At the conclusion of the 2021-22 New Jersey Legislative Session, two pieces of legislation with direct connections to school safety and security were passed. In the aftermath of recent acts of school violence nationally and highly publicized hazing incidents in New Jersey, these new laws will impact the way school staff and students practice emergency responses and enhance reporting, investigation, compliance, and consequences for harassment, intimidation, and bullying incidents in schools.
December 6, 2021 – For decades, school leaders, law enforcement officials, parents, students, and communities that have experienced tragic incidents of targeted violence in schools have provided insights, after-action reports, and “lessons learned” from their experiences. Government agencies, non-profit organizations, task forces, and researchers have convened to identify commonalities among these violent acts to develop best practices to prevent, respond to, and recover from violence in schools. After decades of research and advocacy for safer schools, acts of violence continue to go unmitigated despite an abundance of guidance on the subject.
October 4, 2021 – Violence in schools exists in many forms- from bullying and physical altercations between students to the threat of targeted violence from internal and external actors. While violence prevention is a year-round obligation for schools, the month of October provides several opportunities for school communities and their partners to address school violence head-on as the school year gets into full swing.
September 2, 2021 – While COVID-19 has consumed our conversations and resources over the past year, and variants of COVID-19 and rising levels of infection continue to require schools to adapt for in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, planning for masks, vaccines, disinfecting, and other disease mitigation strategies, preparation for the upcoming school year must also include the traditional back-to-school planning of years past. Safety and security considerations should top the list to ensure a safe return for students and staff.
The 2020-21 school year has been extremely challenging. Pandemic related planning, remote and hybrid schedules, and periodic closures have left administrators, teachers, staff, students, and parents exhausted and in need of a well-deserved respite. As plans for proms, award ceremonies, graduations, and other yearend activities are finalized, it appears the school year is officially winding down.
A spate of widely publicized shootings in recent weeks has renewed the conversation around these incidents and the need to focus on ways to prevent acts of violence. While some of these incidents occurred at public venues with little or no apparent connection between the location and the assailant, other circumstances place incidents in the category of workplace violence.
As we begin to see signs of spring, we must keep in mind that the month of April marks the anniversaries of a number of historic acts of violence that have shaped the way our nation has come to view school security and safety.
For most IT professionals working at K-12 schools, every day is challenging and even more so over the last 12 months. Porzio Compliance Services continues to receive inquiries from districts about what to do about these warnings.
Over the past year, we have been thrust into an environment where personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and social distancing have overwhelmingly eclipsed traditional pre-COVID-19 security measures. Prior to the pandemic, schools were enhancing physical security on a trajectory that was driven by incidents of school violence and the need to not only make our schools safe, but more importantly make our children and parents feel safe when entering our buildings or sending kids off to school for the day.
Whether the subject of your emergency preparedness efforts focus on schools, businesses, houses of worship, health care facilities or any other organization, planning for emergencies is a continuous process. Many organizations establish Emergency Operations Plans (EOP’s) or implement written response protocols to fulfill regulatory requirements or comply with laws related to their industry. While this is a necessary and worthwhile endeavor, far too many organizations rarely, if ever, revisit these plans to ensure that they are kept current and evolve with the ever changing threat environment that we live in.
