Visit the REMS TA Center Calendar to find trainings, web chats, conferences, and other stakeholder activities and events on comprehensive school safety topics for K-12 and higher ed practitioners. All events featured are FREE to participate in and range from virtual to in-person opportunities for engagement and professional development.

Did you know that approximately three-quarters of perpetrators in school-based active shooter situations acquired their firearm from the home of a parent or close relative? This illustrates the close connection between the role of families, caregivers, and guardians and the role of schools and school districts in keeping students safe while on school grounds. Safe firearm storage is one of many preventative actions that can be taken to help keep our school communities, buildings, and grounds safe. When firearms are stored safely, it can help prevent them from getting into the hands of children and teens who, intentionally or unintentionally, may use them to harm themselves or others. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona released a letter last month that encourages school principals and school district administrators to engage in outreach with families, caregivers, and guardians around the importance of safe firearm storage. To support those efforts, the REMS TA Center has developed a sample letter that principals and school district administrators can send to families, guardians, and caregivers to share essential information about safe firearm storage.

Learn more about efforts within the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and across the federal government to promote safe firearm storage.

This year's National Prevention Week is scheduled for May 12-18, 2024. During this time, organizations, government agencies, and individuals come together to highlight the importance of prevention strategies and creating a safe environment for all. Educating students about the negative effects of alcohol and drugs can help deter them from engaging in these harmful behaviors. Below are some resources and tips that can be used to foster open communication and increase awareness to promote safe and healthy behavior.

Many schools have recently completed their 100th day of school. The middle of the school year offers a great opportunity to review, update, and improve overall visitor management strategies and the security of the school building.

Hundreds of students, staff, and visitors likely enter and exit through your school’s main entrance daily. Most of these individuals have a legitimate purpose and reason to gain access to the school; however, it only takes one person with ill intent to enter the school through an unlocked or propped door, or without being properly vetted as a visitor, to dismantle our well-intentioned visitor management process.

Ideally, each school should consider how a visitor might approach your campus to gain legitimate vehicular and pedestrian access to the building. All staff should realize the importance of always keeping exterior doors closed and locked to limit unauthorized access from the outside. It is important for all school faculty and staff to develop and sustain this culture of safety and security, understanding that just one propped door, even if only propped for a few minutes, can defeat the entire visitor management and access control system.

Additional timeless school safety strategies, such as this one, can be found in our fact sheet below.

Have you explored the NEW Topics section on our REMS TA Center website? In an easy-to-navigate format, these pages highlight key topics in school and higher ed safety and discuss how to incorporate them within your emergency operations plan (EOP). Currently, the REMS TA Center offers three dedicated topic web pages:

You can also now find our Topic-Specific Resources to Support Your Emergency Management Planning section under Topics in the site navigation. It contains 25 pages of resources from the REMS TA Center, ED, and other agency partners on emergency management functions, hazards and threats, and planning principles.

Explore our NEW ASM, Cybersecurity, and Cyber Safety pages, and check back in the future for more dedicated topics under the Topics tab!

EOPs are living and breathing documents that should be continually practiced and updated as school leaders learn from previous incidents that take place within and outside their school communities and school buildings. In Step 6: Plan Implementation and Maintenance of the six-step planning process to develop an EOP, planning teams train stakeholders. Tabletop exercises are one of the easiest ways to get people together and conduct an exercise. Tabletop exercises are small-group discussions that walk through fictional emergency scenarios and the courses of action that an education agency will need to take—before, during, and after an emergency—to lessen the impact on the community. By engaging with this activity, planning teams will evaluate and improve their EOP.

REMS TA Center has developed an Emergency Exercise Package with detailed instructions, fact sheets, resources, and best practices for conducting emergency exercises. Download the training package zip file free of charge to access four tabletop exercises involving infectious disease, power outage, flood, and cybersecurity incidents that impact education agencies.

All forms of emergency exercises (orientations, tabletop exercises, drills, functional exercises, and full-scale exercises) are necessary to identify gaps and facilitate whole-community planning. The more opportunities there are for practicing with community partners, first responders, and local emergency management, the better equipped schools will be to respond efficiently and effectively to emergency incidents. The beginning of spring is a great time to brush up on emergency exercises and drills. Click on our exercise training package below for scenarios, participant guides, facilitator podcasts, and instructions for conducting tabletop exercises.