This Week in School and Campus Safety

Good morning,

This Weekly Update by the Illinois School and Campus Safety Program links to resources for winter weather preparedness, promotes a new training opportunity on grooming and sexual assault, provides a final chance to register for the Nov. 9th session of Digital Threat Assessment™, and promotes the upcoming classes on The Road to Resilience, Behavioral and 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
Winter Weather Preparedness

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Preparedness topic for November is Winter Weather Safety Month.

For K-12 schools, preparing for winter weather includes many concerns, such as dismissing early, transportation, school closings, and even possibly sheltering in place should the weather turn too quickly for students to return home. If sheltering in place, does the school nurse have several days worth of medicine for students who have prescriptions?  Do bus drivers have training on how to respond should they become stranded in a storm with students? What if a student or students are injured but emergency services cannot respond immediately? Schools must consider these and other potential issues when planning for winter weather emergencies.

Institutions of higher education share some of the same concerns as their K-12 counterparts, but there are other concerns to take into account. While not having to worry as much about bussing students around, college campuses can have miles of walkways to attend to. They may also face a larger, more diverse student population that may not be familiar with the weather in the area. Even if colleges and universities close due to inclement weather, plans still must be made to ensure the safety of those living on campus. What plans are in place if severe weather creates a power outage and neither electricians nor the utility company can respond? Although many students keep food in their rooms, do they have enough to tide them over should they be campus bound? Are resources readily accessible, even in severe weather, if students don’t have enough supplies? In addition to those living on campus, what about commuters who get trapped there?

Outside of ensuring emergency plans are in place, one way to avoid unnecessary danger during inclement weather is to familiarize staff and students with winter preparedness. The Ready Illinois page for Winter Storms provides definitions for winter weather terms, includes winter storm tips for at home and while traveling, and links to additional resources including winter weather preparedness guides.
Register Today!
"It IS Your Business": Grooming and Sexual Assault Awareness for K-12 Schools and Institutions of Higher Education in Peoria on Nov. 27th

The Illinois School and Campus Safety Program, in partnership with Regional Office of Education 48 and Bradley University, is pleased to announce the class "It IS Your Business": Grooming and Sexual Assault Awareness for K-12 Schools and Institutions of Higher Education is being held on Nov. 27th in Peoria, IL. "It IS Your Business" engages participants in learning about grooming and sexual assault so they have the knowledge to recognize behaviors and intervene when a situation may be arising. At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:

  • identify grooming as it is outlined in Faith's and Erin’s Law that now mandates training for all schools on such behaviors
  • understand the co-occurring nature of interpersonal violence crimes (i.e., sexual assault, stalking, domestic violence)
  • understand the elements of Title IX as it pertains to both K-12 schools and higher education
  • compare normal mentoring behaviors with classic predatory behaviors and recognize the difference between the two interactions
  • apply the knowledge they now have on grooming to implement better and more clear policies and procedures on the boundaries of professional conduct
  • evaluate situations where professional boundaries may have been crossed and feel more confident in their decisions to intervene with employees or students, as well as feel better prepared on how to support survivors 

For more information and to register, click here.
Last Chance to Register! Digital Threat Assessment® on Nov. 9th via Zoom

This is the last chance to register for the Digital Threat Assessment® class on Nov. 9th 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 here.
There's Still Time to Register! The Road to Resilience Class in Peoria on Nov. 15th

There's still time to register for the class The Road to Resilience: An In-Depth Look at the Impact of Critical Incident Trauma on Organizations and How to Create Ways to Enhance Recovery and Build Resiliency on Nov. 15th in Peoria, IL. The Road to Resilience addresses wellness, trauma recovery, and resiliency from an organizational level, examining policies and operational procedures that reduce the risk of critical incident stress exposure and boost overall wellness and safety. For more information and to register, click here.
Behavioral and Digital Threat Assessment™ Management Class in Carbondale on Dec. 1st

The Illinois School and Campus Safety Program, in partnership with Safer Schools Together and Regional Office of Education 30, is pleased to announce the class Behavioral and Digital Threat Assessment™ (BDTA) Management in Carbondale, IL on December 1st. BDTA™ integrates Safer Schools Together’s Digital Threat Assessment® training and best practice from the National Threat Assessment Center’s Behavioral Threat Assessment model. BDTA™ includes a 3-step response plan developed to help S/TA teams ensure all worrisome, concerning, and threat-related behaviors are proactively responded to, reducing the potential of violence within your community. The training will examine techniques for identifying and assessing individuals who engage in behaviors consistent with a threat and provide S/TA teams with the tools to ensure a thorough data collection process. Additionally, the training will provide an overview of the assessment process, including best practices for interviewing and progress monitoring. Participants will obtain the tools vital for proactively and effectively identifying, assessing, and responding to worrisome and/or threat-related behavior through a BDTA™ management lens. For more information and to register, click here.
Upcoming Session of Advanced Digital Threat Assessment® on Dec. 6th via Zoom

The Illinois School and Campus Safety Program, in partnership with Safer Schools Together, is pleased to announce an upcoming session of Advanced Digital Threat Assessment® on Dec. 6th being held via Zoom.
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. For more information and to register, click here.
Will and DuPage County ROEs to Host School Safety Summit on Jan. 19th

The Will County Regional Office of Education, Professional Development Alliance (representing the Will ROE and the Grundy/Kendall ROE), along with support from the DuPage County Regional Office of Education and NISSA are hosting the School Safety Summit 2024 - Preparedness to Prevention on Jan. 19, 2024, in Joliet, IL. The summit includes keynote speaker Dr. Peter Langman, author of Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, and several afternoon breakout sessions. The summit is free and includes, coffee, continental breakfast, lunch, Dr. Langman's book, and educators can earn professional development hours. For more information, click here.
Illinois School and Campus Safety Program www.ilschoolsafety.org
schoolsafety@iletsbei.com