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.

Here at the REMS TA Center, we’re reflecting on a wonderful year serving the field of school and higher ed emergency management, and we can’t wait to continue supporting education agencies in the new year. Our New Year’s Resolution? We want to bring our Live Trainings by Request and Virtual Trainings by Request to 25 states and territories in 2025!

What school safety resolutions will your education agency make for 2025?

• Review and revise your emergency operations plan (EOP). Leverage EOP EVALUATE to get started.
• Integrate synchronous and asynchronous training opportunities into your 2025 training schedule. Visit our Training Opportunities page to explore our free training resources.
• Connect with new community partners and stakeholders. Read about the importance of creating a multidisciplinary planning team and cultivating strong partnerships for EOP development.

These are just a few ways that your core planning team can resolve to be ready in 2025. If you’re looking to inspire members of your school or higher ed community to make their own New Year’s resolutions, check out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s #ResolveToBeReady campaign, which offers suggestions for individual preparedness goals and social media materials to help get the word out.

We’re wishing all our partners a Happy New Year. See you in 2025!

Facility managers are knowledgeable about all areas of a campus, including where chemical storage closets are located and how to shut off power in case of an emergency. They perform a variety of duties, including monitoring and maintaining school grounds and inspecting safety equipment to ensure compliance with safety regulations. As key stewards in the efforts around site assessments, physical and structural recovery, and planning for technological hazards involving chemicals and hazardous materials, their knowledge and expertise can enhance EOP development.

To learn more about collaborating with facility managers on emergency management planning and integrating facility managers into multidisciplinary planning teams, watch our webinar on The Role of School Facility Managers in School Safety Efforts. Visit the newly established National Center on School Infrastructure from the U.S. Department of Education. Their site is a resource hub for public school facilities on topics such as how school facilities shape the learning environment for students, affect students’ physical health and readiness to learn, and more. Find research and evidence-based tools that may be used by school administrators, facility managers, or staff to become stewards of public school facilities.

The academic year brings a variety of threats and hazards regardless of the season. While schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) regularly collaborate with key individuals to foster safety, it is equally important to collaborate with physical environments. CPTED is a multidisciplinary strategy for community protection grounded in the concept that the environment can reduce opportunities for criminal behavior. When school and IHE campuses include CPTED principles such as natural surveillance and access control, territorial reinforcement, and social cohesion, they can better prevent and mitigate criminal activities such as vandalism, burglary, and assault.

To learn how to seamlessly integrate CPTED strategies into your natural and social environments, explore the REMS TA Center’s specialized training package module and fact sheet for K-12 schools. IHEs can benefit from our fact sheet on implementing CPTED principles on higher ed campuses. All resources explore CPTED principles and considerations for incorporating CPTED into the Security Annex of school and campus EOPs..

We also suggest downloading the REMS TA Center’s free SITE ASSESS mobile app on your phone or tablet. This app may be used by site assessment teams in evaluating the safety, security, accessibility, and emergency preparedness of buildings and grounds. The REMS TA Center has integrated CPTED principles throughout the app’s preloaded files and included an informational page in the app that discusses CPTED. SITE ASSESS is compatible with the latest supported versions of Android and iOS operating systems and offers merge, import, and export features so that you can involve your whole team. Boosting your CPTED preparedness with SITE ASSESS is a great way to celebrate National App Day on Wednesday, December 11.

Does your education agency have a new or innovative resource that would be beneficial to K-12 schools, school districts, and IHEs in their safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness efforts? The REMS TA Center regularly solicits resource submissions from the field for our Tool Box , a free virtual library of emergency management planning resources, to aid planning teams in their EOP development and preparedness activities. Currently, we are seeking resource topics that address out-of-school time, hurricanes/typhoons, water failure, adult sexual misconduct, and accounting for all persons in these specific formats: sample policies, memoranda of understanding, tabletop exercises, and procedures.

All resources submitted to the Tool Box must be approved by ED prior to selection and posting to the Tool Box, and resource authors will be credited. Click the link below to submit your resource.

As winter approaches, flu season is officially underway, and with it, the potential for disruption in schools, workplaces, and healthcare systems. December is an important month to focus on flu prevention as it marks the start of peak flu activity. National Influenza Vaccination Week, observed December 2–6, 2024, serves as a crucial reminder to prioritize flu vaccination to reduce the risk of severe illness and hospitalizations.

Flu outbreaks can have a significant impact on communities, especially during the colder months. Early vaccination is one of the best defenses against the flu, and taking proactive measures to prepare for an outbreak is essential. The REMS TA Center offers resources on planning for infectious diseases to help schools stay ahead of flu season.

• Infectious Disease Planning Training Module
• Understanding the Role of School Nurses in Supporting School Safety Before, During, and After an Emergency Webinar
• Infectious Disease Tabletop Exercise

By aiming to focus on prevention and preparedness now, you can help ensure a safer, healthier environment for your community as flu season progresses.