Around this time, the various grant-related agencies begin to talk about what they plan to do next year for schools and law enforcement agencies in all sorts of areas. This next year looks to be a promising one, with funding available for schools in the area of School Violence and Safety Prevention Programs. Additionally, it appears that there will be substantial opportunities for funding for working with responding police departments in the areas of support and notification and training for their responses, along with areas of the Use of Force, and with assisting in the many Covid-19 concerns. 

On September 17, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two COVID-19 related bills – Senate Bill (SB) 1159 and Assembly Bill (AB) 685. SB 1159 is an urgency bill that is now effective immediately.

As schools continue to adjust instruction and safety protocols during the pandemic, it is important to acknowledge that COVID-19 will be around much longer than most people were originally thinking. Additionally, we will experience a convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and our “normal” seasonal influenza experiences.

All of the agencies shown above can help your public Safety program, not only in the area of school violence, but also in the very relevant area of COVID-19 identification and prevention.

You may have heard the terms “Contact tracing” or “contact listing” in reference to tracking and responding to COVID-19 cases and outbreaks. While these terms are important for pandemic safety, they may be unclear for many. Close contact “tracing” is one of the primary tools we have at our disposal to get ahead of the infection curve. Contact tracing attempts to identify as many people who have potentially been exposed to the virus as possible, by “tracing” those who an infected person came into contact with. 

As many schools across the nation are being asked to report their confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19, many schools are wondering how to handle the process of obtaining and reporting the sensitive information.

There’s more to hurricane safety and recovery than simply alerting your stakeholders about the situation. To successfully respond to a hurricane and minimize the damage, cost, and downtime, organizations like schools and businesses need a reliable system that will allow them to prepare in advance, coordinate their response, and recover from the incident.

As schools implement their screening and entry management protocols, it is important to take into consideration how managing the staff and student entry takes shape and the logistical issues to consider in a COVID-19 environment.

As many school districts take on the newly adopted safety process of pre-certifying and screening of staff and students for COVID-19 symptoms, it’s worth noting how a digital approach can make this complicated process much more efficient and secure.

You may have heard of the concept of “pre-certification” or “pre-screening” as your schools have begun to finalize and practice the new safety measures for returning to school. Safety recommendations for re-opening schools and organizations frequently include the use of pre-visit temperature checks or other measures to pre-certify that those seeking attendance are not displaying COVID-19 symptoms.