Comprehensive Safe School Plan

Reaction Paper

 Students will examine, and there will be class discussion on a particular school districts’ comprehensive safe school plan. (Steilacoom’s). The student will write a short reaction paper to the plan http://steilacoom.k12.wa.us/district/disasterguide.asp

I examined Steilacoom's safe school plan.  Initially, I was pretty excited to finally find a local safe school plan, but after further review, my excitement waned.   The site was more like an annotated bibliography of links, although most links didn't work. 

I was able to use a couple of the links and shoot off of those to get some more information about emergency preparedness and some federal program recommendations. 

As a parent of a child in school I attempted to look for my child's school plan.  It is not available on the district's website.  This seems like important piece of information for parents to have.  I think parents should always be informed;

               1.  Where/when do I get my child  if there is an emergency?
               2.  What does a lock down mean?
               3.  Should I call the school or wait for the school to call me?

Now that I have this awareness I will ask for a copy or some information on my child's school safety plan for this new school year.

Researched Links 

Comprehensive safe school plans

http://www.ade.az.gov/schooleffectiveness/health//schoolsafety/safetyplans/Links.asp
Arizona Safe School Minimum Requirement Checklist
 

Response

Comprehensive Safe Schools Planning

In Senate Bill 5543 (SB 5543), the 2001 Legislature required schools to develop comprehensive safe schools plans and provide OSPI information on the status of their plan. 

SB 5543 also required OSPI to develop tools for schools to use as they assess current programs and practices that contribute to comprehensive safe schools planning.  In response to this requirement, OSPI has developed several tools for schools to use as they assess current efforts and identify their needs specific to prevention, intervention, all-hazards/crisis response, and post-crisis recovery as follows: 

Planning guidance and tools.

    Information made available on Washington State School Safety Center Web site.

    Contract with ESDs to provide technical assistance to schools in their region on comprehensive safe schools planning.

    Training of Trainers for ESDs on use of comprehensive safe schools planning tools.

    Working to refine tools and include as part of the School Improvement Planning process.

These materials are available on the Safety Center Web site.

http://www.k12.wa.us/SafeDrugFree/WeaponsReport/1998-99/9899overview.pdf

http://www.keepschoolssafe.org/

http://www.nea.org/schoolsafety/images/ssmanual.pdf

 The role of staff, students, families, and communities in safe school plans

There should be a role for everyone, although the roles need to be clearly stated.  Those that have roles should be informed what they are and how to accomplish them.  Staff should be assigned areas and duties, drills should be run so students know what to do and where to go, families should be given reminders throughout the year about how to proceed in the case of a lockdown, earthquake, given emergency numbers to call and communities should be involved to help support financially or with supplies.  In order to protect our children it needs to be a comprehensive plan that involves everybody.
 

Peer Helper programs (best practices)

http://www.k12.wa.us/s2s/default.htm
 

http://www.peerhelping.org/publications/Strategic_Plan.doc

 Student leadership programs (best practices)

http://skillsusawashington.org/
Student leadership skill development is an integral component of all Career and Technical Education courses. “Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America” (FCCLA) and “Skills-USA” are Career and Technical Education Student Leadership Organizations. They provide exciting programs and opportunities for students to learn and practice leadership skills.

http://www.k12.wa.us/TitleVpartA/YES/programs.aspx

Youth Leadership and Service Team Information The Youth Leadership and Service Team (YLST) provides training, consultation and technical assistance to schools throughout Washington to promote student engagement throughout education. Training for Schools We offer "train-the-trainer" workshops for students, educators, and administrators in the following areas: Student Service Leadership Development Teambuilding & Group Learning Developing Community Connections Promoting School Change through Service Learning Engaging Students through Service Learning Programs for Schools We provide two programs for schools. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay and Poster Contest Learn & Serve America Connecting Schools & Communities We partner with local youth-serving organizations around Washington to promote strong strong school-community connections for students. Past and present partners include: The Institute for Community Leadership The Freechild Project Vashon Island Youth Council Wilderness Technology Alliance Project Service Leadership Institute for Cultural Affairs Peace Jam Northwest Washington State Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Seattle YMCA We also work with national organizations to promote student engagement in local, state and national decision-making. Past and present partners include: National Youth Leadership Council Points of Light Foundation Arsalyn Foundation Innovation Center National Service-Learning Exchange HumanLinks Foundation Northwest Regional Educational Lab Campus Compact Forum for Youth Investment Grantmaker Forum on Community and National Service Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth   Webliography freechild.org  A massive collection of resources for young people and their allies, including more than 500 website listings, 100 books and dozens of articles on youth activism, youth service, student rights, youth media and more!   At The Table  An online clearinghouse featuring resources you need to know about effectively involving youth in your organization and community! Taking It Global What inspires you? TIG Recognizes and showcases the power of ideas, creations and inspirational stories. Are you informed? TIG is the bridge, to events, organizations, and scholarships throughout the world. How are you involved? Through discussions, workshops, updates, and real-world projects, our voices will be heard. Co/Motion A national program that helps organizations build their capacity to foster youth leadership in the design, implementation, and evaluation. Offers training, technical assistance and a great publication. Innovation Center Fostering advanced thinking in the field of youth development through training, consultation and 'think tanks' promoting youth involvement. Works to empower individuals and organizations to create a vision of a more just nation and world and to develop and sustain within themselves the strength, hope, leadership, relationships, and organizational integrity to bring about that vision. They work with schools, community organizations, and governmental programs, providing a variety of workshops and seminars to meet this goal. Listen, Inc. LISTEN believes that effective youth leadership exists on street corners, in crowded classrooms, in juvenile detention centers, in youth development organizations and in street organizations.   Promotes the development of effective and confident youth voice among middle and high school-aged youth by creating avenues for civic involvement, leadership training and decision making.  Our site will help you learn about our youth leadership programs, trainings for youth and adults, publications and more. Youth can also access information on community resources.  Seattle Young People's Project  Seattle Young People's Project is a youth run and lead, youth empowerment organization set up to provide young people with a voice to effect social change. Our program combines mentoring, volunteer service, civic education, job skills training and snowboarding. The curriculum draws connections between self-awareness, community involvement, and goal setting. Music and the artistic expression are an integral part of all of our activities. Tools to Measure Your School's Meaningful Student Involvement   50 Things Adults Can Do For With Students in Schools (Word) A simple list that you can photocopy and hand out to teachers, administrators, and students! Meaningful Student Involvement in Service Learning Programs (pdf) A useful chart displaying the differences in typical and meaningful service learning methods. Student-Adult Partnerships: A Teacher's Self-Assessment Tool (Word) The Principles of Student-Adult Partnerships (Word) Layers of Student Involvement in State Education Agencies (pdf) UPDATE - Exciting new research has been done on the emotional intelligence of SPARK Peer Tutors! Download PDF and find out more... The S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring Handbook and Training Manual® is a field-tested curriculum "kit" designed to help high school and middle school peer tutoring programs and advisors Peer Mentoring National Mentoring Association:  Curriculum, technical assistance, training and resources. Peer Helper Links     July 1999      Number 08 What Is Peer Mentoring?   http://www.palusa.org/index.html   peer \ 'pier \ n one's equal assistance \ as- sis - tance \ n giving aid; helping leadership \ lead - er - ship \ n the ability to guide, lead or conduct PAL® Peer Assistance and Leadership is an award winning, non-profit program providing effective training in "resiliency" strategies. The PAL® peer helping program combats problems such as violence in schools, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, gang participation and school dropouts by providing a critical line of defense both at school and in the home through building peer helping programs all over Texas.