Course Descriptions
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting some training capabilities, we are not presently processing training request forms and have temporarily removed the form from the website. However, if you are interested in requesting a class or attending a training, please contact Program Coordinator Laura Black at either 309-298-2646 or le-black@wiu.edu.
K-12 Courses
Research findings indicate that incidents of targeted violence in schools were rarely impulsive; that the students who perpetrated the attacks usually planned them out well in advance with planning behavior that was often observable; and, that prior to most attacks, other students knew the attack was to occur. (Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and Creating Safe Schools, U.S. Secret Service 2002)
The purpose of this seminar is to provide increased understanding of the framework and application of behavioral threat assessment in elementary and secondary schools. The target audience and threat assessment process is a multi-disciplinary team approach comprised of school administration, key faculty, psychological services, counselors, local law enforcement, school resource officers, local community services, mental health agencies, and school legal counsel. Participants will gain an enhanced understanding and ability to identify persons exhibiting threatening or aberrant behaviors, evaluate the risk of the threat, and provide appropriate interventions and case management to reduce the risk of violence.
Bomb threats to schools are a significant problem throughout the United States. Although more than 90% of bomb threats turn out to be pranks, school districts must take each threat seriously because of the real potential for death and serious injury. The problem of bomb threats is an annual occurrence for many school districts, resulting in days lost from teaching and learning, emotional trauma to students and staff, and financial costs. Effective response to school bomb threats requires the coordinated efforts of administration, faculty, staff, and first responders.
This 4-hour New Mexico Tech course is designed to aid emergency responders who respond to school bomb incidents. The primary target audience includes firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians, security personnel, and school employees who are responsible for planning for and responding to bombing incidents in schools. This course addresses issues and considerations involved in developing a safe and effective school bomb threat response plan annex as part of the school emergency operations plan.
This 4-hour New Mexico Tech course is designed for responders who require the skills necessary to recognize and report a potential incident involving explosives or who are likely to witness or investigate an event involving the use of explosives or explosive devices. This course provides basic information on explosive and incendiary devices that could be used as terrorist weapons. Classroom topics include: understanding the terrorist threat, improvised explosive devices, safety issues, etc. At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to identify and take appropriate action in the event of a potential or realized weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incident involving explosives and incendiaries.
The target audience for this course includes school administrators; higher education institution officials responsible for emergency planning and managing bomb incidents; college and university police/security/public safety officials, facilities managers, building and grounds management, housing, recreation and athletic staff; as well as responders from the following fields: law enforcement, fire service, emergency management, healthcare, public health, public safety communications, public works, hazardous materials, and governmental administration.
This 8-hour REMS course presents important Federal guidance on school emergency management planning. In June 2013, the Obama Administration released the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans, which provides an overview of Federal guidance on school emergency management planning. The Guide incorporates lessons learned from recent events, like the school shooting in Newtown and the tornadoes in Oklahoma, as well as years of emergency planning work by the Federal government, to present a recommended process, important content elements, and key considerations for school emergency operations plan (EOP) development. Lessons learned from school emergencies highlight the importance of preparing school officials and first responders to implement school EOPs. With this Train-the-Trainer course, an expert team will train potential master trainers on the recommended six step planning process to create a high-quality school EOP. This six step planning process is designed to help schools develop a plan, conduct a comprehensive review of their entire plan, or conduct periodic and incremental reviews of a plan’s components. The planning process discussed during the K-12 101 Train-the-Trainer is flexible and can be adapted to accommodate a school’s unique characteristics and situation.
The target audience for this course is potential master trainers from participating schools and school districts responsible for training site-based planning teams interested in creating, revising, or enhancing school EOPs; school staff members who serve, or will serve, on their school or school district’s EOP planning team; and other interested community stakeholders, including first responders, emergency medical services personnel, law enforcement, and others.
Successful student threat assessments cannot be determined without looking at the social media and online activity of the threat maker. The vast majority of recent school violence attacks have had precursors leaked online in the form of social media posts. Knowing where, how, and when to look for this information is critically important, and will be thoroughly addressed in this training.
