),
email (info@remstacenter.org) and
TA Request Form (https://rems.ed.gov/RequestTA). Access our interactive brochure
below to find out more about how the REMS TA Center can
support your school safety work all year long.
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