School Safety – Page 6

Questions Parents Need to Ask about School Safety

Planning for the coming school year is in full swing in administration offices across the country. Do you know what plans are in place for your child’s safety?

Helping your child with their homework and making sure they have the necessary tools that they need to succeed can go a long way toward supporting their education. However, it is also important to have a seat at the table when it comes to decision-making that will directly affect their safety. As a parent, knowing exactly what questions to ask when it comes to school safety is crucial. As a starting point, here are 5 questions to consider asking your local administrators:

Does my school have a current and up-to-date school safety policy?

Your school’s safety and security policy should involve an emergency operations plan (EOP) and a general security plan. Unless you have proper policies and procedures in place, it is impossible to implement security technology and other security measures effectively. Effective policies and procedures alone can help mitigate risks. Reach out to your school principal or district administration to learn more about your school’s safety policies.

Is my school investing in additional physical security measures?

When it comes to safety, preparedness is key. Ideally, every school should implement a visitor check-in/out system and secure all points of access to the campus, including parking lots, playgrounds, and field areas around the school. In addition, all schools should have some kind of visual surveillance system in place. Whether this is cameras on the outside of the buildings to see who is entering and exiting or cameras in every classroom, that will depend on the size of the school and the specific security concerns at each school. Another question to ask is whether classrooms are easily and quickly secured so that there are as few obstacles as possible to ensure classroom security in the event of a lockdown.

How will I be notified in case of an emergency?

In any emergency situation, clear and timely communication is crucial. Many schools have a notification system in place that sends out text messages, emails, and phone calls to parents in an emergency. If you are unclear about how your child’s school will notify you in the event of an emergency, contact your school principal or administration office for clarification.

What type of student mental health support services are available?

Undoubtedly, students suffering from mental health issues can pose a danger to themselves and others, making it vital for schools to provide counseling services to students in need. School, second only to family, is the most important developmental environment in the lives of young people. Reach out to your local school counselor to discuss available mental health resources and how your student can access them when necessary.

How can I help?

You are the best advocate for your child! Find out what plans the school has in place for emergencies. You can also request that information and training sessions be offered. Volunteer to help organize a safety forum or open meeting for parents onsite. This would give parents and guardians the opportunity to learn from and speak with administrators, local law enforcement, and mental health professionals.

Here at nSide, we understand how overwhelming this topic of discussion can be. As a company, we take a personal approach to creating safer learning environments for all students and teachers. We offer a variety of options for security and prevention to make planning easier for schools and districts. For more information on how we can help keep your schools safe, explore our website at nside.io or contact us today at help@nside.io.

Sarah Ann McCain

July 1, 2022

When They Know But Don’t Tell

In 4 out of 5 school shootings, at least one other person knew about the shooter’s plans but failed to report it.* That statistic is staggering, and it begs the question: Why are we not reporting suspicious activity?

One issue is that those who know these plans are often children, and they are simply scared to come forward. This is understandable, as the burden of this knowledge can be too unimaginable or too heavy for an innocent child. Another issue is that we often miss the signs associated with potential violence, so when a child comes forward with information, the seeming absurdity of the information gets brushed aside.

In the aftermath of an event as violent as a school shooting, we are left stunned, heartbroken, and shaking our heads with the weight of our own feeling of helplessness. In our desperation, we spend a lot of our energy pointing the finger of blame, trying to find ground under our feet in the midst of a scary situation that, in truth, could happen to any of us.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make in the aftermath of a school shooting or other violent event is to assume that this is a school problem, and that we are outside the realm of control. However, few of us are truly isolated from our local schools and the communities that surround them. We all share a connection and a responsibility to look for signs of trouble.

In 4 out of 5 cases, someone knew.

So how do we make sure that we are recognizing the signs, and how do we make sure that children feel comfortable enough to report what they know?

