9TH ANNUAL
SAFETY IN OUR SCHOOLS
CONFERENCE
T
he memories we make in school
last a lifetime. That’s why we
return to them over and over.
“Isn’t it funny that I can’t remember
what my computer password is, but
I can remember who I sat next to in
high school biology?” asks Charles E.
Peeler, US Attorney – Middle District of
Georgia. “There is one memory, though,
that students should never have about
school, and that is being afraid.”
Peeler is one of a diverse group of
professionals hoping to allay student
fears through collaboration at the an-
nual Safety in Our Schools conference,
which took place June 26 to 28 in Co-
lumbus, Ga.
“There’s a host of threats that face
our students and teachers today, and
they seem to be ever growing: what
to do in case of a weather emergency,
what to do in case of an active shooter,
what to do in case of contagious dis-
ease outbreak,” said Peeler. “Diagnosing
the threats is the easy part. The hard
part is figuring out what to do about
it, but attending this conference over
the next few days is a sure step in the
right direction.”
Story & Photography by: Julia Regeski
Threats related to student safety have
become a national issue, thus organizations
from all levels of government assisted in
the planning of the conference to offer
their support. “The mission of school
safety is everybody’s responsibility,” said
Homer Bryson, director of the Georgia
Emergency Management and Homeland
Security, an agency that, along with
the Georgia Department of Education
and the U.S. Attorney’s office, helped
organize the event. “My challenge to you
today is let’s put aside who we work for
and worry less about who’s in charge
of something, and more about what
can we do to work together and solve
the issue and solve the mission that’s
given to us.”
While the conference provided
opportunities for safety officers,
administrators and teachers to problem
solve in sessions on everything from
opiate addiction to local school shootings,
emphasis was placed on hands-on, in-
classroom training as well.
The National Alliance on Mental
Illness, for example, hosted a booth
throughout the event in an effort to
provide information on their services
GEMA/HS Training Manager Ed Westbrook presents to a full house of educators and law
enforcement during the 2018 Safety in Our Schools conference.
straight to their target audiences: attendees
such as school resources officers and
school board officials, who can request
NAMI’s programs. “One would hope
that the safest place a child knows is the
home,” said Bonnie Hannah, affiliate
relations manager for NAMI Georgia.
“We know that’s often, for many rea-
sons, not the case. One then hopes that
the next safest place a child knows is a
school, where there are trusted peers,
trusted adults, resources.”
Another resource demonstrated at
the conference was Citizen Response
to Active Shooters, led by GEMA/HS
homeland security coordinators Ca sey
Cope and David Shanks. CRASE, a course
built from a national, law enforcement
approved Avoid, Deny, Defend strategy,
can be delivered in schools and offices
around the state and requested by all
attendees of the conference.
While a large portion of conference
attendees consisted of law enforcement,
the classes Cope and Shanks delivered
are open to all.
CRASE, Shanks emphasizes, is simple
enough to reach a large audience of all
experience levels. “If civilians aren’t con-
ditioning themselves mentally to think
about something like this happening,
there’s a good possibility they’ll freeze
or run when they shouldn’t or not run
when they should,” said Shanks. “This
is where that training comes in and
bridges that gap.”
From training civilians to training the
professionals that serve them, the Safety
in Our Schools Conference looked at
protecting learning environments from
every angle. More than 400 people –
the most in the conference’s history
– attended and are now implementing
their lessons learned in communities
throughout the state. ■
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