This full-day class through Safer Schools Together was developed to keep pace with the evolving technology challenges that affect schools and public safety today. Digital Threat Assessment will cover the challenges frontline investigators and school staff are currently facing, including: anonymous online threats, fake accounts, sexting and sextortion, geolocational utilities and their dangers, image verification, and more. Digital Threat Assessment will help attendees understand the tools and methods available to identify and manage online threat related behavior. A significant portion of the day will be doing hands-on searching exercises on the most current social media sites and applications. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, key faculty, psychological services, counselors, local law enforcement, school resource officers, local community services, mental health agencies, and school legal counsel.
Building upon the Digital Threat Assessment class, this 1-day class through Safer Schools Together leaves participants with a concrete understanding of how to find and curate relevant digital information as is typically represented in a real-life digital threat assessment data gathering scenario. Major engagement and hands-on practice will take place as participants are assembled into investigative teams and given a mock real-life scenario. Participants will receive templates and will be supplied standard operating procedures to leave with confidence in being able to independently establish a threat maker’s digital baseline and produce a comprehensive report. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, key faculty, psychological services, counselors, local law enforcement, school resource officers, local community health agencies, and school legal counsel. Prerequisite: Digital Threat Assessment
Repeated and intense exposure to chronic stress and traumatic materials is harmful. Health and wellness are concerns for all multidisciplinary stakeholders involved in education and school safety, especially with job stress and the trauma experienced in the event that the unimaginable occurs. This 4-hour training addresses wellness, trauma recovery, and resiliency. Preparing for the Unimaginable: An In-Depth Look at Wellness, Trauma Recovery, and Resilience consists of: staying resilient when the unimaginable happens, early interventions EMDR, and protective factors, peer support, and building partnerships. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, school service personnel, school threat assessment team members, and law enforcement including executives, command staff, supervisors, and school resource officers.
Effective school and campus planning depends on a consistent analysis and comparison of the threats and hazards a particular school faces. The process of conducting a site safety security assessment creates opportunities to reduce or eliminate potential hazards and develop recommendations for improvement.
This training provides awareness resources and preparedness training to enhance organizational capacity to conduct multidisciplinary site assessments. Site Safety Security Assessment will develop an options-based, multi-hazard, multi-disciplinary approach for addressing the safety, accessibility, and emergency preparedness of the school’s buildings and grounds, as well as the surrounding community. The target audience for this class includes regional superintendents, district superintendents, principals/school administrators, school board members, school faculty and staff, school resources officers, local law enforcement, emergency management, fire services, and emergency medical services.
Every four hours someone is hit by a train. These collisions have the potential to cause a multi-agency response to the incidents, and can become even more complex when a school bus is involved. Railroad Safety for First Responders, Educators, and School Bus Drivers will cover the challenges that frontline responders and school staff are faced with when responding to an incident on or near railroad property.
This 3-hour class will prepare all involved (bus drivers, school administrators, law enforcement, first responders, etc.) and provide responding individuals the correct tools to safely navigate the unfamiliar environment of the railroad. Attendees will gain access to the safest ways to respond to railroad incidents. Railroad Safety for First Responders, Educators, and School Bus Drivers uses real-life videos to show the consequences of not adhering to railroad safety protocols. This training is targeted to help participants develop a better understanding of the railroad and its community. The target audience for this class includes school administrators and superintendents, transportation directors, bus drivers, school resource officers, local law enforcement, fire services, EMS, and emergency managers.
This day-long REMS course is designed to assist school districts and schools in planning for earthquakes that may impact the school community, its buildings and grounds, as well as those within the surrounding community. This training is intended to provide participants with an overview of the dangers earthquakes may pose to a school and its community. Key considerations for preparing for, protecting from, mitigating the effect of, responding to, and recovering from an earthquake are provided. The training also presents courses of action that planning teams may want to consider when developing hazard-specific and functional annexes relevant to earthquake preparedness. Training objectives include participants being able to: explain why earthquakes are dangerous and how they can impact schools and communities, including through cascading/secondary effects; describe preparedness activities that can help protect schools before, during, and after an earthquake; understand how the six-step planning process can help address earthquake preparedness in schools; recognize what courses of action may need to be addressed when planning for an earthquake; and identify where to go for more resources.
