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- School Transportation Safety: Safeguarding Our Students
- Press Release – Maryland Center for School Safety Leads Statewide School-Based Incident Tabletop Exercise
- MCSS Promotes the Use of Standard Response Protocols from the “i love u guys” Foundation
- Wear Blue for Human Trafficking Awareness January 11, 2024
- How to Stay Safe During Severe Weather Season
Recent Comments
Creating an Especially Safe School Environment for School Communities
MCSS began its monthly School Safety Professional Development Conference call with Michele Gay, Founder & Executive Director of Safe and Sound Schools® and Lee-Nadine Oppenheim, Director of Finance and Operations at Ivymount School as they presented Especially Safe: An Inclusive Approach to Safety Preparedness in Educational Settings. The two subject matter experts discussed real solutions in planning for school safety issues, executing safety drills, and particular considerations for special needs school populations.
Michelle Gay is a parent of Josephine, a special needs victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting. As a result of the horrible tragedy, she assisted in the foundation of Safe and Sound Schools, a national non-profit school safety advocacy and resource center providing research-based tools, support, crisis prevention, response, and recovery programs.
The foundation’s newest program Especially Safe was developed with expert practitioners from across disciplines to include resources, tools, and teaching ideas to meet the safety needs of community members with special needs. “We are asking for people to prepare for emergencies of all hazards, with a generalized approach to school safety,” Ms. Gay said.
Read more…MCSS SFG Facilitator Accepts New Role Representing Maryland Students
Henry Meiser, Facilitator for the MCSS Student Focus Group, recently accepted appointment as Student Commissioner to the Governor’s Commission on Suicide Prevention. This is another important role for Mr. Meiser to undertake as he represents students in Maryland.
“This task has been an especially challenging one, given Maryland’s great geographical and socio-economic diversity, and the sheer age gap between a student in elementary, and high school.”
Mr. Meiser is a senior at St. Mary’s Ryken High School. He initiated the Southern Maryland Youth Leadership Foundation and has obtained a certificate in leadership and management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Read more…2022 Training Update: School Resource Officers (SROs) and School Security Employees (SSEs)
2022 SRO/SSE Training is in Session
MCSS staff, along with state and local subject matter experts, are once again in the classroom providing training to the dedicated individuals serving as SROs and SSEs throughout the State. In 2021, MCSS began the work of updating our model SRO and SSE training. The goal of the updates was to expand the program with new and much-needed modules in order to provide deeper training. Working closely with our local and state subject matter experts (SMEs), MCSS expanded training modules on De-escalation, Disability and Diversity Awareness, Implicit Bias, and Restorative Approaches.
Read more…See it. Hear it. REPORT IT!
NEW 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Launches in Maryland
If you, a friend or family member are having a mental crisis or just need to talk with someone, the 988 Lifeline is the number to call.
The State of Maryland has activated a new crisis line designated for suicide and substance abuse concerns. The 988 Lifeline number is designated for anyone who is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, contemplating suicide, or worried about someone who may need crisis support.
Why do citizens need a Suicide and Substance Abuse line?
In many instances of mental health crisis, a trained mental health provider and/or emergency mental health care is required. In the past, the only resource to call was 911. Historically we’ve learned police, fire, or EMS are not necessary in many circumstances of mental health and drug abuse calls. In some circumstances, the arrival of police on the scene can escalate non-violent situations and have created additional problems for those going through trauma and crisis. In some cases, police presence may have caused tragic consequences for individuals in a mental health crisis.
Read more…Training Trainers
T4T Training Class
Michael Rudinski, Regional Training and Certification Specialist for MCSS presents the course to train SROs and Subject Matter Experts
Keeping Maryland’s schools and students safe is a multifaceted, ongoing process for the Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS). One of MCSS’s roles is to train school resource officers (SROs), school security employees (SSEs), school administrators, and school personnel. In order to train Maryland law enforcement officers, instructors must be certified by the Maryland Police Training Commission. As such, MCSS now offers a Basic Instructor-Training for Trainers (T4T) class to the instructors who train SROs.
MCSS’s 2022 revised SRO training is delivered in a hybrid format. Therefore, Michael Rudinski, Regional Training/Certification Specialist for MCSS, included a Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) module to the course. VILT is especially useful in learning the technology, physiology and psychology of the hybrid training environment. Instructing is not only about interaction and balance, but highlighting the needs of the learner at a given time; especially in the virtual environment.
Read more…St. Joan of Arc Awarded Safe School Maryland Gold
Saint Joan of Arc School is the first private elementary school to undertake the Safe Schools Gold School engagement program. We loved being part of the celebration with the school as they received the Governor’s Citation for embarking on this important program.
Principal Dianne Kestler, Father William Franken, Archdioceses of Baltimore representatives and the St. Joan of Arc student body were pleased to accept this Safe School Gold School Award from the Maryland Center for School Safety.
Take a look at the video from the ceremony here.
Read more…Flintstone Elementary Gold School Ceremony
Flintstone Elementary, home of the S.P.A.R.K.S., received a Governor’s Citation in recognition of being the first elementary school to reach Safe Schools Maryland Gold School status, on April 25, 2022. Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS) was proud to deliver this citation from the office of Governor Larry Hogan in honor of Flintstone’s contribution to the promotion of school safety in Maryland. Flintstone Elementary stands out as an example for others to follow.
Read more…MCSS Announces New Student Focus Group
The Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS) would like to announce the 2022-2023 MCSS Student Focus Group (SFG) members! Additionally, MCSS is excited to welcome back twelve 2021-2022 SFG members in addition to welcoming twenty-five new members.
Read more…MCSS Students D.A.R.E to Teach Officers
The Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS) had the honor of presenting to Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officers during their annual in-service conference on April 13, 2022 in Ocean City, Maryland. According to the D.A.R.E. website, D.A.R.E. curriculum “is the most comprehensive drug prevention curricula in the world, taught in thousands of schools throughout America’s 50 states and its territories, as well as in 50+ other countries, reaching more than 1.5 million students annually.”
Read more…