A new gallery walk in the Exhibit Hall will bring informational resources to AASA’s National Conference on Education in San Diego, reinforcing the organization’s commitment to school safety.

The School Safety and Security Learning Lab is a self-guided experience in which conference attendees can walk through a booth with each panel exploring a different aspect of school safety, including prevention, funding safety programs, creating a safety team and more.     

The lab can be found at Booth 1435 and will be open during Exhibit Hall hours: 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, and 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 16.

“Safety and security are always in the forefront of our minds as superintendents and school leaders,” says AASA Executive Director David Schuler. “I thought it could be a valuable resource for our members and conference attendees to have an opportunity to … gain additional resources that may assist in enhancing safety and security for all students and staff in their buildings.”

The lab will focus on the actions behind crisis prevention, mitigation, response and recovery. At the end of the gallery walk will be a lounge with industry experts to discuss each of those topics for any attendees who want to expand their knowledge. To allow attendees to go at their own learning pace uninterrupted, they will not be present in the gallery walk itself.

“Every school district is different and that is something that should be celebrated. We know that context matters,” Schuler adds.

Design and content for the School Safety and Security Lab was a collaboration between AASA and ZeroNow. There will be a QR code in the booth to scan to receive the materials from the Learning Lab, and materials will be sent to all conference attendees following the end of the conference.

Sponsors for the School Safety and Security Learning Lab are at three levels:

• Gold; Amazon Business for Education, Freekick, Intrado, Kokomo 24/7, NGS, Public Consulting Group, Raptor Technologies and ZeroNow;
• Silver; Omnilert and Securly; and
• Bronze; Evolv, Genetec, Intel, Liberty PCS, MIS Security, Status Solutions and SafeEVAC.

All industry experts in the lounge following the gallery walk will come from the Gold category sponsor companies.

(Jacqueline Hyman is managing editor of Conference Daily Online and senior editorial assistant of AASA’s School Administrator magazine.)