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Illinois governor lauds school response and safety program | 04.22.2008 | 07:21:47 | Views: 6300 | ID: April 22 '08: In a press release, Illinois Governor Rod J. Blagojevich said efforts to train first responders, school faculty, personnel and school children to confront the dangers of events such as the Columbine High School shooting have resulted in more than 4,500 training sessions. Gov. Blagojevich said, "Schools have enthusiastically embraced the training opportunities and guidance we are offering, and I believe real progress has been made." Efforts to strengthen the state's emergency response and crisis management plans were put into place for school systems through the School Safety Drill Act which was passed August 15, 2005. The law was the first to set clear and minimum requirements and standards for public and private school emergency planning, the state's press release read. Training for the School Safety Drill Act is funded through the Illinois Terrorism Task Force's, Safe School Security Training Project under the purview of ReadyIllinois. Two training courses are available for school officials and responders. To date, more than 100 one-day courses and 12 two-day courses have been held. "A total of 765 of the state's 889 public school districts have sent representatives to the training sessions, and 255 of the 1,253 non-public schools statewide have participated in the training courses," the press release read. Blagojevich said, "While we can't always prevent the unexpected from happening, we can give school personnel the knowledge and tools they need to keep our kids safe." National Blueprint Tags: Response & Containment, Citizen & Community.
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