September marks National Campus Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM), an initiative launched by Congress to promote and encourage public conversation around violence prevention at schools across the country.
Since its introduction in 2008, NCSAM has helped highlight and address the emerging and developing risks that schools face each year—and 2018 is certainly no exception.
As laws, regulations and technology continue to shape the world around our campus communities, the challenges we face each year evolve and become more nuanced. It’s a big reason why engaging this campaign is so important for schools: it keeps campus communities in the loop on important issues.
For each of the following weeks throughout September, we will focus on a pertinent and emerging topic regarding violence prevention. However, the communication around proactive campus safety is not and should not be limited to just the month of September; it’s a yearlong discussion that requires active participation from school leaders and the communities they lead.
To this point, communication is the centerpiece of this initiative. In fact, the way schools gather and share information pertaining to violence prevention and safety on campus is just as important as the information itself. Empowering campus community members with regular updates on campus safety rules, programs and policies only reinforces your efforts to ensure the safety and security of your campus.
It can also help ensure that emergency protocols and procedures are widely understood—and enable you to address any questions or challenges should they arise—and provide an opportunity to cover all the resources you have available to your campus community, such as counseling and support services as well as crime and incident reporting contacts.
Establishing a proactive risk management strategy for your school starts with having the right information and the ability to effectively communicate that information with your campus. So it’s paramount that we all do our part to keep this conversation of safety and security for our campus communities front of mind all year round—and not just when class is in session.
This is also why our Education Practice Group provides regular updates and developments regarding the education communities we serve throughout the year through The Bolton Blog.
If you have any questions regarding your school’s safety program and the best ways to effectively address the unique challenges your campus may face, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Bolton’s Education Practice Group has been supporting the evolving needs of our education partners for more than 30 years.
