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News & Developments

Membership has its privileges: Getting answers to perplexing safety questions through OSSOA

April 24, 2008 - From OSBA's Spring 2008 Critical Issues Newsletter - Trespassers on school property violate policy and can pose a threat to safety. But what happens if the offenders are geese on the football field?

Vonnie Good, Salem-Keizer School District environmental safety specialist and president of the Oregon School Safety Officers Association, said that OSSOA allows districts to share all kinds of school-safety-related information. Belonging to OSSOA is particularly valuable for smaller districts that don't have their own risk-management departments and safety experts. But even very large districts may find sensible solutions to safety-related problems in OSSOA.

"We share a lot of information from all sizes of districts through our listserve," she said. "It allows people to kibitz about playground safety, fire inspections and how to keep school staff from covering the walls with too much paper to meet fire safety standards, solve wood shop safety concerns and determine the best way to help the drama department safely fly students across the stage . you name it."

OSSOA was formed 30 years ago to allow districts to get the latest information and share ideas about security, emergency management, playground safety, health training and environmental issues. Now with over 125 members, OSSOA publishes a member newsletter and hosts a statewide school-safety meeting each July. This year's meeting will be July 21-22 at Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond.

Membership is open to school district employees directly connected to district safety programs, officials or employees of education service districts or the Oregon Department of Education concerned with safety programs, and Oregon college or university faculty members interested in school safety. The annual membership fee is $10. Membership applications are available on the OSSOA Web site.

A high school did face a serious goose problem, and after a staff member posted the question on the listserve, responses flocked in.

The simple remedy? Place metal cut-outs of coyotes on the field.

PACE will pay for one OSSOA membership so your district, ESD or community college can reap the benefits of this school-safety networking organization.