In preparation for a spring launch of the Governor’s School Safety Bureau’s new anonymous threat reporting platform called Safe+Sound Iowa, we are asking all public and nonpublic schools to identify a primary and secondary point of contact for each school building who will receive notification of critical threat-to-life matters only. You can identify your building contacts by completing the School Safety Contact Form.
A new Frequently Asked Questions resource addresses concerns we have heard from school leaders regarding expectations and availability of their designated contacts.
Safe+Sound Iowa, which will be available for FREE to all public and private schools, enables students, school staff, parents and community members to submit safe, secure and anonymous safety concerns to help identify and provide intervention for at-risk individuals before they hurt themselves or others.
Regardless of whether your district chooses to engage with this free school safety technology, we know you will still want to be notified when a threat impacts one of your schools. Please know that designated school emergency contacts do not need to be on call 24/7. They will only be notified if a trained Safe+Sound Iowa Communications Specialist determines that the threat report information is of a critical nature requiring school assistance.
If you have questions about the contact form or the app, please contact the Department of Public Safety’s Governor’s School Safety Bureau Chief, Don Schnitker, at schnitke@dps.state.ia.us or 515-725-1150, or the Iowa Department of Education’s Legislative Liaison, Eric St Clair, at eric.stclair@iowa.gov or 515-326-0274, who are coordinating this work for our departments.
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