The target audience for this course is those with roles and responsibilities in protecting the school community before, during, and after potential earthquakes, including: district and school administrators, educators, counselors, school psychologists, facilities staff, nurses, food management and cafeteria staff, and other community partners such as: law enforcement, emergency managers, emergency medical services personnel, the local municipality’s representative, public and mental health officials, and representatives from community groups including youth-serving organizations.
Higher Education Courses
Higher education institutions have an obligation to provide a safe environment for learning. Part of this safe environment includes the ability to prevent violence by evaluating potentially violent students, faculty, and staff. Participants will gain an enhanced understanding and ability to identify persons of concern exhibiting threatening or aberrant behaviors, evaluate the risk of the threat, and provide appropriate interventions and case management to reduce the risk of violence. The target audience and threat assessment process is a multi-disciplinary team approach comprised of higher education institutional leaders, faculty governance, campus law enforcement/security departments, campus counseling/mental health services, campus judicial affairs, local law enforcement, and local community services/mental health agencies.
This seminar is designed to address violence prevention through behavioral threat assessment using best practices, research, and showcasing different threat assessment models for higher education institutions. The training targets actions based on behavioral assessments and focuses attention to campus and public safety concerns as well as legal issues involved in the process of managing potentially dangerous human behavior.
Bomb threats to schools are a significant problem throughout the United States. Although more than 90% of bomb threats turn out to be pranks, school districts must take each threat seriously because of the real potential for death and serious injury. The problem of bomb threats is an annual occurrence for many school districts, resulting in days lost from teaching and learning, emotional trauma to students and staff, and financial costs. Effective response to school bomb threats requires the coordinated efforts of administration, faculty, staff, and first responders.
This 4-hour New Mexico Tech course is designed to aid emergency responders who respond to school bomb incidents. The primary target audience includes firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians, security personnel, and school employees who are responsible for planning for and responding to bombing incidents in schools. This course addresses issues and considerations involved in developing a safe and effective school bomb threat response plan annex as part of the school emergency operations plan.
This 4-hour New Mexico Tech course is designed for responders who require the skills necessary to recognize and report a potential incident involving explosives or who are likely to witness or investigate an event involving the use of explosives or explosive devices. This course provides basic information on explosive and incendiary devices that could be used as terrorist weapons. Classroom topics include: understanding the terrorist threat, improvised explosive devices, safety issues, etc. At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to identify and take appropriate action in the event of a potential or realized weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incident involving explosives and incendiaries.
The target audience for this course includes school administrators; higher education institution officials responsible for emergency planning and managing bomb incidents; college and university police/security/public safety officials, facilities managers, building and grounds management, housing, recreation and athletic staff; as well as responders from the following fields: law enforcement, fire service, emergency management, healthcare, public health, public safety communications, public works, hazardous materials, and governmental administration.
This 8-hour REMS Train-the-Trainer course presents important Federal guidance on emergency management planning for Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). Faced with emergencies ranging from fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes to pandemic influenza and other infectious diseases, and active shooter situations, it is critical for IHEs to plan ahead to help ensure the safety and general welfare of all members of the campus community. Lessons learned from emergencies involving IHEs highlight the importance of preparing IHE officials and first responders to implement Higher Ed EOPs. With this IHE 101 Train-the-Trainer course, an expert team will train potential master trainers on the recommended six step planning process to create a high-quality Higher Ed EOP. This six step planning process is designed to help IHEs develop a plan, conduct a comprehensive review of their entire plan, or conduct periodic and incremental reviews of a plan’s components. The planning process discussed during the course is flexible and can be adapted to accommodate an IHE’s unique characteristics and situation.
