The Cassville school district has two staff members now certified as School Safety Specialists.

John Lueckenhoff and Dylan Klewer attended the recent School Safety Academy hosted by Missouri School Boards’ Association’s Center for Education Safety. The event was held June 24-26 in Branson and is designed to train and certify school safety coordinators in comprehensive school safety planning and development.

In August, the duo presented to the Cassville School Board during its monthly meeting, noting areas of success and concern regarding school safety.

Simplifying the emergency operations plan has been a focus, aiming to reduce school staff’s emergency plans to a single page. Leuckenhoff and Klewer said this would reduce the likelihood of confusion during a crisis.

A focus has been put on keeping exterior doors from being propped for any reason, and the duo noted armed staff within the district have all completed training. School safety personnel from multiple school systems throughout the state attended the academy at no cost to local school districts.

“It’s essential that students, teachers and staff are in a safe learning environment,” said John McDonald, Center for Education Safety’s chief operating officer. “Schools must have processes and protocols in place and have trained staff to respond accordingly to ensure our students can focus on learning.’

Topics at the School Safety Academy included support systems for behaviors, legal aspects of school safety, trauma- informed schools and mental health resources, intervention and de-escalation, emergency preparedness and plan building, behavioral risk and threat assessments, and cyber security fundamentals and more.

The Center for Education Safety’s School Safety Academy includes the basic training needed to certify school safety coordinators with plans to expand to more advanced training and certification as the program builds over the coming years.