President's Message

PRESIDENT'S LETTER

OCTOBER 2009

Mr. Gary Rosploch, WSSCA President

Buildings & Grounds Supervisor
Muskego-Norway School District

Welcome back one and all to the 2009-10 school year. No doubt, economic challenges faced by families, business communities and school districts have had much impact over the last year. There is continued pressure for all of us to find reasonable, economic solutions to rising costs and shrinking revenues.

Needless to say, the WSSCA organization is not immune to these challenges. For over ten years the WSSCA organization has employed the Wisconsin Safety Council ( WSC ) using Bryan Roessler and his talented staff to organize and guide the multiple teaching opportunities and conferences for safety coordinators throughout the state. I would like to take this time to thank Bryan and his department for their dedicated commitment in helping WSSCA to grow and provide quality programming in our behalf.

Last spring the WSSCA board reviewed many ideas and options to guide the direction of our organization. To streamline WSSCA activities and provide services in line with our fiscal resources, the board decided to hire a new director to meet those needs. I am excited to announce Pete Pochowski as the new Executive Director of WSSCA.

Pete is not a new face to most WSSCA members, in that, he has served on our board for the last three years and is one of the instructors in the Safety Certification modules. His broad background in law enforcement and emergency response protocol, will serve us well as WSSCA continues to provide school safety coordinators with the education, ideas, and tools needed to make their school districts safer for kids, staff and visitors.

Mr. Pochowski is in the process of ramping up to full speed with organizational details and will soon be offering additional guidance and services to strengthen WSSCA for years to come. Your patience during this transition is most appreciated. Our website is updated and current contacts are listed if you require further details. Please stay tuned for further updates and have a safe year!!!

Presidents Letter:
October, 2008

By Ken Baran, WSSCA President
Facilities Manager, Howard-Suamico School District

October Safety Spotlight - National Fire Prevention Week

National Fire Prevention week is October 5-11, 2008. The National Fire Prevention Association has promoted fire safety week since 1922. The theme this year is Preventing Home Fires. I encourage everyone to partner with your local fire department officials to provide information to staff and students that will increase awareness about fire dangers and steps that can be taken to help prevent fires.

One area that will receive increased attention from local and state fire code enforcement officials this year is the display of teaching and artwork materials in the schools.

NFPA Fire Protection Code 1 8-2.2.3.6 states: Artwork and teaching materials shall be permitted to be attached directly to walls and shall not exceed twenty percent of the wall area. Artwork can be attached only to he walls, not the ceiling.

Exemption: Artwork and teaching materials shall not exceed fifty percent of the wall area in a building that is protected throughout by an approved automatic sprinkler system.

Information from the National Fire Protection Association fire prevention handbook states: “ It is advantageous not only to limit the quantity of artwork displayed but also to avoid placing such material near room exit access doors. Because combustibility of the artwork cannot be effectively controlled, the quantity, in terms of percentage of wall area covered, is regulated to avoid creating a continuous combustible surface that will spread flames across the room.”

The degree of enforcement will vary from district to district depending on local code enforcement officials. I have been informed by fire code enforcement officials in the Green Bay area that compliance to this NFPA code will be given increased emphasis during the 2008-2009 school year.

The Howard-Suamico School District has a policy that follows the NFPA guide lines addressing the display of teaching materials and artwork. At the beginning of each school year, I request that the building principals address the guidelines with staff. With the continued support of building administration and regular inspections by fire code officials, compliance has been excellent. Working with our insurance company and fire department to inform and educate the staff about safety concerns related to increased fire load caused by excessive displays has helped with compliance.

Here are some alternatives to traditional paper displays. In classrooms and hallways, old blackboards or corkboards are often covered with construction paper because they are worn and unsightly. Depending on the square footage of the board, the use of construction paper alone can exceed the twenty percent wall coverage rule before artwork or teaching materials are hung up. One solution is to paint the surface of the board. This can add color to the area, provide an attractive surface to display items, and reduce the potential fire load. The use of fire rated construction paper as a background is also an option, but this can be cost prohibitive.

