School Safety Specialized Training

National School Safety and Security Services is proud to offer specialized school safety presentations including:

1) Assessing and Managing School Threats: Bomb threats sent by Facebook and through international proxy servers. A death threat scribbled on a restroom wall that triggers texting rumors throughout the school community. Parents and media scrambling to your school doorsteps. What should a principal and superintendent do?

This session is designed to increase awareness of, and response capabilities to, threats to school safety ranging from individual threats to bomb threats and “swatting” school shooting hoaxes and text message rumors of violence.  An emphasis will be placed on practical, common-sense steps school administrators, counselors, threat assessment teams, crisis teams, and safety officials can take to cognitive, less emotional responses to school threat scenarios.  Topics categories include shifting national threat trends and best practices in school security and emergency preparedness; understanding and preparing for the threat continuum facing K-12 schools; assessing and managing individual student threats; Bomb threats: Pre-planning, incident management, and debriefing stages; Crisis and safety communications best practices for preventing and managing text messages, rumors, and new media threats; Mini-exercise on assessing and managing threats; and strategies for managing parent and media communications related to school safety threats and associated incidents.

Our training team brings the expertise of national school security experts, an internationally recognized expert in school psychology, and a veteran principal and district administrator for student services.

2) Managing Bullying Without New Programs and Expenses: A policy and administration focused session for superintendents, principals, and board members on how to develop a framework of existing best practices into a formalized anti-bullying strategy for school districts.  Many school districts are already doing the necessary things to prevent and manage bullying issues, but fail to recognize how these individual strategies collectively fit together as an anti-bullying strategy.  Bullying is currently a politically and emotionally-charged issue fueled by media, legislators, and other special interests. Federal civil rights investigators are now being dispatched to local schools to investigate boards and administrators when parents and other advocates file complaints of inadequate steps by districts to address bullying. This session will help administrators and boards create a framework to present to their school community as a comprehensive approach to bullying without making knee-jerk reactions and new expenditures on questionable programs, products, curriculum, and consultants.  Learn how to address bullying, increase parental confidence, avoid political landmines, stay out of the media, and reduce potential liability with this common-sense, practical, and sincere structuring of district practices into a formal anti-bullying strategy.

3) Administration Center and Board Meeting Security Strategies:  School boards and administrators across the nation are reevaluating security and preparedness measures for central offices, administration support sites, and board meetings following the December shooting at a Florida school board meeting.  The safety of public officials was heightened further with the Tucson shooting at a Congressional neighborhood event. School central offices handle a number of higher-risk situations including employee discipline and termination hearings, expulsion hearings, politically and emotionally charged board meetings, etc. This session will focus on risk reduction, security and emergency preparedness practices, and reasonable steps for better safeguarding administration centers, support sites, high-risk activities at administration centers, and board meetings.

4) Large Event and Athletic Event Security and Emergency Preparedness: This session is designed to increased awareness of threats and preparedness measures uniquely associated with K-12 school large events and athletic events.  The target audience is K-12 school principals, assistant principals, deans, support staff, and district level administrators with a primary emphasis for secondary (middle and high school) level events; as well as athletic directors, coaches, activities coordinators, school security and police officials, and other individuals involved in school special event planning. The focus will include going beyond security and police staffing to encompass a broader focus on understanding the psychology and dynamics of large events, a strong emphasis on pre-planning, staff training, policies and procedures, thoughtful emergency preparedness planning, and multi-agency coordination. A modified tabletop exercise will culminate the day’s discussions with an opportunity to work through a hypothetical scenario specific to large event and/or athletic event security.

Contact Ken Trump for more information and to schedule a presentation.