Nebraska School Safety Vision

The Big Picture of School Safety

To guide and support all Nebraska schools in prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts to keep educational communities safe and secure.

Prevention: The priority of altering the path of an incident before it happens in our school communities.

Preparedness: The readiness for any threat, hazard, or incident a school community may encounter.

Response: Having the best practices and appropriate answers in place for the immediate and long-term issues schools can face.

Recovery: Designed to restore climate, culture, and the school environment to the ‘new normal’ state.

The state school security director appointed according to section 79-2,143 shall be responsible for providing guidance and support for safety and security for the public schools. Duties of the director include, but are not limited to, the school safety state statute §79-2,144:

  1. Collecting safety and security plans, required pursuant to rules and regulations of the State Department of Education relating to accreditation of schools, and other school security information from each school system in Nebraska. School districts shall provide the state school security director with the safety and security plans of the school district and any other security information requested by the director, but any plans or information submitted by a school district may be withheld by the department pursuant to subdivision (9) of section 84-712.05;
  2. Recommending minimum standards for school security on or before January 1, 2016, to the State Board of Education; Adopted 2016 State Board Standards.
  3. Conducted an assessment of the security of each public school building, was completed by August 31, 2019;
  4. Identifying deficiencies in school security based on the minimum standards adopted by the State Board of Education and making recommendations to school boards for remedying such deficiencies;
  5. Establishing security awareness and preparedness tools and training programs for public school staff; Tools and Training Programs
  6. Establishing research-based model instructional programs for staff, students, and parents to address the underlying causes for violent attacks on schools;
  7. Overseeing behavioral and mental health training, with a focus on suicide awareness and prevention in public schools pursuant to section 79-2,146; Approved Training List
  8. Establishing tornado preparedness standards which shall include, but not be limited to, ensuring that every school conducts at least two tornado drills per year;
  9. Responding to inquiries and requests for assistance relating to school security from private, denominational, and parochial schools;
  10. Recommending curricular and extracurricular materials to assist school districts in preventing and responding to cyberbullying and digital citizenship issues; and
  11. Carrying out the department’s responsibilities under the School Safety and Security Reporting System Act.
Updated April 11, 2024 8:49am