In 2005, Nassau BOCES received a United States Department of Education grant to assist schools with their emergency planning and response efforts. This project was made possible through a partnership with Nassau County including the County Executive, Office of Emergency Management, Police Department, and the Departments of Health and Mental Health. Our partnership has clearly affected the County’s ability to better serve and protect the children and families of Nassau County.

We have established the Nassau Schools Emergency Planning Consortium web site to provide school districts with the latest information on emergency prevention, planning, response, and recovery procedures. This web site provides an on-going source of communication and information for Nassau County school districts and school districts across the country.

The grant has allowed us to train school district personnel on the best practices for crisis management and has established a solid foundation for school safety plans. We have trained over 200 school principals and assistant principals on Multi-Hazard Emergency Response. In addition, focused training was provided for school safety teams, facility directors, post-incident response teams, and public information officers. Nassau BOCES works with the 56 county school districts on a daily basis to further refine their response capacity.

We have worked closely with the Nassau County Red Cross to implement school shelter agreements. These agreements are critical for sheltering our residents during any potential emergency such as hurricanes or a terrorist threat. School shelter sites often also house conex boxes which provide storage for needed emergency supplies.

In cooperation with the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management, we have incorporated school districts into the existing county trunk-radio system. This system, which is not impacted by power outages, is utilized by many other county agencies. Currently, 10 Nassau County school districts have joined this network.

As an educator, there is nothing more important to me than the safety and well-being of children. Thanks to the cooperation of our partners in this endeavor, Nassau BOCES will play a key role in helping our 56 component school districts keep our children safe during any crisis.