In areas that have 2’ x 4’ or 2’ x 2’ ceiling tile, the surface of the tile can be used to create and display art projects by drawing or painting on the tile itself. This is a safe alternative to hanging items from the ceiling. A supply of tile can be made available to staff for class projects that can be displayed throughout the building. When the tiles are completed in the classrooms, maintenance staff can install the tile for display.

Installation of cork strips in place of bulletin boards, especially in hallways, can be used to clearly define the area used to display items. Most elementary schools display the alphabet and numerals using cardboard signs around or above existing boards. The use of stenciling instead of the traditional signs is an effective way to further reduce the fire load in the classroom.

Another area of concern was voiced by building administrators dealing with non-district furniture in classrooms brought in by staff or donated by parents. In March of 2007 during an inspection by local fire officials, the same concern was noted in the report that followed the inspection.

After conducting a room to room inspection, it was discovered that over seventy five pieces had collected over the past several years. A notice was sent to all district staff at the end of the 2006-2007 school year, that all stuffed furniture not authorized by the school district must be removed at the end of the school year. Furniture not removed by the teaching staff was removed by B&G staff as part of the summer duties.

NFPA Code 1 8-2.2.3.3. states: Furnishings and decorations of an explosive or highly combustible character shall not be used.

Example: Plastic cargo netting, Halloween spider webbing, couches, loveseats, chairs, and bean bags.

The Howard —Suamico School District established a policy prohibiting the use of couches, chairs, and loveseats in classrooms. Donated stuffed furniture of any kind is prohibited. Use of such furniture adds to the potential fire load and has no practical use in a classroom setting. In the event that a special circumstance may require the use of a non-traditional piece of furniture, approval is necessary from the building principal and facilities manager. Approved furniture must be purchased by the school district.

Adopting policies to address issues raised by fire department officials and school district staff that concern the safety in our buildings is a necessary step to insure that clear cut guidelines exist.

I hope everyone had a successful start to the 2008-2009 school year. I encourage you to make use of the resources on the WSSCA website. Members of the WSSCA board of directors are always available to offer assistance with questions or to help locate information on all safety related concerns. Contact information is on the WSSCA website.

Get to know your President

Ken Baran, WSSCA President
Ken was born and raised near Pulaski, Wisconsin. He attended Pulaski High School, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

In 1970 Ken married Ellen. They have three children.

Since 1976, Ken and Ellen have lived in Howard, Wisconsin. In 1980 Ken was certified as an anhydrous ammonia operating engineer, and in 1990 he earned a boiler operating engineer certification.

Ken served as a member of the Howard Fire Department for 11 years. Organizations he has been involved with include the Knights of Columbus and Optimist Club.

For the last 14 years, Ken has been the Facilities Manager for the Howard-Suamico School District. Among his other duties, he is the district’s safety coordinator.

He has been a member of WSSCA for 12 years. Ken has been on the board of directors since 2005.

Presidents Letter:

Michael J. Hinske, President, WSSCA
Big Foot Union High School

First of all, I thank you for taking the time to come and review our WSSCA website. This year has been a very busy one for WSSCA and the Board of Directors as we have held several classes throughout the state and have worked diligently on the development and finalization of our Wisconsin School Safety and Security Coordinators Certification. The board over the past several months has finalized the materials and has created course templates/syllabi that are being used to teach the classes.

I am pleased to announce that these efforts have resulted in our offering for the first time this certification to school districts throughout Wisconsin. The certification program includes ten four hour modules each one being specific to either the area of facility compliance or security. The overall program includes five modules in compliance and five modules in security. Persons completing the certification program will complete all ten modules. It is our hope to have modules delivered in a two per day format so that students can complete the program in two years.

