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.
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Timeless School Safety Strategies Series: Revisiting Your School Emergency Operations Plan
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As a new year begins, it is the perfect time to revisit lessons learned from last year and to create New Year’s resolutions and goals. Addressing common school safety concerns and challenges by utilizing timeless school safety strategies (those that have been shown to be effective over time) is a way to help your school or school district to be prepared. For this month, we are highlighting the strategy of revising your emergency operations plan (EOP) and procedures.
Ideally, your school and school district core planning teams should collaboratively update their EOP on an annual basis. Lessons learned from using the plan in the context of actual emergency incidents or during drills and exercises, as well as the integration of new systems and tools for emergency management, are a couple of reasons why it is critical to update your EOP annually. Additionally, the relationships that result from conducting these annual (or more) reviews and updates of your plan can build trust and confidence among all participants. The REMS TA Center’s Emergency Operations Plan Maintenance: Reviewing, Updating, and Strengthening Plans fact sheet can be a helpful resource to aid in your EOP improvement process.
Additional information about the timeless school safety strategy of revisiting your EOP and other school safety strategies can be found within the newly released fact sheet linked below.
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Human Trafficking and Sextortion Awareness
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January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Month, which is a great time to review and revise your school or higher ed EOP to ensure that it contains an updated Human Trafficking Annex. It is important to ensure this annex is specific to your school or campus, as it varies due to the involvement of minors in the K-12 setting. Additionally, take this time to revisit resources from the REMS TA Center and our federal partners on the topic, including an archived webinar and guides on human trafficking for school administrators and staff, student leaders on college campuses, school resource officers, campus law enforcement and public safety officials, and local law enforcement leaders. Promote awareness of human trafficking in your community by participating in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign all month long. Plan to participate in National Human Trafficking Awareness Day on January 11th by taking a picture of yourself wearing blue and sharing it on social media with the hashtag #WearBlueDay.
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Sextortion (or online sexual exploitation) is another exploitation-related crime that is similar to human trafficking. Sextortion can target both minors and adults and can involve extorting sexual images or favors and money from victims. As Internet use grows more frequent, especially among minors, incidents of sextortion have risen, increasing the need for schools to address this issue. Schools can take steps to educate students and prevent sextortion within their community by addressing it within their EOP. Review the REMS TA Center’s sextortion resources:
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The U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of federal laws relating to the privacy of students’ education records, as well as for the provision of technical assistance on student privacy issues for the broader education community. SPPO’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center is a one-stop resource for education stakeholders to learn about privacy, confidentiality, and security practices related to the protection of student information. You can find more information about SPPO’s functions and a wide range of student privacy resources at https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/. You can also stay informed of new materials and important student privacy developments by subscribing to SPPO’s monthly Student Privacy Newsletter.
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Hazard and Threat Databases
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In Step 2 of the six-step planning process for developing a high-quality EOP, planning teams develop a comprehensive list of threats and hazards. Ideally, planning teams create this list by consulting a variety of data sources, including assessments (e.g., site, culture and climate, behavioral threat, capacity), partners (local, state, and federal), and the school/campus community. Several federal agencies offer databases that provide information on historical threats and hazards faced by states and localities. A few federal databases that provide data on threats and hazards are listed below:
- National Risk Index (Federal Emergency Management Agency): natural hazards such as earthquakes, extreme temperatures, floods, hurricanes, landslides, lightning, severe wind, tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and winter precipitation
- National Outbreak Reporting System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): biological hazards such as infectious disease outbreaks.
- National Pipeline Mapping System (U.S. Department of Transportation): technological hazards such as hazardous materials releases.
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Share Your School and Campus Safety Stories and Spotlights
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School and campus safety efforts and our nation’s overall emergency preparedness are strengthened when core planning teams, community partners, and education agency leaders can learn from the lessons of others in the field. From podcasts and webinars to virtual meetings and social media chats, the REMS TA Center offers various opportunities for you to share your experiences as you work to develop, enhance, and practice courses of action outlined in your EOPs.
Do you have a story to share about how your school or campus responded to or recovered from an emergency incident? Are you interested in sharing how you work to partner with other entities within your locality, territory, or state to enhance EOPs? Is there critical insight on a key topic in school or campus safety that you think might benefit others in the field? Do you represent a rural, tribal, or private school? We want to hear from you!
Click the button below to email us to express your interest in sharing your safety story or spotlight.
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