KNOW THE SIGNS

One of the first things we can do is make sure that we recognize the signs of potential violence. In the aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, a group of parents and relatives of the victims created a nonprofit called Sandy Hook Promise, whose goal is to educate children and community members about the signs of violence and prevent future events like the one that took their children’s lives. Through extensive research, they discovered the following signs of potential violence:

Sudden withdrawal from family and friends
Bullying; especially if targeted toward a particular race, gender, etc.
Excessive irritability or anger
Chronic loneliness or social isolation
Expressing persistent thoughts of harming themselves or others
Bragging about access to guns or weapons
Making direct threats toward a place, themselves, or other person
Recruiting accomplices or audiences for an attack
Directly expressing a threat as a plan

KNOW HOW TO REPORT

Once we know the signs, the next question is: What do we do with this information? The answer will vary depending on where you are and what is available in your community. One thing is clear, however: If this is an immediate concern or emergency situation, do not wait; Call 911.

For other situations, most schools or districts have a reporting system in place where you can fill out relevant information and it will be directed toward the appropriate party. Check your district’s website to see where to report or simply call the school so that they can direct you to the appropriate place. If your school has the nSide platform, you can also report via our TIPS page at tips.nside.io.

LISTEN AND ACT

We know to act when we witness problematic behavior ourselves, but a lot of times, children are the ones who witness red flags in their peers. Sometimes children have a hard time processing what they know, and they do not report for a variety of reasons. One reason they don’t report is fear of retaliation or fear of being labeled a tattler or a snitch.

One way to combat this fear is by making sure we maintain an environment of trust in our classrooms, our schools, and even our households. Having honest, open conversations about hard topics can help students feel more comfortable coming forward later when they learn something troubling.

Another way to help students feel more comfortable reporting is to create or promote an existing anonymous reporting system. Reporting can actually put a child at risk, so having the option to report anonymously is extremely important.

Regardless of how students choose to report, the most important thing for adults to know is how to respond when we have that information. Understand and respect the fact that the student took a big risk in reporting and make every effort to act right away. It is vital not to waste time doubting or downplaying the situation. Every report must be taken seriously.

CONCLUSION

Expecting children to report what they know without guidance is a dangerous and all too common mistake to make. We must build trust with students by opening communication, allowing them to remain anonymous and, perhaps most importantly, taking them seriously when they do come forward.

One tool that can make reporting easier is nSide’s Tips page. Anyone using our platform can go to nside.io and click on Submit a Tip or go directly to tips.nside.io. For more information or for help getting started with Tips, please email us at help@nside.io.

Sarah Ann McCain

June 14, 2022

Increasing School Safety Over the Summer

Summer is making its welcome arrival and as the busyness of the school year dies down, school administrators and others who work in school communities can shift their focus to improving their school environment for students returning in the fall. Utilizing the time you have available during the summer months to focus on your Emergency Operations Plan and emergency preparedness can make a tremendous difference when the routine of the school year kicks back into gear. Not only can you take this time to update your EOP, you can also use this opportunity to familiarize, train, and educate school personnel on how they can help.

Updating Your EOP

Making plans to keep students and staff safe, schools play a crucial role in taking preventative and protective measures that can save valuable moments when the unthinkable happens. This means each should dedicate time to ensuring that the information in their Emergency Operations Plan is up-to-date and that everyone in the school community knows exactly how to execute these plans in an emergency. The nSide Platform makes Emergency Operations Plans easily accessible, allows you to digitally record your emergency operations plan, and keeps you informed on what needs to be updated, what is in progress, and what has been completed.

Staff Training/Workshops

Everyone involved in your Emergency Operations Plan should be aware of their roles and responsibilities before, during, and after an emergency. With students out for summer break, dedicating time to training and familiarizing school personnel with your specific plan will ensure that everyone involved has all the information needed to respond to emergencies. Here are a few key training components you could provide:

Hold a meeting with your staff to educate, familiarize, and discuss any updates to your EOP
Visit your evacuation, reunification, media, and first aid sites to help your team members feel more confident in their ability to assist in an emergency
Post key information throughout the building(s), such as evacuation routes, shelter-in-place procedures/locations, etc.
Provide proper training for your staff on the necessary skills needed to fulfill their roles

You may also consider practicing your plan. This can include:

Tabletop exercises: small-group discussions that walk through a scenario and the courses of action a school will need to take before, during, and after an emergency
Drills: school personnel and community partners (e.g., first responders and local emergency management staff) use the school grounds and buildings to practice responding to a scenario

While planning and preparing are essential parts of any emergency operation, practicing is key to understanding pain points and identifying inefficiencies in your plan. nSide’s subject matter experts are skilled in conducting these types of training and helping your team enhance its emergency response and save lives.

