Back-to-School Safety: Keeping Students and Teachers Safe

Back-to-School Safety: Keeping Students and Teachers Safe
Resources

August 15, 2019

Resource: Blog Industry: Education
Tags: Safety

We’ve all seen the headlines. In fact, there are tragically too many to count.

The sad reality is that school safety is more complex than ever before as schools and college campuses are no longer the insulated sanctuaries of education they once were, providing a safe haven for students.

This is why thousands of schools and districts rely on technology to prevent serious safety incidents across their campuses.

Such programs, like our SafeSchools and SafeColleges safety suites for K-12 and higher education organizations, provide countless benefits to help busy administrators, but more importantly, they can help make a school or campus safer for students, staff and parents.

Here are just a few ways Vector Solutions can help.

5 Ways Vector Solutions Technology Keeps Students & Teachers Safe

Student Safety Course Suite

Launched in time for the 2019-2020 school year, these powerful and engaging new safety courses for students in grades 9-12 cover the essential safety topics to educate your students to keep them safe and prepared for the realities of life today. 

The new students courses are available in the SafeSchools Online Training System and can be utilized either as primary prevention training or remediation training to reinforce previous learning.

Each modular course includes age-appropriate peer presenters, lesson plans, discussion questions, activities, and assessments. 

Safety Course Topics Include:

1. Bullying & Cyberbullying

2. Youth Suicide Awareness

3. Alcohol & Drug Prevention

4. Sexual Harassment

5. Digital Citizenship

Active Shooter Training

School and college campuses are presumed to be safe havens for students, faculty, and staff. Unfortunately, active shooter scenarios in the United States seem to be increasing in number with school and college campuses becoming targeted areas. In fact, FBI statistics show that schools are the second most common location of an active shooter incident.

The SafeColleges Training System includes courses that can be used to train students and employees on active shooter incidents: Active Shooter and Active Shooter: Run, Hide, Fight. 

The Active Shooter course intends to prepare personnel for active shooter situations by providing information on how they occur and how they may be more effectively prevented. The course reviews facts and history, prevention strategies, preparedness, and what to do if an active shooter incident happens.

The Active Shooter: Run, Hide, Fight course for students is designed to familiarize users with the warning signs that someone may become violent. It also introduces the concept of run, hide, fight during an active shooter situation. Topics covered include situational awareness, how to assess an emergency situation, and run, hide, fight procedures.

Through our Vector Cares program, Vector Solutions offers the Active Shooter: Run, Hide, Fight training video as a complimentary resource to help students and staff identify, prepare for and respond to an active shooter threat.

Bullying & Cyberbullying Training

Bullying continues to be a pressing problem in schools today, and due to rapidly evolving technology that is convenient and often free of adult oversight, cyberbullying among students is now more prevalent than ever with 37% of students ages 12-17 reporting that they have been bullied online. 

The effects of bullying and cyberbullying can be devastating to a young person and often lead to violence, alcohol and drug abuse, poor grades and school attendance, and even self-harm and suicide. 

SafeSchools Training’s Bullying Recognition and Response course providers users with a better understanding of bullying behavior, as well as their obligations to prevent bullying. Topics covered include bullying basics, identifying bullying behavior, how bullying works, and effective ways to address the problem.

SafeSchools Training’s Cyberbullying course provides school staff with a basic overview of cyberbullying, as well as strategies for identification, reporting, and maintaining a safe and positive learning environment. Topics include types of cyberbullying, scope and effects of cyberbullying, and guidelines for response and prevention.

Mental Health Awareness Education

The start of the school year can be an exciting but stressful time for college and university students as they face challenging classes and coursework, new experiences, social pressures, and more. As students make their way back to campus, it’s essential to promote and remind them of the available mental health resources on your campus.

SafeColleges’ newly-launched course for students, Mental Health Awareness, provides college and university students with an overview of mental health and illness, tools to identify risk factors, and ways to help other students. Topics include mental health facts, warning signs, ways to respond, and how to create a positive environment. 

Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention

Alcohol is the most popular substance of abuse among young Americans, with four out of every five college students drinking alcohol to varying degrees. There are several factors that make student drinking dangerous, but the two most prevalent risk drinking activities are underage drinking and binge drinking. 

Drug abuse is also quickly becoming an epidemic as students experience a variety of factors that make drugs attractive. Stimulants or ‘study drugs’ are among the most popular and easily accessible on college campuses. Students often abuse them in order to increase energy and concentration. Other popular drugs among students include depressants, marijuana and opioids. 

SafeColleges Training offers a variety of training courses for students and employees that can help with alcohol and substance abuse prevention and awareness efforts on campus. Our SafeColleges Training Student Prevention Courses are especially effective and educate students on the realities and misconceptions of alcohol and drug use, as well as successful strategies for handling dangerous situations related to these substances. 

An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure

This and every school year, Vector Solutions works tirelessly to provide the kind of courses and resources that stay ahead of the safety curve, proactively training and educating those to whom we’ve entrusted our children – school staff, teachers and administrators, as well as the students themselves.

With preventative education, training and preparedness, we hope that we can all work together to make this school year the safest on record.
Learn more about these resources at SafeSchools and SafeColleges to prioritize school safety this year so your administrators, staff, and students can focus on what matters most – teaching and learning – today.

Want to Know More?

Reach out and a Vector Solutions representative will respond back to help answer any questions you might have.

Contact Us