School Safety Training
OPI hosted its final Law Enforcement and School Administration training at Paris Gibson Education Center in Great Falls. Using funds from the DOJ COPS grant, we hosted a series of regional trainings across the state, with the final training in Great Falls on April 9th. Topics included behavioral threat assessment, de-escalation techniques, how to create a memorandum of understanding (MOU,) roles of SROs vs. administrators, and child development. At this final training there were 29 attendees representing law enforcement from four counties and administrators from five school districts.
Two important resources highlighted at the training are:
www.pbisworld.com - PBIS World is an online resource to support educators in implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in their schools.
sos.fbi.gov - The FBI Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge is a free, educational program for children that teaches cyber safety and helps them become better digital citizens.
For more information, contact OPI School Safety Specialist Burke Wallace 406.594.0059.
April 9th School Safety Training at Paris Gibson Education Center in Great Falls.
Dr. Beth Dominicis, DC and Kris Minard have been busy traveling to schools across the state providing vaping prevention presentations to students. We know it can be difficult fitting in all of your final lessons at the end of the school year, but we do have some dates available in May if you'd like to send your students off with fresh reminders about the harms of vaping. You can inquire here about sheduling presentations for May. If you'd like to get a jump on scheduling for the 2025-26 school year, here's the link to follow.
On a personal note, I wanted to let you all know that I'm retiring from the OPI at the end of May. It has been my honor to get to know so many of you and to serve Montana students and schools for the last 13 years. The allure of vaping has challenged us all. I hope that our Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program has had a positive impact on your schools. Thank you for all you do to reinforce how invaluable our health is and that it must be nurtured and protected.
Have no fear, OPI's Tobacco Use Prevention Education program continues to move forward. You're in great hands with Beth Dominicis and a soon-to-be hired second education specialist.
Your positive impact on kids is beyond measure. Keep being awesome.
Kind regards, Kris Minard
Rural School Training Opportunity
What: Crisis Management for School Based Incidents for Key Decision Makers
Why: This no-cost training is targeted to rural jurisdictions and provides an overview of planning for and responding to school based incidents through instruction, scenario activities, and discussion.
When: June 4-5th
Where: Box Elder
Who: First responders, emergency management, school administrators, school resource or safety personnel, EMS, other community stakeholders
Register: https://ruraltraining.org/course/MGT-417/?scheduled=true&id=12663
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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