Enhance Community Relationships

There are many things administrators can do to make their schools safe, but reaching out to local emergency responders and other community agencies and including them in emergency planning can make a huge difference. Collaboration among these partners is essential to ensure that schools can mitigate, respond to, and recover from emergencies. While many schools have already established these partnerships, enhancing them is never a bad idea.

nSide partners can allow their local agencies access to their platform by submitting a Memorandum of Understanding (or MOU). This is a letter of agreement that describes each agency’s roles and responsibilities and permits them to access the school’s information. Working with local law enforcement can also include implementing a School Resource Officer position, a specialized officer whose sole focus is the safety of the campus and students.

Implement Multidisciplinary Team

Research shows that perpetrators of targeted acts of violence tend to engage in both covert and overt behaviors preceding their attacks. Implementing a multidisciplinary team approach can aid in overall behavioral assessment and intervention to identify students in need and get them the resources they need. This team serves as a central convening body, so that warning signs observed by multiple people are not considered isolated incidents when they may represent escalating behavior that is a serious concern. Your multidisciplinary team should include representatives from a wide range of school personnel, such as:

Principals
Counselors
School Resource Officers
Teachers
Other appropriate personnel

When the right people on your team come together to identify students exhibiting behavior that indicates an underlying need or issue, the root cause can be detected and the child will be able to receive appropriate and adequate care.

Update Safety Infrastructure

In addition to an emergency response plan, having the necessary infrastructure will ensure the effectiveness of that plan. Having the proper equipment in place and utilizing technology will aid in the efforts you have laid out in your emergency planning to prevent and respond to emergency situations. Some things you can put in place to boost your safety infrastructure are:

Cameras
Access control systems
Fleet tracking technology
Cell signal boost
Emergency notification systems

Attend School Safety Conferences

Another way to build your emergency planning and response knowledge is to attend school safety conferences. Throughout the summer, conferences are held nationwide to encourage and prepare educators. These conferences are great educational opportunities where you can learn best practices, meet experts in the school safety field, and learn about new technologies and solutions that can help you execute safety improvements.

How Can We Help?

To keep schools truly safe, it is critical that a good plan is in place for emergencies and that each member of the school community knows what their role is in the event of an emergency. There are many moving parts when it comes to safety and the most important thing is that those parts are well oiled and synchronized. Otherwise, you are left with a fragmented system.

The nSide Platform is designed to integrate your school’s infrastructure, assets, and resources in one place that can be accessed quickly and easily. There are five key mission areas in school safety: prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. Everything we offer is centered around connecting your school community to make reactions quick and directions clear. We work to help you create an environment that saves lives and feels safe so learning can flourish.

Sarah Ann McCain

May 24, 2022

nSide, Inc. Granted Health and School Safety Contract with the Mississippi Department of Education

nSide – The School Safety Platform has been approved by the Mississippi State Board of Education to provide Mississippi Schools with a Health and School Safety Platform.

The contract between the Mississippi Department of Education and nSide, Inc. would provide a web-based solution for public school districts for the consistent and equitable development and implementation of all components of the Mississippi Department Crisis Management Plan.

Mississippi’s use of the nSide platform includes the ability to create, store, and distribute an Emergency Operations Plan within the nSide platform, access to a navigable “virtual campus” created with 360-degree photos of all schools and district central offices, a rapid emergency notification application for instances such as medical, fire, or other potential emergency situations as well as the option to participate in the surveillance module of the platform by receiving one surveillance camera per district central office and up to five surveillance cameras per school.

nSide is excited to embark on this partnership with MDE and Mississippi Schools.

Sarah Ann McCain

February 17, 2022

nSide’s 2021 Safety Summit Agenda is Here!

We have been working hard to prepare for our 2021 Annual School Safety Summit in Alabama! Due to COVID-19, we were unable to host our this event in 2020, but we are thrilled to be back this year with a full schedule of learning opportunities, nSide updates, and fantastic speakers!

Today, we are sharing our full detailed agenda with everything we have in store. If you have not already registered, don’t wait too long! With this line up of content, spots are going to fill up quickly, so head over to the nSide website and get registered today!

Join us at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, December 6 & 7!

Make sure you are following us on social media! We are going to be announcing our line up of speakers and presenters in the coming weeks and by following, you will be the first to know. You can also find more information and register for the Safety Summit at our website conferences.nside.io!

