CENTEGIX | Education
Mississippi School Safety Standards
CENTEGIX | Education
Mississippi School Safety Standards
Mississippi School Safety Act of 2019
Mississippi school alert systems are designed to create safe and secure learning environments for the state’s young people. According to the Mississippi School Safety Manual, school leaders across the state must prepare for the possibility of an active shooter on campus, so students, staff, and emergency personnel fully understand their roles.
A minimum of two active shooter drills are mandated to take place within the first 60 days of each semester. The rule was established as part of the Mississippi School Safety Act of 2019. Three different drills are acceptable as part of Mississippi school safety solutions:
Lockdown/Intruder Shelter-in-Place Drill: classes shelter in place while administrative personnel and school resource officers walk the halls to secure classroom and other building doors.
Tabletop Activity: key personnel informally discuss simulated scenarios to assess plans, policies, and procedures.
FullScale Operational Based Response Exercise: this is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional activity involving the deployment of resources in a coordinated response as if a real incident has occurred.
As part of the plan, all schools must have two family reunification points and maps to those locations.
Division of School Safety
The Mississippi Department of Education’s Division of School Safety is tasked with helping schools with physical security, emergency operation, and school discipline. The division provides training and technical assistance for Mississippi school safety solutions:
School resource officer/school safety officer training
Civilian response to active shooter events
Review and assist with school district emergency planning
School safety technical assistance visits
Office of Safe and Orderly Schools
The State of Mississippi created The Office of Safe and Orderly Schools as part of the Department of Education to provide a series of guidelines for those in positions of responsibility for the health and safety of students and staff:
at school
on school grounds
on their way to or from school
involved in school-sponsored activities
The divisions that comprise the Office of Safe and Orderly Schools stress the importance of community-wide partnerships in the development of procedures and policies that effectively support the operation and maintenance of a healthy, safe, orderly, and disciplined school environment.
The office compiled and distributed the Mississippi School Safety Manual which describes the roles and responsibilities of administrators, teachers, students, and school resource officers. It also presents procedures for site assessments that determine if school facilities are following proper safety protocols, including the use of locks, cameras, and alarms to respond to a potentially violent situation.
Mississippi School Guardian Program and School Safety Alliance
As the incidents of school shootings have increased nationally, Mississippi has been researching ways to make its schools safer places for students, teachers, and staff members.
Gov. Tate Reeves has proposed creating the Mississippi School Guardian Program. It would send school employees through training with the Department of Public Safety. Those employees would be certified to carry guns and use them during an active shooter situation.
In addition, the Department of Education has partnered with the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, to establish the School Safety Alliance in 2022.
The group’s mission is to study student mental health issues and evaluate current state laws and policies to ensure students have safe learning environments. The alliance includes representatives from the Department of Education, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Attorney General’s office, and school employees.
School Safety Grants and Funding
School Safety Grant Program
The Mississippi Department of Education awards grants for Mississippi school safety solutions. In addition, the School Safety Grant Program funds evidence-based curricula that provide students with stress and anxiety management skills. The program also provides mental health and suicide prevention training for school employees.
Learn more here.
COPS Grant Program
In 2022, U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith reported that $4.5 million was awarded to Mississippi school districts as part of the Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. Those funds can be used to improve security and coordination with law enforcement. More grants are available through the U.S. Department of Justice COPS program. The application deadline is May 10, 2023.
In addition, the Mississippi Legislature has allocated money for training and equipment to increase school safety.
Learn more here.
ESSER & ESSER II Funds
Mississippi schools have also used ESSER and ESSER II funds for:
- preparedness and response efforts to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus
- mental health services and supports
- school repairs and improvements to reduce the risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards
ESSER funds also can be used for community violence intervention programs that address students’ social, emotional, and mental health, as well as academic development.
Federal Grants
A variety of federal grants are available:
- Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence—Funding can be used to develop or enhance support services for children exposed to violence. The deadline is May 8, 2023.
- Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program—Financial resources are available to help communities implement violence prevention approaches. The deadline is April 25, 2023.
- Project AWARE—Grants support school-based mental health programs and services. The deadline is April 28, 2023.
- Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence—This program funds the implementation of evidence-based prevention and intervention efforts at K-12 schools. The deadline is May 3, 2023.
- STOP School Violence Program—Funds are used to help students and teachers respond quickly to prevent acts of violence. The deadline is May 8, 2023.
- School Violence Prevention Program—Grant can be used to fund school safety programs and technology upgrades. The deadline is May 10.
- Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative—This program provides funding to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs. The deadline is May 18.
- Fiscal Year 2023 Nonprofit Security Grant Program—This grant provides funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities for nonprofit organizations that are at a high risk of a terrorist attack. The deadline is May 18.
- Fiscal Year 2023 Homeland Security Grant Program—This program includes a variety of risk-based grants to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial efforts in preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from acts of terrorism and other threats. The deadline is May 18.
