Sept. 19, 2008

Officers are Bringing Safety and Prevention to Our Schools
From The Governor’s Desk: A weekly column by Gov. Joe Manchin

Contact: Lara Ramsburg, 304-558-2000

Knowing that our children are as safe as possible while they are in the care of others is one of the most comforting feelings a person can have as a parent.В  With the school year in full-swing, it most likely means that our young people are spending the majority of their day under the guidance and supervision of school personnel.В  Student safety is one responsibility that our school officials must maintain each day in order to provide a quality learning environment. (more…)

6/11/2008

Campus Technology magazine

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By Gary J. Margolis

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There is little debate that mass notification is the area most influenced by the loss of life at Virginia Tech in April 2007. Not since the installation of emergency “blue light” phones on campuses has there been such a push in security technology, due to campuses being criticized for not having such tools readily available in short order.

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Campus Saftey Magazine

June 6, 2008
Most likely, non-emergency communications equipment and traditional mass notification systems are already in place at your institution. With some adjustments, these, combined with newly installed solutions, might be able to provide much of the coverage your institution needs during a disaster. (more…)

The West Virginia Bankers Association would like to introduce one of our new endorsed vendors - SoftWare Computer Group, Inc. (W.A.R.N.). В WVBA thoroughly researches and carefully screens each vendor, product, and service to ensure ongoing quality, integrity, and value. We encourage you to welcome them into your bank as we have welcomed them into your Association.

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WASHINGTON - Just days before the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (DMineola) introduced a bill that would require universities to alert students of a threat no more than 30 minutes after it’s been confirmed. “Many believe if the students had been notified earlier, they might not have gone to class,” McCarthy said yesterday. (more…)

Since the tragic shootings that unfolded almost a year ago at Virginia Tech and the more recent events at Illinois State University, a major question has been renewed in the minds of the faculty and campus police of universities across the nation: How do we effectively protect our students from disasters on campus?

That job is currently of primary focus for the University of South Alabama’s police department, who is approaching new methods of contacting not only the faculty and staff at USA about emergencies and disasters but also alerting the very people they are sworn to protect-the students.

The original warning system that has been in place for years is called W.A.R.N., Wide Area Rapid Notification system, which is a service based in Virginia that works with universities to send out text messages, pages, e-mails and phone messages to faculty and staff in event of an emergency or disaster on campus. (more…)

The Pike County School System has plans to soon implement a warning system that will alert parents in the event of a school emergency.

“We hope that implementation will take place within the next couple of weeks,” Superintendent Mark Bazzell said. “We’re in the process of taking the data that we have at each school and reviewing that data and cleaning up that data so we have a good starting point for an initial test.” (more…)

Apr 07, 2008 @ 08:55 PM

By BILL ROSENBERGER

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON — Jedd Flowers isn’t a teacher and he doesn’t run a school, but he plays a big part in the day-to-day operations of Cabell County Schools.

Flowers, the county’s communications director since 2000, is responsible not only for creating news releases and serving as a spokesperson, but he also oversees marketing, Web site content, emergency and internal communications, video and advertising. (more…)

After several months of collective funding collaboration, Cabell County has subscribed to the WEB Based WARN Public Notification solution. They begin training the 2nd week of April, 2008.В SWCG will maintain their ESL in zip code order to allow disperse call outs. WARNВ looks forward to working with Cabell County’s excellent staff in protecting their citizens.

Nicholas County 911 Director Joey DeRito, Clay County OES Director Leon Trescott and Nicholas County staff members RobinВ Evans andВ Linda Bragg received their WARN Public Notification Training April 3rd, 2008. The completed the certification process and are in the process of building their county police and fire plus other call groups. SWCG is maintaining thier all county and community call groups based on thier county’s ESL data.

On March 10th, 2008 Wayne County 911/OES signed onto the WARN for public notification. Director Bill Willis and his teamВ James Cooper and Amanda Edwards have recevied their product certification and are now ready to notify the county residents and rapidly deploy first responders. Welcome Wayne County.

Nashville, TN - Students and faculty at Vanderbilt UniversityВ and Vanderbilt University Medical Center can nowВ be notified rapidly in the event of an emergency.В 

View Fox News Story here: http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/vid_1201.shtml

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Brown, Vincent. “A Campus Plan for Natural and Man-Made Disasters.” The Police Chief, Vol. 75, No. 2, February 2008. Accessed at: http://policechiefmagazine.org

“Academic institutions in the eastern and southern United States are at risk from hurricanes and floods; the eastern and Midwestern parts of the country, from tornadoes; and the West, from earthquakes and wildfires…. almost all of the regions of the United (more…)

After a well planned and grueling test, UC Davis comments on the results.

“I feel lots more comfortable with the system. My question is — how about you guys. I am very well aware that WARN is going above and beyond to help us with this. There is no way what we paid is close to the service we have received. So, besides the free publicity (that is worth something) are YOU getting anything out of this?”

Valerie Lucus, CEM, CBCP

Emergency/Continuity Manager

University of California, Davis

UC Davis discusses their plan and metodology to test their recent implementation of the W.A.R.N. campus notification system. Click on the link below to see the new coverage.

http://www.news10.net/video/player_news10.aspx?aid=52386&bw=В 

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January 2008 PLUS Journal - Professional Liability Underwriting Society

Liability trends for academics has become more complex, and the legal landscape has changed. Campus mental health issues and associated liability claims are on the rise as are parental expectations that drive those claims, panelists told the PLUS International Conference.

univrisk.pdf

1/04/08 — 11:58 AM

By Alice Lipowicz

The Federal Communications Commission published a notice of proposed rulemaking Jan. 3 to establish a commercial mobile alert system that would let wireless providers send emergency alerts to users of cell phones and other devices.

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