The Minnesota School Safety Center cares about the safety of our schools. The MnSSC provides trainings and resources to schools and districts to help them prepare, respond, mitigate and recover from all hazard emergencies. Additionally, the MnSSC highlights addional online training resources from outside agencies below.
Minnesota School Safety Center Statewide Training Program
MnSSC works with each school to provide individualized trainings to fit the school and district's needs. Trainings are best provided in the schools or districts who request them, the MnSSC teams travels to greater Minnesota as well as the metro area.
Some of their flagship training and collaboration topics currently are:
- Facility/Safe School Assessments
- Emergency Response Plan Review
- De-escalation Training
- Crisis Communications
Contact any MnSSC representative to discuss working with the team.
School Resource Officer (SRO) Training
The SRO training courses are offered annually in a Basic and Advanced format. The courses are offered in varying locations across the state to add accessibility for all SROs to participate.
- The Basic Course is a 2.5 day course designed to assist SROs with maximizing their effectiveness in the delivery of law enforcement services in schools.
- The Advanced Course is a 1 day class focused on providing specific information to SROs regarding current situations effecting the school environment.
For more information on the content and calendar for the SRO training courses, please contact:
Jennifer Larrive at 651-201-7092 or jennifer.larrive@state.mn.us
Online Training Resources
The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers several free distance learning programs related to emergency management in schools.
- IS-100.SCa Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools
- This training focuses on the basic operation of the Incident Command System used by emergency responders nationwide in their response to emergencies and its application for managing school emergencies. Recommended for: superintendents, school administrators, school safety directors, and other school staff assigned to leadership roles in emergency response including district and building response team members.
- IS-362 Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools
- This course covers emergency management operations, assessing potential hazards in schools and developing and testing a school emergency plan. It provides a useful overview for members of district and building response teams as well as all district employees.
- IS-366 Planning for the Needs of Children in Disasters
- This course provides guidance for emergency managers and implementers of children’s programs on meeting the unique needs of children as a result of a disaster or emergency. Recommended for student support services personnel and all school staff.
- IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS)
- This course introduces and overviews the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that provides a nationwide template enabling all government, private-sector, and nongovernment organizations to work together in emergencies. Recommended for superintendents, school administrators, school safety directors and other school leadership personnel involved in district and building emergency response teams.
The U.S. Department of Education offers a series webinars on school emergency management. These classes are recommended for school administrators, school leadership staff, school safety directors and other school staff involved in emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
New Mexico Tech, under contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, developed an online training for first responders and school personnel who may respond to bomb-related incidents in schools.
Congress and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium to develop and deliver relevant all-hazards training that reflects the needs of rural emergency responders and their communities. All training delivered by the RDPC is certified by DHS and is free.
This training provides a foundation of knowledge and skills that will enable rural law enforcement and school districts to establish school-based emergency response plans.
