Building Climate Conducive for School Safety training
Register now for this two-day training for your safety teams to strengthen your school climate. Day one objectives (December) of this training include discovering why school climate is important for school safety; defining what a safe school climate looks like; measuring climate and reviewing data. Day two (February) will be spent discovering what we have learned at our schools and how to build intentional strategies to address school safety needs.
Register: Building Climate Conducive for School Safety
| Day 1 | Location Each Day | Day 2 |
| December 3, 2019 | Scottsbluff: HARMS Center | February 28, 2020 |
| December 4, 2019 | North Platte: ESU 16 | February 27, 2020 |
| December 5, 2019 | Kearney: ESU 16 | February 26, 2020 |
| December 6, 2019 | Lincoln: Int’l Quilt Museum | February 25, 2020 |
| December 9, 2019 | Wakefield: ESU 1 | February 17, 2020 |
| December 10, 2019 | Omaha: DC Centre | February 24, 2020 |
After you have registered, send your payment to the Nebraska Department of Education, 301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, NE 68509. Please add ‘School Safety’ in the memo portion of your check to indicate that the check should be given to us. Payment due one week before training.
Suicide Prevention Training:
K-12 Suicide Prevention – Postvention Online Training – updated training from the UNL Public Policy Center. Contact ppccourses@unl.edu or call 4020-472-5678 with questions.
Nebraska Kognito training is free to Nebraska public schools through September 30, 2019. After that, cost will be at the district’s expense. Visit the Kognitio site: https://nebraska.kognito.com/ If you have trouble with the Kognito site, please call 1-866-449-8834 or email support@kognito.com
Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR): Question, Persuade, and Refer. Go to this link: https://qprinstitute.com/
Making Educators Partners in Youth Suicide Prevention
This training is provided at no cost by the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. Click on this link: http://sptsuniverity.org/login/index.php
Help, My Child is Being Bullied
Download the Bullying Resource Charts (pdf format)
The Four Elements of Bullying (English)
Bullying en espanol 2.1 (Spanish)
NDE Staff Contact:
Cesar Torres: Phone: 402-471-0986 or email:
For complete information on the subjects of bullying and cyberbullying, click on the link in the left hand column of the School Safety website and you will see a drop down menu with many pages available to learn about bullying. Click on “Help, My Child is Being Bullied” to see the drop down pages.
Download newly designed posters by NDE to illustrate LB 281 providing a statewide toll-free number to report child abuse or neglect:
Newly developed:
Hint: to print the brochure, print on short edge so it aligns properly.
Nebraska Safety & Security Standards
If the links listed below do not work for you, go to esupdo.org, scroll down to where it says “Workshop Calendar” in the blue box, and you can click through the calendar to view the dates you want to register.
Upcoming Nebraska Safety Training:
| Type of Training | Dates | Location | Address | Register |
| Psychological First Aid for Schools | December 11 | International Quilt Museum | 1523 N 33rd St, Lincoln | https://esupdo.org |
| Advanced Threat Assessment: Communication | January 21, 2020 | ESU 13 (Sidney) | 1114 Toledo Street, Sidney | https://esupdo.org |
| Advanced Threat Assessment: Intervention | March 2, 2020 | ESU 2 | 2320 N Colorado Ave, Fremont | https://esupdo.org |
| Basic Threat Assessment | March 3 & 4, 2020 | ESU 11 | 412 W 14th Ave, Holdrege | https://esupdo.org |
| Psychological First Aid for Schools | March 11, 2020 | ESU 10 | 76 Plaza Blvd, Kearney | https://esupdo.org |
| Psychological First Aid for Schools | March 23, 2020 | Lifelong Learning Center | 701 E Benjamin Ave, Norfolk | https://esupdo.org |
| Advanced Threat Assessment: Communication | March 24, 2020 | ESU 8 | 110 W 3rd St, Neligh | https://esupdo.org |
| Basic Threat Assessment | March 25 & 26, 2020 | ESU 2 | 232 N Colorado Ave, Fremont | https://esupdo.org |
| Advanced Threat Assessment: Intervention | May 28, 2020 | ESU 13 (Scottsbluff) | 4215 Avenue I, Scottsbluff | https://esupdo.org |
In 2014, the Nebraska Legislature mandated multiple safety and security measures for Nebraska schools: the development of standards to use as guidelines for creating safer and more secure schools; the submission of safety plans by all schools; and all schools have a security assessment by the school security director.
After the standards were developed, four main areas emerged that best represent the overall big picture of safety and security that translates into everyday planning in Nebraska schools:
Prevention (aimed at preventing an incident)
Preparedness (targeted at limiting incident casualties, chaos, and destruction
Response (focused intentional planning for responding to an incident both immediate and long term)
Recovery (designed to restore climate and environment to pre-incident conditions)
The basics regarding the state statute regarding school safety:
§79-2,144
The state school security director appointed pursuant to section 79-2,143 shall be responsible for providing leadership and support for safety and security for the public schools. Duties of the director include, but are not limited to:
(3) Conducting an assessment of the security of each public school building, which assessment shall be completed by August 31, 2019
Steps to the Security Assessment for all school buildings:
Step 1
- Safety committee/team completes the on-line self-assessment located at NDE Security Self-Assessment
- The team may first want to complete paper copy prior to electronic copy
- The school will have access to the completed electronic copy
- Other details for the security assessment (Word document)
Step 2
- Notify jolene.palmer@nebraska.gov of completion
Step 3
- NDE Security Assessor will contact point of contact identified on the self-assessment to schedule a school visit to validate the security self-assessment
Step 4
- NDE Security Assessor will conduct the security assessment validation
New: A Building Security Sign to make sure your doors are secure at all times. Click on the link to download the sign.
Dr. Mario Scalora and Dr. Denise Bulling of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center are partnering with Dr. Jolene Palmer, the Nebraska Department of Education Safety and Security Director, to conduct basic and advanced threat assessment training for Nebraska schools. The training is sponsored by local Educational Service Units in all areas of the state and features guidelines created by the Public Policy Center that translate the science and practice of threat assessment for use by local school and community teams. Participants in the training include educators, administrators, law enforcement, mental health, public health, and human resource professionals around the state of Nebraska. This training utilizes a threat assessment strategy specifically tailored for rural settings and other schools with limited resources.
Standard Response Protocol training is available for all schools in Nebraska. Contact Jolene Palmer at the Nebraska Department of Education to set up a training in your area.
Threat Assessment Training:
Take your team to Nebraska’s Threat Assessment training. New dates were just released for fall 2019 and spring 2020 training. We will offer sessions on the three levels of Threat Assessment training: Basic, Advanced Threat Assessment: Communication and Advanced Threat Assessment: Intervention & Management.
Training runs from 9:00-3:30 CST or MT (check details). To register: https://www.esupdo.org
Please note: An opportunity exists for schools to have the registration discounted when a team of four or more individuals attend with the roles of administrator, staff, law enforcement officer and mental health professional are represented. If all roles are represented and attend both days of training, the cost will be $20 per person each day.
Charting the Future of School Safety (2016 PowerPoint)