The program will officially kick off on March 4, 2008 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells when WSSCA begins teaching two of the modules in the program. WSSCA will teach Module 6 General Aspects of Crisis and Emergency Management for Schools as part of the Facilities Managers Conference for WASBO on Tuesday morning and will follow with the teaching of Module 1 Health and Safety Compliance-Part A in the afternoon as part of the annual WSSCA Spring Conference. These modules each serve as anchors in the development of the program and it is our sincere hope that the module presentations will meet and exceed the expectations of our membership. Further it is hoped that the module programs will serve as a model for other programs in the nation.

This is truly an exciting time for WSSCA and its members. The work on this project has taken several years and is finally in the stage of module delivery. The program we believe will assist each and every public and private school in the state to meet and comply with the regulations on healthy and safe schools and will further provide the necessary training to each individual charged with the responsibility of being a Safety Coordinator.

As president of WSSCA for this year, I can not say enough about the work and efforts of the board and our advisors. They have all spent countless hours in meetings and conferences with the goals of developing these modules and the overall program. Without their efforts this program would not be in the position of launch.

As I close I want to wish everyone continued success during this school year and provide you with the names of those individuals who have played a significant role in the development of this program.

I also wish to extend my best holiday wishes to you, your schools and families. If there is anything that WSSCA can do to assist you or your school please let us know.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Hinske
WSSCA President

WSSCA Board of Directors and Advisors Responsible for Certification Program Development and Implementation

Jodi Traas, WSSCA Past President
Mike Hinske, WSSCA President
Ken Baran, WSSCA 1^st Vice President
Gary Rosploch, WSSCA 2^nd Vice President
Rod Ingram, WSSCA Board
Bill Freeman, WSSCA Board
Jim Beckman, WSSCA Board
Randy Johnston, WSSCA Board
Kevin Christoun WSSCA Board
Carrie Hallquist, WSSCA Board
Pete Pochowski, WSSCA Board
Bob Seversen, WSSCA Board
Dick Klawiter, Advisor: UW- Platteville
Tom Pritchett, Advisor: Wisconsin Division of Safety and Buildings
Randy Theil, Advisor: Wisconsin DPI
Mary Jean Erschen, Advisor: Center for Emergency Health and Safety in Schools
Doug Reynolds, Advisor: School District of Beloit
Bryan Roessler, WSSCA Executive Director
Paul Buchholz, WSSCA Past President
Tom Wohlleber, WSSCA Past President
Chris Dupre, WSSCA Past President
Doug Fisk, WSSCA Past President
Erin Gauthier, WSSCA Past President
Joe Bellomo, WSSCA Past President

October Presidents Letter:

Michael J. Hinske, President, WSSCA
Big Foot Union High School

The 2007-2008 school year has now begun with the return of thousands of students and staff to schools across our great state. Each year at this time our schools prepare themselves for the months ahead by evaluating facilities and programs in order to insure that the educational mission of each school maintains remains foremost. With the preparation comes the knowledge that school safety is and must be a primary consideration for all school personnel. As president of WSSCA and a high school principal myself, I understand and teach the critical importance of school safety in our schools. School safety coordinators around the state understand that any child more worried about their own personal safety will be unable to focus on the essentials of any school lesson. Each year in Wisconsin and across our country we see countless situations which provide us a reminder that we need to continually do more to help our students and schools remain safe.

Over the past several years our association has worked tirelessly to provide educational opportunities and trainings to school and district personnel in Wisconsin. Our involvement has included classes on Best Practices in School Safety, Sessions on Harassment and Cyber Bullying, Electrical Safety, Fire Code and Fire Safety, and Legal Liability in Schools, among others. Each of these sessions has allowed us to continue to spread the word about safety in our schools and to provide vital training to those people responsible for safety in our schools. WSSCA continues the mission this year of providing instruction to its members through several additional courses. The past several years have also seen WSSCA board members, and WSSCA members in general work with several other agencies in Wisconsin to provide additional learning opportunities. WSSCA’s association and working with Wisconsin OJA-Homeland Security, The Center for Emergency Health and Safety in Schools, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction have all proven to be very beneficial for our association and for school safety in general.

