This Week in School and Campus Safety

Good morning,

This Weekly Update by the Illinois School and Campus Safety Program highlights Access and Functional Needs Preparedness Month, shares information on an upcoming School Preparedness workshop, and promotes the upcoming classes on Digital Threat Assessment® and Advanced Digital Threat Assessment®.

Thank you for your interest in school and campus safety. However, if you wish to no longer receive our emails, let me know and I will remove you from our contacts list.

Respectfully,

Laura Black
le-black@wiu.edu
Program Coordinator
Illinois School and Campus Safety Program
Access and Functional Needs Preparedness Month

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency's Monthly Preparedness Topic for July is Access and Functional Needs (AFN) Preparedness. Ensuring your emergency operations plans address AFN can mean the difference between life and death during an incident.

One example from 9/11 is the story of Ed Beyea, Abraham Zelmanowitz, and Captain William "Billy" Burke. Ed Beyea, a worker on the 27th floor of the North Tower, was a quadriplegic and could not get out of the building on his own. His friend, coworker Abraham Zelmanowitz, refused to leave his side and stayed with him as they waited for a rescue team. Time passed, but eventually Captain William "Billy" Burke of Fire Engine 21 came across them. Even though Captain Burke had ordered his men to get out of the building because the South Tower had already collapsed, he remained with Beyea and Zelmanowitz. Unfortunately, the North Tower collapsed before Beyea, Zelmanowitz, and Burke were able to get out.

The story of Ed, Abe, and Billy highlights the importance of having AFN emergency planning in place. Does your EOP include how to evacuate mobility-impaired individuals if evacuation routes become cluttered or are less accessible? What if they are on a higher story of the building and the elevators can't be used? If you utilize a PA system, what plans are in place for hearing-impaired individuals who might not hear the messages? These are just a few of the important questions to consider when addressing AFN.

To help address AFN in schools and institutions of higher education, the Readiness and Emergency Planning for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center provides information in their Addressing Access and Functional Needs (AFN) in School and IHE Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) document. The document provides pertinent information and steps to take, strategies schools can use, and even links to a specialized training package on Integrating the Needs of Students and Staff with Disabilities and Other Access and Functional Needs.
School Preparedness Workshop

In cooperation with the Homeland Security Training Institute of College of DuPage, the DuPage Regional Office of Education is offering a School Preparedness workshop on Thursday, August 3 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m at the College of DuPage, SSG Miller Homeland Security Education Center (HEC). The workshop is designed to assist Pre-K – 12 school officials (public or private), emergency responders, and elected leaders (school, municipal, or county) in understanding the IL School Safety Drill Act and their role in community emergency preparedness.

The School Preparedness workshop is designed to assist local (public and private) and regional school officials in understanding the requirements of the Illinois School Safety Drill Act, and the implication of those required efforts on overall community preparedness. Participants will also better understand their role in community emergency preparedness as they work to improve school safety.

A foundational theme of building a whole-community team, which will assist in the assessment, planning, training, exercising, evaluation, and continuous improvement process, will be stressed throughout the program. This will strengthen community engagement, buy-in, and resiliency. This workshop blends new theories with time-tested methodologies to develop strong, community-wide capability and support.

Who Should Attend? Public & Private Schools, Superintendents, Administrators, Principals/Asst. Principals, Facility Managers, SROs, Interested Employees, Police, Fire & Emergency Responders, School, Municipal, County Board and Elected Leaders

The workshop is free (unless you are seeking the Illinois Administrators Academy Credits). CPDUs and Illinois Administrator Academy credits are available. Lunch will be on your own.

To register for the School Preparedness workshop, click this College of DuPage link - Inquire about HSTI Classes, then complete the information and the system will send you a confirmation.
Upcoming Sessions of Digital Threat Assessment® and Advanced Digital Threat Assessment® via Zoom

The Illinois School and Campus Safety Program, in partnership with Safer Schools Together, is pleased to announce 3 upcoming sessions of the Digital Threat Assessment® class and 1 upcoming session of the Advanced Digital Threat Assessment® class being held via Zoom.

The Digital Threat Assessment® training will enable participants to establish a framework to better assess all threats by constructing and considering the digital baseline of a threat maker by locating, documenting, and evaluating social media data through a threat assessment lens. A significant portion of the day will be spent engaging in hands-on exercises on the most prevalent social media platforms and associated search applications. For more information and to register, click the corresponding link for the session you would like to attend.


Building upon the Digital Threat Assessment® class by Safer Schools Together, Advanced Digital Threat Assessment® advances participants' understanding of finding and curating relevant digital information consistent with real-life digital threat assessment data gathering scenarios. Significant engagement and hands-on practice will take place as participants are assembled into investigative teams and given a true-to-life mock scenario.
Illinois School and Campus Safety Program www.ilschoolsafety.org
schoolsafety@iletsbei.com