This blog post is about our experiences and takeaways from Campus Safety Conference East in Washington D.C.
With an unsettling rise of violence in schools comes growing concerns of safety for our students. Schools across the country are faced with the challenge of keeping students and teachers safe, while maintaining an environment that promotes learning and social growth. This violence tends to leave many feeling helpless as if there’s nothing to stop it from happening. However, our technology gives us the ability to take action.
Why Did We Attend?
Status Solutions is introducing a grassroots advocacy program leveraging one of our country’s most powerful constituencies – mothers. Our mission is to protect students, educators and communities by increasing public awareness of safety and security concerns, thus advocating for safer schools.
The goal of this conference was to teach attendees the best practices and biggest mistakes that come with keeping students safe in order for everyone to be as thorough as possible when outfitting a school with situational awareness technology.
What Did Attendees Learn?
Status Solutions’ General Manger, Danielle Myers, had the pleasure of introducing two speakers at the conference. Everyone that attended this conference had the same goal – safer schools. From camera distributors, to nonprofit organizations, to security directors, we were all there because we all want the same result.
The first speaker introduced was Alan Walters, the Director of Safety and Risk Management at Georgetown County School District near Myrtle Beach. Alan spoke on the importance of physical security enhancements, building strong relationships with the emergency response community and developing an emergency operations plan supplemented by easily understood training. Alan’s presentation gave viewers knowledge of how a security director goes about improving safety and security within their school.
The second speaker introduced was Guy Grace, the Director of Security and Emergency Planning, for Littleton Public Schools near Denver, Colorado. During his presentation he spoke about an active shooter incident that took the life of a student in his school district. Since then, Guy and his team have implemented a collaborative, proactive approach that includes security and mental health. His new approach has saved lives. This presentation taught viewers that cameras, locks and alerts aren’t the only things that security personnel consider when keeping their students safe.
Campus Safety Conference East taught attendees that the term “school safety” can mean a variety of things. In Danielle Myers words, “There is no magic solution, nor one answer – it is something that needs to be discussed and adjusted often. We cannot treat school safety as a task that we can check off the list. There is a lot that we can all learn from each other and we must open our minds.” Click here to learn more about Campus Safety Conference East.