The association with these organizations coupled with a goal established several years ago by the WSSCA board of directors has led WSSCA to be on the brink of establishing a certification program for school safety coordinators. The certification program has come about so that school districts can meet the requirements of Executive Order #194, and Wisconsin PI 8.01(2)(i) of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. In order to provide for the specifics of this program, the board of directors has met several times since March in order to finalize the designs and requirements of the program. Most recently, on September 6^th our board met in special session to finalize the standards and expectation of each module in the program. On September 21 at our regular board meeting, the board of directors will review the proposed certification program specifics submitted by the subcommittees working on the certification program and if accepted allow the program to move forward for recognition by agencies which work with us in safety across Wisconsin. If accepted by those agencies, we will move the plan forward to the DPI for their review and hopeful recognition.

In basic design, the certification program will contain 10 four hour class modules which students can take and complete over a two year period. . The modules specific emphasis will be on Compliance (OSHA and Dept. of Commerce) regulations and Emergency Management and Crisis Preparedness. Each major area will contain 5 modules and will provide participants not only the opportunity to learn by listening, but also to learn by doing. Each of the modules will work to provide participants with many opportunities to practice and demonstrate the skills that they have learned. Costs for the certification program are being reviewed and set, however the board has indicated a strong desire to make the certification program very cost effective for school districts. As many school districts across Wisconsin struggle with budgets and finance our board does not want any district to be unable to get this training and certification because of finance.

As our certification program moves forward I will make every attempt to have posted on our website as much information as is available including, module titles and learning outcomes, course outlines, costs and schedules for the classes.

Please mark your calendars now for March 4^th and 5^th, 2008. Our annual spring conference will once again take place in Wisconsin Dells at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center and will feature several great presentations on school safety including the teaching of Module 1 of the certification program on Tuesday afternoon March 4^th.

This is truly an exciting time for WSSCA and for schools across the state! I wish you all the best for a safe and successful 2007-2008 school year. Please do not hesitate to contact any board member of WSSCA if you are in need of assistance in your school with safety and healthful facility questions. We are here to help.

Paul Buchholz, President, WSSCA
Beaver Dam Unified School District

January Presidents Letter:

A school year has ended and another one is well under way since my last President’s column.As always, it was a busy end to the year, a busier summer and a hectic start to the new school year.As School Safety Coordinators, our roles have never been more transparent than in recent months.Our primary function is to provide and maintain safe and healthy environments for our students and staff.One part of this function is to ensure that the district we represent is prepared to handle all emergencies and crisises that we may be exposed to. Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example of how total chaos becomes the norm when emergency preparedness plans are not reviewed, practiced and most importantly shared with all the people that may be affected and involved.

The Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schoolscourse defines a crisis as: An event that overwhelms the available resources. Webster defines an emergency as: An unplanned event that requires immediate action. Are we, as School Safety Coordinators prepared for an unplanned event requiring immediate action that overwhelms our resources? We, as School Safety Coordinators, must embrace the concept of planning and preparing. We must be ambassadors to our communities, communicating our Safe School and Emergency Plans with anyone who may be involved in the process or affected by it. Imagine if the City of New Orleans had only communicated their plan to the residents and other agencies (a plan that the City had developed and had readily available) hundreds of lives could have been saved.

I was very fortunate to be invited to facilitate a Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools workshop in Taylor County this past September. It was very encouraging to discover that although the three participating Districts were small, they have plans in place. After attending and facilitating this workshop several times, I am amazed at how much I learn at each one. I encourage each of you to attend a workshop with your district team. The sharing of information and networking with your colleagues is an enlightening experience.

The Board of Directors has met three times since the last news letter. The two WSSCA sponsored one half day sessions called: “Building the Net: Developing a Bullying Resistant School Environment”, featuring Michael Dorn, was a huge success as were the workshops offered on Chemical Hygiene Officer training, theater safety, playground safety and an OSHA / Department of Commerce update. The web site’s “new look” is completed with new features being added daily. Please contact Bryan Roessler, WSSCA’s Executive Director, or any board member with information you would like to see posted on the site.

