10 National Safe Schools Week Resources

This week is National Safe Schools Week, designed to build awareness and motivate key education and law enforcement policymakers as well as students, parents and community residents around school safety. School safety concerns can include keeping campuses free of crime and violence for physical and emotional well-being, as well as educating students on online safety and good digital citizenship.

While most schools have existing safety programs, these programs often need conscientious, creative application to improve their effectiveness. The following is a list of resources that can help school leaders understand current issues and introduce the importance of this topic:
  1. The National School Safety Center offers educators School Safety Leadership Training on a variety of current school safety challenges such as bully prevention, hate crime prevention, diversity issues, student developmental issues, classroom management and crisis response and recovery.
  2. The National Association of Elementary School Principals offers safety resources and advice for principals, staff and parents.
  3. Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools offers information, resources, training and services in the field of school and HigherEd emergency operations planning.
  4. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention created this list of resources for different school safety issues that apply throughout the school day including getting to school safely, safety while in school and safety during after-school sporting activities.

In addition, the National Crime Prevention Council offers these safety planning activities for school leaders to consider implementing during the week:

  • Develop a district-wide safe schools plan, as well as individual plans for each school in the system.
  • Develop a school safety clearinghouse for current literature and data on school safety issues.
  • Establish a systematic, district-wide mandatory incident reporting system.
  • Prepare a school safety public information brochure.
  • Develop safety policies.
  • Develop and regularly update a school safety fact sheet for your district.
  • Create a school safety advisory group.
  • Support America’s Safe Schools Week.
  • Develop and maintain a community resource file of people known for their abilities to shape public opinion and accomplish goals.
  • Build a public relations team, starting with school employees.
  • Create a comprehensive identity program for your district.
  • Publish a district magazine or newsletter.

For the digital generation, online safety is becoming increasingly important. Here are some resources for educators and parents to help teach today’s students about safely interacting online:

  1. Internet Safety 101 is part of the Enough Is Enough campaign, which offers parents and educators the knowledge they need to protect students from cyberbullying, online predators and other online dangers.
  2. As part of its YouthSpark program, Microsoft created a microsite around Online Safety for students that offers a Digital Civility Challenge, tips on internet safety and advice on protecting their reputation, finances, relationships and privacy.
  3. Kids Health offers parents information on Internet Safety Laws, online protection tools and ways to get involved in children’s online activities.
  4. Common Sense Education offers a list of 4 great lesson plans (ranging from K-12) to “help kids practice smart internet habits and stay safe online.”
  5. Digital content provider BrainPop created a video with animated characters Moby and Tim to help students learn about online privacy the World Wide Web code of conduct. Teachers can also explore lesson ideas and create quizzes based on the information.

Do you have additional resources to share? How are you celebrating National School Safety Week? Leave a comment below or tag us on Twitter: @Getting_Smart.

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Getting Smart Staff

The Getting Smart Staff believes in learning out loud and always being an advocate for things that we are excited about. As a result, we write a lot. Do you have a story we should cover? Email [email protected]

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