In recent years, we have seen an increase in school based incidents. One of the most horrific was in Beslan, Russia. Terrorists were able to take hundreds of children and staff hostage in the gymnasium. Once in the gym, terrorists wired the area with high explosives. The terrorists proceeded to hold police in a standoff for several days. Beslan ended with a large number of casualties. Events such as Beslan, while horrific, offer the school safety community a chance to learn lessons that help to increase their overall preparedness.

The Missouri Office of Homeland Security compiled many resources and best practices into the School Safety Resources CD. Attendees of the 2nd Annual Conference on Coordinated School & College Safety & Security Conference received copies of the CD. All ERIP users now have access to this information through ERIP’s Comprehensive Resources section. This section offers school administrators some of the most up to date information on current best practices, training and tools including:

Missouri Alert Network
Missouri Office of Homeland Security describes the Missouri Alert Network as

“a state-level, rapid notification and information distribution system so that in the event of an emergency or such other unusual circumstance that impacts the safety and security of school children and persons who work in schools, grades kindergarten through twelve, or higher education institutions, there will be (at least) one contact to receive an appropriate voice, text, and/or email message from the State of Missouri” (Missouri Alert Network - Background and Key Questions, 2008).

Missouri Alert Network is an invaluable resource for school administrators. ERIP’s new Comprehensive Resources section provides information about the ALERT network and signup documents for public schools, private schools and higher education institutions.

Gangs - 101
Nationally, we continue to see an increase in school and community based gang activity. In the last two decades, gang violence in and around schools has caused great concern among school and public safety officials. Clarence Terhune, director of the California Youth Authority, warned “the problem can erupt anywhere at almost any time” (Kay McKinney, 1988). ERIP’s Comprehensive Resources section contains information about gang prevention, gang violence - 101, and gang prevention resources including the Department of Justice’s publication Preventing Gangs in our Communities.

Missouri Alert Network and Gangs - 101 are just two of the over twenty-five sections included in ERIP’s Comprehensive Resources section. Other areas include Pandemic Preparedness for Schools, Mental Health, Incident Command System, National Incident Management System, School Bus Safety, and many more. The addition of the Comprehensive Resources section to ERIP continues the Missouri School Board Association and Missouri Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to making ERIP a comprehensive emergency preparedness resource for public schools, private schools and institutions of higher education.

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School safety conferences are a great way for school administrators to keep abreast of “best practices” and establish a network of professionals that possess a common interest in making schools even safer. School administrators should try to attend a conference with someone from their local law enforcement, fire and/or emergency management agency. This can help foster discussions back home and strengthen relationships between stakeholders.
While many of the conferences may discuss lessons learned from events such as Columbine or Virginia Teach, take time to ensure the “experts” are not trying to shape the lessons learned from a tragedy to meet their particular product or services.

Someone that I strongly believe is a leading expert in the area of school safety is Dr. David Grossman (www.killology.com). If you have not had a chance to hear Dr. Dave – grab a cop and two and go. If you are interested in saving lives, I can think of no better way to spend a day.

The Missouri School Boards’ Association is putting on a Coordinated School Safety Conference August 14th & 15th in Branson, MO (http://www.schoolsafetyconference.com). I know Dr. Grossman is the keynote along with several other highly respected authorities in the area of school safety. If you know of other conferences that may be of interest to readers, please feel free to post them here.

Thanks and stay safe

Brad

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Perhaps the most overlooked are in emergency preparedness is the training of staff on their roles and responsibilities. The process of bringing staff together for training is always difficult and the limited time allotted for these training sessions is often limited. The ERIP Academy (located under the “RESOURCES” and then “TRAINING” tabs) provides access to on-demand detailed training courses and emergency preparedness resources.

The training courses are based on the nationally accepted best practices that were used to develop the planning system. Courses are broken down into the following sections: “Getting Started”, “Plan Development Resources” and “Staff Training”. All courses can be completed in less than 30 minutes, but you can easily navigate through the training and can stop and re-start at your convenience. The “Staff Training Courses” utilize Learning Management System (LMS) technology that tracks course work by the user’s login. These courses offer certification; so long as the user passes the test.
Courses include:

• Staff Training Courses (Teacher, Emergency Response Team & Incident Management Team)
• Plan Development Courses (Evacuation, Shelter in Place, Lockdown, Bomb Threat, Pandemic)
• ERIP Familiariztion Courses (Getting Started, ERIP Navigation, Site Mapping)

Now get training!

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Joint Planning Meeting
Perhaps the most critical component of ERIP is the Joint Planning Meeting Toolkit (under the ‘RESOURCES” tab). This toolkit will help your district (or school) facilitate a meeting that will allow local first responders to ensure your ERIP program properly accounts for area hazards and resources.
While the content of the Toolkit is impressive, the greatest value will come from the interaction between educational stakeholders and their emergency response and management professionals. When it comes to emergency planning, you do not (and should not) have to go it alone. This toolkit is a critical first step towards developing and emergency preparedness program is truly local.
Toolkit Content:
A Joint Planning Meeting Instructor PowerPoint
Joint Planning Meeting Workbook
Hazards Assessment Forms
Invitation Letters
Registration Forms
Sample District & School Emergency Plans

To download the Joint Planning Meeting Toolkit, refer to the “RESOURCES” section of ERIP.

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Federal agencies emphasize this maxim to state emergency planners, and states in turn pass this doctrine on to counties and cities. While this philosophy is accurate, sometimes local emergency planning and preparedness stops it reaches the school that is directly impacted by the emergency.

The Missouri Office of Homeland Security has recognized this gap in preparedness and offers the Emergency Response Information Plan (ERIP) preparedness system as a solution for all educational facilities in Missouri.

In December 2006, Governor Blunt’s Homeland Security Advisory Committee voted to fund over $1.6 million dollars to ensure the safety of Missouri students and teachers.

Registration and Usage is Free!
This online system is provided by the Missouri Office of Homeland Security and is completely free of charge to all Missouri schools (K-12, public and private). Districts (or private school equivalents) may register by visiting the Missouri Homeland Security web-site at: http://www.dps.mo.gov/homelandsecurity/SchoolSafetyMain.htm

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Welcome to the ERIP Blog. With ERIP you now have access to the most powerful and comprehensive emergency preparedness tool available. This Blog will provide guidance on ERIP’s vast resources; ensure you get the most of the system and occasionally offer insight to relevant school safety issues.

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So you have access to ERIP – now what?
ERIP is a tool. And like any tool, it can help make your job much easier; but it can’t do your job for you. The wonderful thing about this tool is that no matter what your job: teacher, principle or superintendent, ERIP can help you make your classroom, school or district even safer. Another great thing is that ERIP is completely scalable. It can meet your needs no matter how much or how little time to have to spend on emergency planning.
To get started, I strongly encourage you to sign up for one of the free web-meetings. This web-meeting will allow you to log on to a live ERIP training session directly from your computer. These meetings are conducted by a SafePlans staff person who can provide you expert guidance on the ERIP system. These web-meetings are free, last less than an hour and will really kick start your ERIP experience. A link to these meetings is on the login page.

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