The Safe Communities-Safe Schools Initiative, Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, Professor Delbert Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU-Boulder (Violence Prevention Center), The Colorado Trust and the Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool today announced four regional training sessions to be held in October 2003.
The free sessions will provide practical tools for school administrators and school resource officers to develop safe school plans, and information and guidance on implementing Colorado's school safety laws.
The Safe Communities-Safe Schools Initiative works with Colorado schools and communities to create safe and welcoming learning environments for students and school staff. Following Columbine, and as a result of the Initiative, several Colorado laws were passed to help schools and communities deal with school safety issues.
The four sessions will provide training for school administrators, school board members, and school resource officers on how to implement Colorado's school safety laws and school safety issues. The following are some of the areas that will be covered during this training:
* How to manage the problem of bullying in schools;
* How to create and implement a model interagency agreement on information sharing between schools, law enforcement and other agencies in possession of juvenile justice information, now authorized and mandated by Colorado law;
* How to develop a safe school plan and implement effective violence prevention programs;
* Developing a Safe School Hotline.
"Over the past four years, Colorado has passed significant school safety legislation into law," said Attorney General Salazar. "We now need to make sure we are assisting school personnel and addressing their questions about how best to implement the requirements," said Salazar.
Bullying prevention is one of the topics that will be covered in the seminars. "Left unchecked, bullying creates a social climate with a high potential for weapons being carried to school and school shootings. Safe schools are schools that are aware of bullying and address it effectively when it occurs," said Professor Elliott.
"Through these seminars we hope to create and instill a culture of awareness that will provide a safer school environment for students, employees and parents. We are excited to join forces, along with the Attorney General and key resources, to provide this free training to Colorado public schools," said Cheryle Sullivan, Executive Director, Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool.
Training sessions will be held during October in the following communities:
* Pueblo, Monday, Oct. 13
* Sterling, Friday, Oct. 17
* Denver, Tuesday, Oct. 21
* Grand Junction, Friday, Oct. 24
School personnel can register to attend a seminar by contacting the Colorado School Districts Self Insurance Pool at (800) 332-3556 ext. 225. Specific locations will be announced at a later date.
The Safe Communities-Safe Schools Initiative is funded primarily by The Colorado Trust.