To learn how to turn schools in your district into safer learning environments, reach out to CENTEGIX to connect with a specialist.
How Are Your Resources Being Spent?
CENTEGIX protects over 12,000 locations across the country. We can protect yours, too.
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform™, featuring CrisisAlert™, accelerates your response to emergencies. We’ve built the CENTEGIX Safety Platform to support you in the single most critical factor of incident response: time. Because in an emergency, every second matters.
Discover federal resources to fund new safety and security initiatives in your district by exploring federal funding resources for school safety.
CENTEGIX Safety Report
2024 School Safety Trends: Saving Seconds Saves Lives
Discover our latest, comprehensive analysis of school safety incidents gathered from the CENTEGIX Safety Platform™ usage data for the 2023-2024 school year in our report 2024 School Safety Trends: Saving Seconds Saves Lives.
See what our safety report reveals regarding safety in the classroom, state safety legislation, and critical components of school safety solutions. Download your copy today.
Hear from Our Educators
We engage with teachers and staff every day to understand how CrisisAlert supports them, and here’s what they’ve shared:
A student was having trouble breathing and her vision was beginning to black out. We don’t have service in our building and it can be difficult to get ahold of the office staff, so having something to immediately alert them of emergency was incredibly helpful in a very scary situation.
I had a student who was refusing to follow directions and became very defiant. This student was beginning to get aggressive. I used my badge to alert our campus security monitor to remove the student from the situation. It is a very useful tool when the response was as immediate as it was.
A student was having a severe panic attack, trouble speaking, crying, not able to answer my questions as to what was wrong with her. I used the device to call for administrative help and it worked like it was designed to. Help arrived in a matter of seconds. I saw firsthand how well it works.
The Safety Platform™ Meets Grant-Funded Safety Measures
The CENTEGIX Safety Platform is an emergency incident response safety system that features wearable panic buttons, digital mapping software, and reunification and visitor management capabilities and generates accurate, usable data. The Safety Platform solution uses visual strobes, digital messages, and automated intercom announcements to inform everyone of a campus-wide incident and to instruct them on actions they should take. The Safety Platform meets the security infrastructure needs the Mississippi school safety grants aim to address.
The Safety Platform features an analytics dashboard that assists administrators as they make safety and security decisions. A data set is generated when a staff member uses their wearable badge to request assistance. Administrators can better understand where and why and under what conditions. These administrative decisions, enabled by Platform data, contribute to the “positive and safe climate” that the safety grants aim to foster.
The CENTEGIX school safety platform provides robust and uninterrupted communication between staff members, administrators, first responders, and students. Unlike other emergency incident response systems, the Safety Platform’s technology precludes adoption and connectivity challenges. It runs on a dedicated IoT network; it’s not susceptible to Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity interruptions. And because the CrisisAlert mobile panic button is worn along with an ID badge, 100% of staff members use it. This high adoption rate means that every staff member at every location on campus can request help when they need it. CrisisAlert generates accurate location data for every alert, no matter where on campus. Therefore first responders know exactly where to go during an emergency. In many instances, this kind of rapid response can prevent tragedy.
These critical features of the CrisisAlert badge and Safety Blueprint from CENTEGIX ensure an immediate response:
Desktop takeover notifications for staff mean campus-wide alerts are never missed.
Location accuracy enables rapid response.
The system immediately connects the parties best prepared to handle the situation.
Wi-Fi and phone outages have no effect on the system.
Wearable security badges are easily accessible, lightweight, and wearable.
CENTEGIX Safety Platform can help school districts and LEAs enact these measures, making students and staff safer. The Safety platform school safety solution helps create a climate of safety by enabling staff members to request help immediately, from anywhere on campus, in any type of emergency. Under these conditions, teachers can focus on student needs, and students can focus on learning.
CENTEGIX is the leader in incident response solutions. Our Safety Platform is the fastest and easiest way for staff to request help in an emergency, from the everyday to the extreme. CENTEGIX innovates technology to empower and protect people, and leaders nationwide trust our safety solutions to provide peace of mind.
Championing Safe Schools with Educators and Educator Associations
Discover the Safety Platform
Safety solutions that prioritize speed for the best outcome.
Mapping and locating capabilities provide the precise location—of emergencies, visitors, and safety assets.
A visitor management system screens and locates visitors on your campus.
Protocol development to plan for rapid incident response.
CENTEGIX CrisisAlert vs. Mobile Apps
CrisisAlert eliminates vulnerabilities related to app-only solutions and enables rapid incident response to all emergencies.
In an Emergency, You Need CrisisAlert™
Adverse situations can happen at any moment—from everyday crises such as medical emergencies, severe weather, and physical altercations to extreme situations that threaten your entire campus. The faster you get help to the right location, the better the outcome.
See how our CrisisAlert wearable mobile panic button empowers staff to get help instantly in an emergency.
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