Narrowing the Gap: A Conversation to Improve the Response to a Crisis in Our Schools by all Stakeholders Webinar Series

Course Description

The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is pleased to announce a two-part webinar series on K-12 school crisis planning and response. This webinar series is designed to allow participants to select a session that best aligns to their unique role and position. Regardless of whether a stakeholder is a school administrator, school board member, first responder, division superintendent, or an elected leader they all share the primary goal of keeping students and staff safe during a potential crisis event. However, each stakeholder group views a crisis event through their unique lens and relationship to their role. As a result, this can lead to unintended gaps in knowing how their role can enhance crisis planning, response, and recovery during a critical incident at a school.  

The purpose of this webinar series is to “Narrow the Gap” by providing sessions tailored to one of three stakeholder groups. Sessions 1-3 will present a potential scenario as a tabletop exercise to consider responses to a crisis using the before, during, and after framework of crisis planning. While all three sessions on Day 1 will use the same scenario, the presentation will be unique to each stakeholder group and provide considerations and best practices specific to their roles.

The second part of the webinar (session 4) will include all three stakeholder groups and the previous tabletop exercise will be debriefed by the facilitator while sharing best practices for improving collaboration between all stakeholder groups. The goal of this webinar series is to improve the collaborative planning and response of all stakeholders in the event a crisis event occurs at a school in their locality. Whether the crisis is, a HAZMAT incident, a weather event, an act of violence, or even a pandemic/epidemic there is value for stakeholders across the continuum to have a unified response plan.  Participants who attend their session will receive a link for session 4.

Session Dates and Times

*Sessions 1-3 are designed specifically for the identified roles/positions, therefore, it is critically important that participants register for the session that best fits their role/position.

*All participants will receive a link for Session 4.

Session 1: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 8:00 am-9:30 am

Virginia school division superintendents, central office staff, chiefs/sheriffs, command level first responder staff (police, fire, EMS). 

Session 2: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 10:00 am-11:30 am

Building administrators, mental health professionals, school nurses, teachers, support staff, local first responders (SROs, patrol, firefighters/EMTs), and other relevant personnel.

Session 3: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 1:00 pm-2:30 pm

School board members, state senators and delegates, local leaders, city/county/school board attorneys, state agency representatives, federal

Session 4: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 9:00 am-10:30 am

              Combined audiences from Sessions 1, 2, and 3

Partial In-service Credit

Partial In-service Credit for law enforcement, campus security officers, and school security officer is not available. 

Cost and Registration

There is no cost to attend this training.  

Pre-registration is required.  

Please note that the DCJS registration system does not have the capacity to sort eligible from ineligible registrants. Therefore, anyone who registers will receive a confirmation. It is the responsibility of the DCJS assigned course director to review the roster and make a final determination on acceptance into the course. Registrants not accepted will be notified via the email address provided during registration.