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 Strategy Series: Conduct Trainings for All Faculty and Staff
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Training and exercise programs are critical components of emergency management planning. Training is a key component of school safety. Everyone involved in the plan needs to know his or her roles and responsibilities before, during, and after an emergency. Training provides opportunities for familiarizing the whole school community with the emergency operations plan (EOP) and can even be reflected within the Basic Plan’s Training and Exercises section.
Emergency preparedness, safety, and security-related training should be conducted for administrators, teachers, school emergency response team members (crisis team), cafeteria staff, custodians, bus drivers, substitute teachers, office staff, and district personnel every year. Emergency procedures, plans, policies, and personnel changes are updated every year, resulting in a greater need for a comprehensive training program to be present. Also, schools should consider the information that students and their parents may need to know about your emergency procedures (e.g., emergency notification methods, procedures for parents/guardians during a lockdown) and how this information can be effectively communicated to the greater school community.
Check with your local first responder agencies, your state school safety center, your state department of education, and the REMS TA Center for possible training opportunities for your school or school district.
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Mental Health Awareness Month Trainings & Resources
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Safeguarding mental health is a whole-community effort. Alongside mental health professionals who provide direct care, administrators and educators often serve on the front lines of student mental health efforts. Moreover, when equipped with the right resources, both students and staff can develop peer support networks to sustain one another through difficult times. This Mental Health Awareness Month, consider taking one of the following steps to build resilience across your education community:
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Improving Preparedness in Time for Graduation Season
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May is here, and graduation season is upon us! As schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) prepare to celebrate the accomplishments of their 2024 graduates, they should also consider taking steps to prepare for potential emergencies that may happen at large events. Whether that may be natural hazards that impact outdoor ceremonies, biological hazards that affect the health of students and staff, or human-caused threats that threaten the safety of attendees, there are strategies that can be used now to prepare for these incidents and others.
The REMS TA Center offers resources to help schools and IHEs improve their preparedness capacity to manage graduation events and other large events this year:
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- A specialized training package module, Large Event Planning, which includes a tabletop exercise for K-12 schools along with supplemental resources to enhance professional learning; and
- An online course for K-12 schools and school districts—School EOPs In-Depth: Planning for Large Events that helps practitioners connect large event planning to EOP development, including evaluating potential risks and hazards and updating annexes accordingly.
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This month, consider utilizing these REMS TA Center resources to ensure that your graduation plans account for all hazards and threats so that students, staff, and families can focus on enjoying the celebrations.
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Collaboration & Student Engagement
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The cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development of students is cultivated by their interactions with various entities within a community, including schools and youth-serving organizations. Through engagement, students have an opportunity to form more positive relationships with their teachers, other adults in their community, and their peers. Moreover, it can improve social, emotional, and academic outcomes, as well as attendance and school safety.
Student engagement can be achieved through counseling, extracurricular activities, and high-quality out-of-school time (OST) learning. The U.S. Department of Education’s Engage Every Student collaborative initiative provides schools and communities the connections and assistance they may need to expand access to afterschool and summer learning programs. School leaders can use this resource to make sure that every student who wants to participate in OST programs has access to it. In addition, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers National Technical Assistance Center is dedicated to OST professionals to learn, receive resources, and engage with peers and experts.
The REMS TA Center also offers resources to support student engagement. Watch our The Role of Students in School Safety Efforts webinar to learn how student engagement can support school safety efforts. One of the strategies offered is developing a Teen Community Emergency Response Team program, where students are trained in disaster preparedness and emergency response to help take care of their school and home. Read our Collaborating With Youth-Serving Organizations to Enhance School Emergency Operations Plans fact sheet to get tips on how to collaborate with youth-serving organizations to increase student engagement and improve school safety.
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Ensuring Accessibility for the Whole School Community in Oregon
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Taking an inclusive and equitable approach to emergency management planning means considering all members of the school community, including students and staff with access and functional needs. As part of the Grants to States for School Emergency Management Grant Program, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) encourages specific and deliberate planning for access and functional needs. In partnership with its regional education agencies, ODE uses an EOP capacity assessment to target its training and technical assistance efforts for local education agencies (LEAs) by evaluating LEAs on six functional areas, including “planning and accommodation of access and functional needs individuals.” ODE recommends that LEAs include access and functional needs specialists (such as therapists, counselors, and technology assistance experts) in the multidisciplinary planning team and throughout the planning process. To support LEAs in incorporating the whole school community in emergency management planning, ODE also developed a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, where school or district staff can record access and functional needs for individual students, ensuring that each student can receive the support they need in an emergency.
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