As the new school year begins and already we see tragic stories of bullying, suicide and violence emerge throughout school systems and communities; Nodaway Valley Community School District in Iowa is focusing on prevention.
Nodaway Valley CSD is implementing Awareity’s proven and multi-award-winning TIPS (Threat assessment, Incident management & Prevention Services) prevention platform to help improve school communications, raise awareness and improve student safety. TIPS is an innovative solution equipping students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to anonymously report bullying, cyber bullying, weapons, abuse, vandalism, suicide risks and other concerning behaviors.
It is impossible for a school to prevent something they don’t know about. Evidence clearly reveals school officials need students, parents, faculty, staff and community members to be their eyes and ears to help them more effectively prevent behaviors that can have a negative effect on the school’s safe learning environment.
According to Dr. Casey Berlau, Superintendent for Nodaway Valley CSD, “We want our students to tell us about any concerns they have. If it is hurting their ability to learn, it needs to stop. Kids will withdraw if you tell them to report something and then do nothing about it. TIPS is helping our team proactively identify, respond and address student safety issues before they escalate.”
How it works: if you observe a student making threats, witness bullying on the school bus, on line, or at school, or have concerns about friends, students or others, simply go to the Nodaway Valley CSD website and click on the TIPS REPORT INCIDENT select the appropriate incident type, share the necessary details and SUBMIT. TIPS can also be used to report acts of kindness and for ongoing student surveys.
Once an incident report is made, the principal and designated staff members are immediately notified and can securely review the report details to begin coordinating an appropriate assessment and response. TIPS provides all team members with the right tools to track and document the actions taken, see related reports, set automated reminders, review past reports and connect the right dots so no students or incidents are overlooked.
“Most fights don’t start on the playground- fights start the night before on Facebook and schools are just seeing the escalation the next day at school,” says Awareity’s President Rick Shaw. “I have heard administrators say they just don’t have time to deal with all of the problems being brought to their attention, but if those administrators would just take time to handle small situations when they start, it will save them a lot of time and pain dealing with bigger issues that were allowed to escalate. We applaud Nodaway Valley Schools for listening to their students and taking proactive action with TIPS.”
The TIPS platform is being utilized in over 400 schools across the nation and has empowered schools to intervene and prevent multiple suicides, bullying escalations and active shooter attacks. TIPS is the only comprehensive reporting solution available that also includes tools for threat assessment and ongoing training and policy acknowledgement.
About Awareity:
Awareity is reinventing the way schools and organizations of all types improve safety, prevent regulatory failures, compliance fines, lawsuits, privacy breaches, safety disconnects, operational challenges, ethical lapses, incident reporting failures, workplace violence and more. Awareity offers an innovative and cost-effective prevention platform to connect the dots, eliminate embarrassing gaps and realize a better bottom line.
Contact:
Katie Johnson
402.730.0077
info@awareity.com
www.awareity.com
###