Also, don’t forget to book your stay at the Lodge or one of the other partner hotels! We’ve got great rates for you to have a relaxing stay during our conference.

Sarah Ann McCain

October 13, 2021

Reduce Fragmentation and Increase School Security

WHAT IS FRAGMENTATION IN SCHOOL SAFETY PLANS?
In order to keep schools truly safe, not only is it critical that a school have a good plan in place for emergencies, but also that each member of the school community knows what their role is in the event of an emergency and they are able to easily access and manage the technology needed to prevent or end an emergency. Schools often have different pieces of the puzzle to approach school safety, but rarely do the pieces talk to each other. This is a fragmented safety plan. Each piece of a fragmented safety plan requires different skill sets, and often different people are in charge of different components. Maybe your school’s safety plan is written in a document, maps are posted around the school, and cameras are managed through a server that only one person has access to.

WHY IS FRAGMENTATION BAD?
You might have cameras, door locks, and communication systems, but are they all accessed separately? Does one communicate with another? When the unthinkable happens, every second counts. Using fragmented safety solutions can cost you critical moments that can mean the difference between life and death. According to an Inc. Article, “The problem now is the proliferation of these enterprise apps. These tools hold all the data that grows a business, but the more apps used, the harder it is to read that data, let alone make it actionable.”

WHAT STEPS CAN YOU TAKE TO UNIFY YOUR SCHOOL’S SAFETY ASSETS?

Communication is key! Making sure all stakeholders are in the same room when putting together the emergency operation plan. Ensuring that everyone understand their role and knows what to do in the event of any type of situation.

Standardize your district’s EOP. Do all schools follow the same guidelines? Can more than one person answer a question related to your EOP or school safety assets? Is there a standard for mapping your facility and emergency equipment? Can you see your cameras in conjunction with your school’s floor plan? These are great questions to get started in unifying your school’s safety assets.

HOW CAN NSIDE HELP REDUCE FRAGMENTATION?
The nSide platform is designed integrate your school’s infrastructure, assets and resources in one place that can be accessed quickly and easily. We use this connected technology to bring together everyone in your school community including administrators, SROs, transportation managers, teachers, students, law enforcement and EMS and make sure they understand what to do in the event of an emergency. Everything we offer is centered around connecting these groups to make reactions quick and directions clear. We work to help you create an environment that not only saves lives, but also creates an environment that feels safe so learning can flourish.

The nSide Platform and Suite of technologies helps keep all school safety initiatives in one place.

When all technology is in one place, good things happen.

Help arrives faster
Everyone knows what to do in the event of an emergency
Less time is spent scrambling in an emergency
Lives are saved

Email us at help@nside.io and we can help you find the right solutions for your school and organize all of your schools safety needs in one place!

Sarah Ann McCain

September 16, 2021

Why Interior Mapping of Your School is Critical for Safety

Interior Mapping – What is it?

If you’re familiar with Google Street View, then the concept of a 360 degree map is not foreign. From anywhere in the world, users can travel down the streets of any city, and look in any direction. But did you know the same technology is also available for the inside of buildings? Now your entire campus can be mapped in a 360 degree view.

This video gives a demonstration of how essential interior mapping can be in an emergency situation.

By collecting 360-degree photographs in hallways and rooms, these images can be linked together to create a virtual tour of the building. This allows you to navigate through buildings within nSide – The School Safety Platform. When your organization and local first responders have access to this data, it equips your team with situational awareness for emergency planning, training, response, and recovery efforts.

This can help save lives in the following ways:

Assets are catalogued for insurance purposes
The campus is mapped to aid in recovery efforts after a storm or destruction of the building
First responders have access to the map of the school to avoid potential threats to themselves
Dispatchers can help guide those involved in rescue efforts to get where they need to be faster, even in the dark

If you already have the nSide School Safety platform, it’s easy to upgrade your standard map to nSide |View. Having that visibility into your school buildings can mean the difference between critical seconds when an emergency happens.

Call us today to get started!

