Safety Solutions

So you are an educator and you have been looking forward to summer for sometime now.  You can see the finish line...you are almost there.  A few more weeks with the kids, clean up your room, finalize the grades and head for the beach.

Before we know it another school year will be finished and summer will begin.  School children love this time of year as they get to sleep in, swim, go to camp or just relax at home.

It seems like every day there is another email or a new piece of junk mail in the inbox advertising the latest safety or security product for schools.  On top of everything else you do as an administrator or educator, finding the time to sort through this pile of material can become overwhelming.  That is where I come in. 

Take a few minutes today and review your schools All Hazards Plan! 

“Do you have five minutes once a month” was my answer. “It’s not optimal but it is better than doing nothing. If you can commit five minutes per month to a simple drill strategy I think I can help.” This answer usually comes out when I’m speaking to a building administrator that shares:

“There isn’t any time to do all hazards drills, we have testing coming up and our scores need to improve!”

These are good people with every intention of taking all hazards preparedness seriously but there simply is not enough time in the school day given all the other priorities and mandates placed on schools today.

I call this simple drill the STAY IN PLACE BUILDING WIDE DRILL. It works for any type of hazard you want to stimulate your staff and students to consider. Here is how it works:

“Nothing is much to be feared as fear”. When Henry David Thoreau penned these words in his journal on September 7, 1851 he had no idea that Franklin Roosevelt would be inspired by them while preparing his first Inaugural speech or how true they would be in 2015.

Many parents need to "get it together" and remember that how they emotionally respond to traumatic events significantly impacts how their children will react and process the event.  Parents model behavior to their children and that can be good or bad. 

This doesn't mean we don't acknowledge emotions such as fear, anxiety, depresssion or grief.  There are healthy ways to understand and process these emotions.  But "freaking out" is not one of them.  The American Psychological Association (APA) has done a great job at providing free resources to help parents learn how to model behavior and talk to their kids about traumatic events. Click on the link to learn more. http://apa.org/helpcenter/talking-to-children.aspx  

                For many educators Megan’s Law is synonymous with child molesting. But the reality is that the majority of Megan’s Law registered offenders in PA are not child molesters, in fact their victims are adults.

                It is important to remember that the Megan’s Law registry was created to track violent/sexual assault offenders not just child molesters. With this information our staff can better watch out for the students and THEMSELVES. Make sure your staff is reviewing all these notifications for their own safety.

                As we move toward daylight savings time many of our staff members who stay after work will be returning to their vehicles in the school parking lot after dark. Take extra steps to protect yourself. Consider the following tips:

Are we remembering our school employees that are not classroom based when we provide emergency training and information?  Unfortunately, at many schools we are not including these employees in this valuable training.