By Staff
A delegation of Cass County leaders, including Chief of Police Tom Atkinson, Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood, Police Chief Ken Wray; school superintendents Ron Herron (Marcellus), Peg Stowers (Dowagiac), Sherm Ostrander (Edwardsburg), Greg Weatherspoon (Cassopolis); Lewis Cass Intermediate School Superintendent John Ostrowski; and Cass County Administrator Terry Proctor, attended a one week national Safe Schools Interagency Team Planning Program in Jacksonville, Fla. sponsored by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Interagency planning, public policy and legal practices were strong focus areas of the intensive training.
Stowers said, "Not only was this training intensive and appropriate for all of today's issues within our schools, but the time spent collaborating with an entire county team was extremely beneficial for our school safety and response plans. School safety is a priority for everyone in our business – county agency teamwork will only serve to make our plans more effective."
Nationally prominent legal speakers and safety experts presented data and research on school safety plans, public and school policies, trends in safety issues along with state and federal laws that impact interagency collaboration. Experts included Dr. Bernard James from Pepperdine University, Jonathan Cloud, Urban Initiatives Consultant for the U.S. Department of Education Drug-Free Schools and Communities and consultant for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Don Green, member of the Governor's (TN) Homeland Security Council, Gary O'Connor, Program Manager for the Child Protection Division of Fox Valley Technical Center, and Gary Higgins, Senior Consultant and Instructor for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention.
Among the topics presented were bullying, sexual exploitation of children, truancy, conflict resolution, community awareness, facility management, student prevention team planning, district/school safety plans, school shootings and interagency team planning.
Teams worked together throughout the training on local memorandums of interagency understanding and safety reviews of agency plans and priorities. The Cass County Team initiated its Phase I of a Memorandum of Understanding along with a plan for ongoing planning and reviews of a county wide initiative for response support, collaboration, and enforcement of county plans.