LSU NCBRT/ACE Enhances the Safety of 122,000 Louisiana School Children Through Emergency Management Training Program
In the first year of its Grants to States for School Emergency Management, or GSEM, program, LSU's National Center for Biomedical Research and Training/Academy of Counterterrorist Education, or NCBRT/ACE, evaluated crisis plans for 204 schools, enhancing the safety of more than 122,000 Louisiana school children and the school staff and education professionals who serve them. Additionally, NCBRT/ACE delivered school emergency management training at no cost to more than 200 school personnel from across Louisiana.
In October 2018, the state of Louisiana, in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Education and LSU NCBRT/ACE, was awarded a five-year, $3.6 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Supportive Schools. The grant aimed to support emergency management training for Louisiana K-12 institutions and their emergency response partners. LSU NCBRT/ACE has offered a series of grant-funded training events to Louisiana schools to help improve school emergency management plans. These trainings increase the ability of schools to protect our children and school staff from hazards ranging from natural emergencies to active shooter events.
In addition to training, LSU NCBRT/ACE provided technical assistance feedback and support as these schools worked to update and improve their plans to prevent, respond to and recover from any critical event that could take place in our children's educational environments. A baseline understanding of the training needs of Louisiana schools was established through this process and became the foundation for a series of courses LSU NCBRT/ACE developed to address the specific needs of schools in Louisiana.
"Our partnership with the LSU NCBRT team has allowed us to leverage resources to expand quality training to schools in our system," said East Baton Rouge Parish School Assistant Superintendent Ben Necaise. "In addition to training, the NCBRT team completed a Gap Analysis of our current Emergency Response Information Portal plans, and it allowed us to validate the hard work of our own employees while learning about ways to improve our plans moving forward. The LSU NCBRT team is an invaluable resource and partner in our work to continuously improve our ability to provide safe and prepared schools."
As the program enters its second year, LSU NCBRT/ACE will continue to offer emergency management training to Louisiana schools funded by the GSEM grant. LSU NCBRT/ACE's team of highly qualified national experts will continue working with school systems across the state to assess planning practices, evaluate current capabilities, and develop and deliver customized training to ensure that our children are safe and that school teachers and other school personnel are prepared to efficiently and effectively prevent, respond to and recover from any emergency situation.
LSU NCBRT/ACE envisions this model of interaction with schools, school systems and school personnel will be adopted nationally to better protect our nation's children, classroom teachers and other school professionals.
Public and nonpublic in Louisiana are eligible to participate in this program. For more information, contact Rose Landry at[email="SchoolSafety@ncbrt.lsu.edu"]schoolsafety@ncbrt.lsu.edu[/email] or 225-578-8187.
About LSU NCBRT/ACE:
LSU NCBRT/ACE is a nationally recognized center for emergency preparedness and response training located at Louisiana State University's flagship campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU NCBRT/ACE provides mobile training to both the national and international emergency response community. The mission of LSU NCBRT/ACE is to influence, develop, and deliver specialized training and education, providing the skills necessary to prepare for, respond to, and recover from complex threats and high-consequence events. LSU NCBRT/ACE has expertise in research, development and delivery of training in the areas of specialized law enforcement operations; biological incident response; food and agriculture safety and security; and instructional design and technique.
Contact Elizabeth Carter
LSU NCBRT/ACE
225-578-5274
ecarter@ncbrt.lsu.edu
or
Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5685
eballa1@lsu.edu
Provided by Louisiana State University