As tragic stories of bullying, suicide and violence continue to spread through school systems and communities, Ankeny Community School District is focusing on solutions.
Ankeny Community Schools will be the first Iowa school district to implement Awareity’s proven and multi‐award‐winning TIPS (Threat assessment, Incident management & Prevention Services) prevention platform to help broaden communication channels, raise awareness and improve student safety. TIPS is an innovative solution equipping students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to anonymously report concerning behaviors, bullying, cyber bullying, and suicide risks.
How can a school prevent something if they don’t know about it? 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 bullying, violence, suicide and other incidents that can have a negative effect the school’s safe learning environment.
According to Chad Bentzinger, Safety and Security Manager for Ankeny Community Schools, “We wanted our students, staff, and community to have a way to report bullying and/or other incidents they were being exposed to. More importantly, we wanted to be sure the platform we utilized would not allow for a single incident to slip through the cracks. Awareity’s TIPS is the answer.”
How it works: if you witness bullying on the school bus, on line, at school, observe a student making threats, or have concerns about friends, students or others, simply go to the Ankeny Schools website and click on the TIPS REPORT INCIDENT select the appropriate incident type, share the information you know and SUBMIT.
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 students or incidents are not overlooked.
The TIPS platform is being utilized in schools across the nation and has empowered schools to intervene and prevent multiple suicides, bullying escalations and active shooter attacks. Prior to many tragedies, there are warning signs, unusual behaviors or plans being made. With TIPS, at‐risk individuals can get the help they need and the Ankeny school community can work together to help ensure a safe and secure learning environment for all.
About Awareity:
Awareity helps leading organizations prevent the preventable and transform the status quo. 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
Client Services, Awareity
402.730.0077
info@awareity.com
www.awareity.com
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