The target audience for this course is potential master trainers from participating IHEs responsible for training site-based planning teams interested in creating, revising, or enhancing Higher Ed EOPs; IHE personnel who serve, or will serve, on their IHE’s EOP planning team; and other interested stakeholders, including first responders, emergency medical services personnel, campus and/or public health officials, campus and/or city police, students, and other campus and community partners.
Successful student threat assessments cannot be determined without looking at the social media and online activity of the threat maker. The vast majority of recent school violence attacks have had precursors leaked online in the form of social media posts. Knowing where, how, and when to look for this information is critically important, and will be thoroughly addressed in this training.
This full-day class through Safer Schools Together was developed to keep pace with the evolving technology challenges that affect schools and public safety today. Digital Threat Assessment will cover the challenges frontline investigators and school staff are currently facing, including: anonymous online threats, fake accounts, sexting and sextortion, geolocational utilities and their dangers, image verification, and more. Digital Threat Assessment will help attendees understand the tools and methods available to identify and manage online threat related behavior. A significant portion of the day will be doing hands-on searching exercises on the most current social media sites and applications. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, key faculty, psychological services, counselors, local law enforcement, school resource officers, local community services, mental health agencies, and school legal counsel.
Building upon the Digital Threat Assessment class, this 1-day class through Safer Schools Together leaves participants with a concrete understanding of how to find and curate relevant digital information as is typically represented in a real-life digital threat assessment data gathering scenario. Major engagement and hands-on practice will take place as participants are assembled into investigative teams and given a mock real-life scenario. Participants will receive templates and will be supplied standard operating procedures to leave with confidence in being able to independently establish a threat maker’s digital baseline and produce a comprehensive report. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, key faculty, psychological services, counselors, local law enforcement, school resource officers, local community health agencies, and school legal counsel. Prerequisite: Digital Threat Assessment
Repeated and intense exposure to chronic stress and traumatic materials is harmful. Health and wellness are concerns for all multidisciplinary stakeholders involved in education and school safety, especially with job stress and the trauma experienced in the event that the unimaginable occurs. This 4-hour training addresses wellness, trauma recovery, and resiliency. Preparing for the Unimaginable: An In-Depth Look at Wellness, Trauma Recovery, and Resilience consists of: staying resilient when the unimaginable happens, early interventions EMDR, and protective factors, peer support, and building partnerships. The target audience for this class includes school administrators, school service personnel, school threat assessment team members, and law enforcement including executives, command staff, supervisors, and school resource officers.
Effective school and campus planning depends on a consistent analysis and comparison of the threats and hazards a particular school faces. The process of conducting a site safety security assessment creates opportunities to reduce or eliminate potential hazards and develop recommendations for improvement.
This training provides awareness resources and preparedness training to enhance organizational capacity to conduct multidisciplinary site assessments. Site Safety Security Assessment will develop an options-based, multi-hazard, multi-disciplinary approach for addressing the safety, accessibility, and emergency preparedness of the school’s buildings and grounds, as well as the surrounding community. The target audience for this class includes regional superintendents, district superintendents, principals/school administrators, school board members, school faculty and staff, school resources officers, local law enforcement, emergency management, fire services, and emergency medical services.
This 2-day Louisiana State University course provides participants with an understanding of and ability to navigate through the difficult aspects of dealing with campus emergencies involving natural or human-caused events, including acts of violence. The course consists of small, problem-based, integrated group activities that require a coordinated, integrated approach to solve. Through tabletop scenarios, course participants will observe a developing incident and respond in a manner consistent with currently established campus and jurisdictional emergency operations procedures.
The target audience for this course must include representatives from each of the following areas: executive campus leaders; faculty/student governance; campus public safety departments; facilities departments; emergency management; student life and affairs; campus health/medical and mental health services; campus public affairs; jurisdictional public information officers at community colleges, colleges, and universities; and local law enforcement and public safety agencies.