I have had a great time keynoting two school safety conferences for the Maine Department of Education last week. I have been fortunate to have been asked to keynote conferences for the Maine Emergency Management Agency, the Maine Department of Education, and the Maine School Facilities Director’s Association earlier this year. This week’s conferences near Bangor and Portland were also well-attended and productive events. It was truly a pleasure to interact with so many dedicated and caring advocates for the children in this beautiful state.

School Safety Efforts Based on the All-hazards Approach

Like their counterparts in many other state departments of education we have worked with recently, the Maine Department of Education has been emphasizing the need for school and public safety officials to maintain a balanced and assessment-based approach to safety. With alarmist and emotive approaches to school safety that have not been validated becoming so common, we are pleased to see so many state departments of education taking thoughtful and fact-based approaches.

Multi-disciplinary Collaboration is a Key to School Safety

The Maine Department of Education has been collaborating extensively with the Maine State Police, Maine Emergency Management Agency, and Maine State Fire Marshall’s Office.   State agency personnel and representatives from many professional associations have also been working closely with one another to help further enhance the state’s efforts to support local school systems. The state legislature has also been a driving force in what has been one of the more thoughtful statewide approaches to school safety assessment in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  This has helped to prevent the highly emotive and ineffective knee-jerk reactions we have seen in a few regions of the country.

An Assessment-based Approach to School Safety

The Maine legislature directed the Maine Department of Education to conduct a statewide school safety assessment in 2013. Safe Havens was honored to be selected to assist the Department in conducting this assessment. More importantly, we are thankful that the leadership from so many key organizations in Maine have collaborated in school safety approaches that are based on a thorough assessment process. We applaud the thoughtful, patient, and practical efforts that are providing so many free resources for Maine school officials and community partner agencies.

Most of the best school emergency kits we have seen were assembled by school employees. These kits were assembled by staff from the Indianapolis Public Schools System (IPS). IPS personnel issue the kits each fall, retrieve them each summer so they could be inventoried and re-issued to each school before school resumes in the fall.

School Emergency Kits an Old but Good Idea

About two decades ago, I first heard someone talking about emergency evacuation kits. Since that time, I have heard them referred to as crisis kits, go boxes, emergency kits, and a number of other names. Regardless of what you want to call them, they are a great idea for any school. School emergency kits are relatively easy to assemble and use and can make a huge difference in a school crisis situation.

What is a School Emergency Kit is

A school emergency kit is a relatively small and portable bag which contains information and supplies that the school crisis team will need to address a crisis once an evacuation or protective sheltering has taken place. The most practical kits we have seen are rolling back backs with a collapsible handle. The handle or backpack straps allow school staff to easily transport the kits down a flight of stairs or across uneven terrain, muddy or snowy ground. The folding handle and wheels can make it easier for someone to roll the kit for a mile down a paved road or sidewalk if an off-campus evacuation by foot is required.

Making Your Own School Emergency Kits

While a number of vendors have offered commercially available school crisis kits over the years, the four or five most impressive kits I have seen thus far have all been assembled by school crisis team members. While some of our clients have reported good success with commercial kits, we suggest school officials consider buying kit contents and assembling kits themselves.

What the School Emergency Kit Should Contain

While a group of school safety experts could debate the ideal specific contents for a school crisis kit for hours if not a full day, the following categories of items should be considered:

• Valuable information such as school crisis plans, emergency photo tour, and building floor plans
• Emergency medical supplies
• Flashlights, bullhorn and extra batteries
• High visibility vests
• Rescue whistles and other emergency signaling devices

Practice Using School Emergency Kits

A school emergency kit that has been forgotten in the high stress and fast breaking action of a major school crisis is of limited value. One way to reduce the chances that school emergency kits are left behind during an emergency is for staff to practice taking the kits with them whenever a drill requiring evacuation or sheltering for severe weather is conducted. By routinely taking the kits with them during drills, staff will increase the chances they will remember to do so during an actual emergency.

The Tennessee School Safety Specialists Academy is a best in class statewide approach to school safety. Like the Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy, the program uses a blend of live and web-based training to develop a high degree of school safety expertise in local communities.

School Safety Specialists Academies – Advanced Statewide Programs

I had the honor to be allowed to present for the Tennessee School Safety Specialists Academy this week and was deeply impressed by the program. Though I have keynoted for the Tennessee Department of Education before, this was my first opportunity to be a part of this exceptional program. I was even more fortunate to be able to present on Monday to the Advanced Academy group and again on Tuesday to the Basic School Safety Specialists Academy. Modeled in some regards after the highly respected Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy, the Tennessee School Safety Specialists Academy utilized a forty hour basic academy which includes four days of live training with one day of web-based training. The graduates from the first Basic School Safety Specialists Academy last year completed their training this Monday while the Basic School Safety Specialists began their training on Tuesday.

All-Hazards School Safety

Like Indiana’s superb program, the Tennessee School Safety Specialists Academy is focused on the all-hazards approach to school safety.   Like the Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy, The Tennessee School Safety Specialists Academy is also attended by practitioners from a wide array of job roles and professional backgrounds. As I told Pat Conner from the Tennessee Department of Education, I really enjoyed presenting to their advanced group because you have to be on your best game when presenting to a group of practitioners who have had the benefit of advanced-level school safety training. Passionate advocates for the children like Pat and Mike Hermann have made the new program so impactful just as Clarissa Snapp, David Woodward, Gary Green, Ryan Stewart and others have built and grown Indiana’s amazing school safety program.

I have always felt this way about the Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy. I have presented for the Indiana School Safety Specialists Academy every year for more than a decade and will be presenting for both the Advanced and Basic Academies again this year.

A Best in Class Statewide Approach to School Safety

Like their counterparts in Indiana, the Tennessee Department of Education personnel tasked with school safety carefully vet their presenter and closely monitor feedback from attendees.   Indiana’s program has been incredibly successful for this reason. The Basic Academy already has more than 500 participants registered with more than 300 people who had to be turned away due to lack of space while more than 900 participants are registered for the Advanced School Safety Specialists Academy. The numbers speak for themselves. From the feedback I received from participants in both groups this week, Tennessee’s new School Safety Specialists Academy has also been an overwhelming success. I have had been privileged to present for about half of the nation’s state departments of education and have seen many other great approaches to school safety though many of these excellent programs have suffered severe budget cuts in recent years.   We are now working with another state department of education that seeks to develop a similar program and are hopeful they will be successful. I certainly wish more states would emulate these two awesome and cost-effective approaches. Our nation’s schools would certainly be safer for it.