1800.604.1822

Sarah Ann McCain

August 24, 2021

How Alabama Schools Can Prepare for their EOP Monitoring

Alabama Schools Must Have Updated Emergency Operations Plans

Emergency planning is essential to the safety of students and staff in Alabama schools. Each year, starting July 1st, Alabama schools are required to re-enter their emergency operations plans into the nSide platform. School districts in Alabama are required to make sure their Emergency Operations Plan is updated and fully compliant with the state mandate.

New Emergency Operations Plans are Required July 1st

On July 1st each year, the existing EOPs for the previous school year become void and need to be re-entered into the nSide platform. This means that each school will be responsible for making sure the information in the EOP is up to date and everyone in the school community knows exactly how to execute these plans in the event of an emergency. Taking the time to make sure your EOPs are ready to go can save valuable moments that can very literally mean the difference between life and death when the unthinkable happens.

What should all Alabama School Emergency Operations Plans Contain?

Each Alabama Emergency Operations Plan contains a myriad of directives that need to be completed to not only satisfy a government requirement, but also make your school safer. As per Alabama rules, each EOP needs to contain the following items:

Introduction & Statement of Commitment
- Statement of Commitment
EOP Core Planning Team
- School EOP Core Planning Team
- School Comprehensive Emergency Telephone Listing
NIMS & ICS
- Staff Skills Survey & Inventory
- Incident Command System Roles
List of Materials
- List of Materials and Equipment
- Basic Resources Needed
Hazard-Specific Annexes
- Identification of Hazards (School Grounds)
- Identification of Hazards (Classroom)
- Identification of Hazards (Along Evacuation Routes)
- Identification of Hazards (Neighborhood and Communities)
- Analysis of Identified Hazards
Functional Annexes
- General Emergency Procedures
Drill & Training Reports

nSide Makes Alabama EOPs Easy

All public schools in Alabama are registered nSide users. If you are an nSide user, you can easily check to see if your school’s EOP is compliant or not, or check in with our live chat and our team can run a report that analyzes your EOP in comparison with Alabama requirements. Our platform is set up to check your compliance automatically and let you know areas that need improvement. We can also help you digitally collect all information from everyone involved in the safety process, making the process of updating your EOPs quick and easy. If you’re unsure of how to better format your EOPs, or if you’re one of the schools that is due for compliance monitoring in the 2021-2022 school year, we can help you get everything prepared.

Watch this video to see how to properly update your Alabama School EOP

We can help make your school’s EOP easier and more effective! Call us today to find out how!

1.800.604.1822

Sarah Ann McCain

July 14, 2021

Alabama Schools Can Now Upgrade Technology Funding at No Cost to You!

What is A&T Funding?

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced earlier this year that the state of Alabama is giving away funds for schools to improve their school’s safety. According to the State memorandum, the money can be used for repairs and deferred maintenance, classroom instruction support, insuring facilities, transportation, school security, and education technology and equipment. Each K12 school district in the state has been allocated a portion of the total $206million dollars package to purchase these upgrades. Alabama higher education, including community colleges, have been awarded $76 million.

CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE HOW MUCH EACH DISTRICT HAS BEEN AWARDED.

Why are technology upgrades important in Alabama schools?

This funding comes at a critical time in the state, as many schools are still working through gaps in technology and access revealed by the COVID-19 crisis. At a time when many students are tracking behind grade level, this key injection of funding can help Alabama school students feel safer and enable learning to flourish in the new school year. One of the key uses for these funds as outlined by Governor Ivey is for “School security measures as a component of a systemwide security plan”. Because the nSide platform is registered to all public schools in the state of Alabama, all public schools in Alabama can now upgrade their nSide base platform to include camera systems, door lock system, fleet management, and many other technology add-ons, and will qualify for the funding.

What can you do with the 2021 Alabama A&T Funding money?

All Alabama schools already have the base platform. The following technology upgrades are eligible at NO COST TO YOU because the funding will be coming from the Alabama A&T fund:

Each technology upgrade we offer seamlessly integrates with the nSide platform so you can manage all your school’s safety technology in one place. This means that all members of your school’s safety team, including administrators, SROs, law enforcement, EMS, and more can know ahead of time what to do in an emergency, and exactly how to react to save lives.

The Deadline to Apply is August 17, 2021.

As with all state funding, these funds are available to claim until the August 17 deadline, and will then no longer be available. It’s a “use it or lose it” offer. If your school is in need of safety and technology upgrades, we can help you apply.