Governor’s Column - February 22, 2008
by Governor Matt Blunt
Enhancing the Safety and Security of Missouri’s Students
Our schools are among the safest places for our children, but the violence that occurred last year at Virginia Tech and recently at Northern Illinois University is a reminder that we must continue to be vigilant and enhance our preparedness for emergency situations.
We have watched with horror as criminals perpetrated violent attacks at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois University. From these we have learned that school officials must be aware of warning signs. Equally as important, we have also learned that early, systematic communication is vital to saving lives. At Virginia Tech, there was a lapse between the first and subsequent shootings. With better communication, the tragedy might not have been as damaging.
Last summer, with the leadership of the Missouri School Boards Association, we created the Missouri Alert Network to ensure quick and thorough communication in the event of a dangerous situation in a Missouri K-12 school. This network is a state-level, rapid notification and information distribution system to be activated in emergencies. Through this system, every school in our state, public and private, can be notified simultaneously with a voice, text, or e-mail message. The network is operated by and, when needed, activated by state public safety officials. We started the Missouri Alert Network in elementary and secondary schools around the state. We are now working with the Missouri Schools Boards Association to expand this important service to colleges and universities which will help us protect even more Missourians from danger.
Last year I created the Campus Security Task Force to enhance safety on college and university campuses throughout Missouri. A survey conducted by the task force revealed that leaders at 92 percent of Missouri higher education institutions said that emergency notification was their highest concern for campus security. Expanding the Missouri Alert Network to colleges and universities helps to address those concerns.
The Campus Security Task Force was charged with enhancing our ongoing efforts to make every campus in Missouri a safe place to live and learn. One of the task force’s recommendations was for institutions to establish multi-disciplinary teams, with members from faculty, law enforcement, and the mental health community, to share and review information about members of the campus community who are perceived to be exhibiting behaviors and characteristics indicative of violence or causing concern. These multi-disciplinary teams will be charged with helping students with these problems, and, in the process, protecting others. Other task force recommendations include: increased collaboration between campus and local emergency responders in developing and exercising emergency plans, that every campus should have a designated official to coordinate emergency and homeland security operations, and that all colleges and universities should use the Emergency Response Information Program (ERIP), an Internet-based tool, to construct their all-hazard plan. To date, 21 colleges and universities across the state are using ERIP.
Missouri students and parents can rest assured that law enforcement officials on college campuses, in college communities, and throughout our state are prepared to protect students with rapid communication of the threats and hazards and rapid, practiced, and coordinated on-scene response to emergency situations. I commend the Missouri School Boards Association for partnering with the state and our schools, colleges and universities to bring this important safety initiative to Missouri students.