1st Annual Washington School Safety Conference & Summit
Olympia, Washington (PRWEB) June 25, 2014 -- The WSSCS will take place on November 7-9, 2014.
Hosted at:
Red Lion Olympia
2300 Evergreen Way Dr Sw.
Olympia, WA 98502
What is the WSSCS?
The 1st annual Washington School Safety Conference & Summit was created to bring school administration and safety planners together with emergency services and the security industry. Each group felt that there was a need to continue the momentum and conversation started by WA Senate Bill 5197.
The WSSCS concept was started as a one day clinic/workshop, and the feedback was tremendous. The requests for topics poured in and the event has since become a full three day conference focused on creating a collaborative environment for improving school safety.
Conference organizers have worked closely with the State of Washington Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction, Senators Bruce Dammeier and Randi Becker who were instrumental in the passing of SB 5197, local law enforcement and emergency services, and the Security Industry Association.
The lists of topics being are covering are broken into three distinct tracks:
Safety. Response. Security.
Each track will approach the topics focused on school and classroom safety, improving critical response and improving the industry approach to school security.
The WSSCS presentations and workshops are designed for school administration, safety & security planners, community emergency and disaster preparedness planners, school resource officers, law enforcement officers, fire and medical response, security industry manufacturers, service and installers.
The conference was designed to bring all three groups together for a school safety summit. The summit portion will have a panel comprised of professionals from each group and a mediator with the audience being all attendees from each track. The summit is the first time in Washington State that a vendor neutral approach has been used to promote the advancement of school safety. It will be an open forum to address key topics and form a road map to the next WSSCS.
What is Vendor Neutral?
A vendor neutral stance is removing the specific product and service approach when presenting on security equipment, enhancements and emerging technology.
The WSSCS will be partially funded through sponsorships only. All sponsor materials will be provided to attendees on an opt-in basis during the conference and summit. After-hour events are planned to highlight and thank WSSCS sponsors.
What contributors and speakers are saying about the WSSCS:
“We are excited to participate in the Washington School Safety Conference and Summit, the first of its kind. It is encouraging to see stakeholders working together in support of our shared goal to improve classroom security for students, teachers and staff. Collaboration between schools, law enforcement, parents and student advocates will promote the use of new security technology to help ensure students can arrive in the classroom focused on learning and not threats to their safety.”
~Senator Bruce Dammeier, 25th Legislative District, Puyallup, WA
“The development of the Washington School Safety Conference & Summit reflects the deep commitment school officials, security professionals and lawmakers have in making schools a safe place for our kids to learn. Momentum is building to put real security solutions in place and this event is poised to help schools do just that.”
~Senator Randi Becker, 2nd District, Eatonville, WA
"WSSCS is a unique opportunity for school personnel, emergency service providers, and industry innovators, a collaborative environment for learning, discovery, problem solving, and thoughtful discussion.
Here, we will work jointly to understand and address the challenges of school safety today. We will make our schools safer the only way we can––together."
~Michele Gay, Founder, Safe and Sound: A Sandy Hook Initiative
“School violence is not going to go away anytime soon and schools across this country need to have a plan in place to mitigate the effects of this type of violence. The WSSCS will help educators, law enforcement and the security industry to work collaboratively and provide them direction and tools to prepare for and respond to these type of events.”
~Jesus M. Villahermosa, Jr., Crisis Reality Training, Inc.
“We forget that in school incidents such as Sandy Hook, the school staff saved hundreds of children that day by doing their homework and putting crisis response and safety programs in place BEFORE it happened. Schools are the safest place children are in their day but we can still learn and do better. The summit is the place to have that discussion… what works and what might be done differently.”
~Mary Schoenfeldt, Public Education Coordinator at Everett Office of Emergency Management
"The face of school safety and security has so rapidly changed over the past 5 years that expecting a school administrator to be able to handle and be knowledgeable of all the necessary components of school risk reduction and crisis prevention is no longer possible. WSSCS is an opportunity not only for that school administrator to increase his or her knowledge base, but develop partnerships and collaborative efforts to increase their sites safety and security."
~Sean Spellecy, NewDawn Security and A.S.I.S. School Safety Council
WSSCS contact info:
Website: WashingtonSSCS.com
Facebook: facebook.com/washingtonsscs
Twitter: twitter.com/washingtonsscs
For sponsorship information contact:
Heather Weissinger
WSSCS Event Organizer
Conference Coordinator:
School ALERT System
http://school-alertsystem.com
Conference Partners:
Precisionary Vocational and Safety Consulting
https://www.facebook.com/Precisionary
PKMM, Inc.
http://www.pkmminc.com/
Heather Weissinger, Helix Group LLC, http://www.school-alertsystem.com, 1-855-354-9929, [email protected]
Share this article