At out most recent Board meeting we had an in depth discussion relating to the creation of the “mandated” School Safety Coordinator position, the duties required of this person and the skills and knowledge base needed to effectively serve in this position. The creation of the “Designated school Safety Coordinator” sprang from past Governor Tommy Thompson’s office in a document titled, “Executive Order # 194” (this document will be available on the web site) dated July 13, 1993. The order outlines the duties of the position but does not list the qualifications needed for the position, or offer any avenues for training. The WSSCA Board of Directors has formed an ad-hoc committee that has met with the DPI, The Department of Commerce and “Safe Havens International” to discuss a curriculum and training format that will give the “Designated School Safety Coordinator” the background and information necessary to be effective. The Board is also staying abreast of the revision to the ADA guidelines that are currently before the Department of Justice for input before becoming enforceable, as well as the NFPA code changes expected in early 2006. We anticipate posting updates of these changes on the web site and scheduling workshops to inform the membership of the changes as well.

The 38^th annual WSSCA Spring Conference and Expo dates are February 27-28, 2006 at the Kalahari Resort and Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells. Your Board of Directors and Executive Director has done a stellar job securing a variety of presenters that will address many of the current challenges we are facing. Please watch your mail for information, or go to the website for registration forms and additional information.

In closing, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead the WSSCA through another year of growth and encourage each of you to continue to take the lead in school safety in your respective organizations. I look forward to seeing each of you at the February Conference.

September Presidents Letter :

A school year has ended and another one begun since my last President’s column.As always, it was a busy end to the year, a busier summer and a hectic start to the new school year.As School Safety Coordinators, our roles have never been more transparent than in recent weeks.

Our primary function is to provide and maintain safe and healthy environments for our students and staff. One part of this function is to ensure that the district we represent is prepared to handle all emergencies and crisises that we may be exposed to. Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example of how total chaos becomes the norm when emergency preparedness plans are not reviewed, practiced and most importantly shared with all the people that may be affected and involved.

I was very fortunate to be invited to facilitate a Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools workshop in Taylor County several weeks ago. It was very encouraging to discover that although the three participating Districts were small, they have plans in place. After attending and facilitating this workshop several times, I am amazed at how much I learn at each one. I encourage each of you to attend a workshop with your district team. The sharing of information and networking with your colleagues is an enlightening experience.

The Board of Directors has met twice since the last news letter. We have finalized and marketed a one half day session called: “Building the Net: Developing a Bullying Resistant School Environment”, featuring Michael Dorn, the afternoon preceding the Homeland Security School Crisis Preparedness Conference at the Milwaukee and Green Bay conference sites. The Milwaukee Conference dates are October 20^th (bullying) and October 21^stHomeland Security. The Green Bay dates are October 31^st bullying and November 1^st Homeland security. Bryan Roessler, WSSCA’s Executive Director, will be able to answer any questions regarding registration or reimbursement. Bryan has worked diligently with the Board to develop several workshops for the fall. Please look for the information in this news letter. The web site’s “new look” is nearly completed. I anticipate the site to be fully functional within the next week. Please contact Bryan or any board member with information you would like to see posted on the site.

At out most recent Board meeting we had an in depth discussion relating to the creation of the “mandated” School Safety Coordinator position, the duties required of this person and the skills and knowledge base needed to effectively serve in this position. The creation of the “Designated school Safety Coordinator” sprang from past Governor Tommy Thompson’s office in a document titled, “Executive Order # 194” (this document will be available on the web site) dated July 13, 1993. The order outlines the duties of the position but does not list the qualifications needed for the position, or offer any avenues for training. The WSSCA Board of Directors has formed an ad-hoc committee that will work with the DPI, The Department of Commerce and other state regulatory agencies to develop a curriculum and training format to ensure that the training needed to carry out the specified duties is available. The Board is also staying abreast of the revision to the ADA guidelines that are currently before the Department of Justice for input before becoming enforceable, as well as the NFPA code changes expected in early 2006. We anticipate posting updates of these changes on the web site and scheduling workshops to inform the membership of the changes as well.

Have a great fall!