Ohio Department of Public Safety

07/31/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/31/2024 15:11

Ohio School Safety Center Celebrates Fifth Anniversary at Annual Summit

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Over 1,300 school staff members, mental health professionals, and first responders joined members of the Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) this week during the annual Ohio School Safety Summit in Columbus.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine created the OSSC in August 2019 to serve as a centralized location for school safety support.

Over the last five years, the OSSC has grown from a staff of six to over 50, with school safety experts in both physical and emotional safety spread out across the state. Since its creation, the OSSC team has trained over 7,000 individuals both online and in person and has hosted four annual school safety summits reaching an even larger audience.

Additionally, the OSSC has awarded $215 million to over 2,700 schools as part of the K-12 School Safety Grant Program and $10 million to nearly 60 higher education institutions to improve physical safety. Thanks to the diversity of backgrounds on the team, OSSC staff tailor supports and services to the specific needs of each school and also develop trainings and research best practices to fill any gaps identified.

OSSC also works with Ohio high school students who are passionate about school safety.

"Our Student Safety Advisory Council members are making a vast difference in their own schools as well as across the state," said OSSC Executive Director Emily Torok. "I love seeing their individual capstone projects come to life and helping turn them into statewide initiatives."

The Council is comprised of select high school students who are conducting a roundtable at the Summit to answer pressing questions about safety from a student perspective and will be presenting their capstone projects at exhibit tables. Some of their projects included self-defense trainings, inclusive school safety planning, district-wide safety committee creation, student safety podcast, first aid seminars, safety days, safety based professional development courses, school safety art contest, developing contact lists for students with mental health supports and services, kindness campaigns, and more. To learn more about the Council and their efforts, click here.

Also at the School Safety Summit, two K-12 Ohio students and two K-12 staff were recognized as this year's School Safety Stand Out Awards recipients. Additionally, for the first time this year, two Stand Out Awards also recognized higher education personnel for their efforts in keeping students and staff safe.

Stand Out Student Awards

Recipients of the Ohio School Safety Center Stand Out Student Awards were selected by the Council due to both the proactive and reactive measures that these courageous students took in order to keep their school and fellow classmates safe.

Awards were presented to the following:

  • Elaina Boughman, River View Local Schools, Coshocton County
  • Joanna Hamilton, Felicity-Franklin Local Schools, Clermont County

Stand Out Staff Awards

Recipients of the Ohio School Safety Center Stand Out Staff Awards were selected due to their passion and drive they exhibit to keep their schools and students safe -physically, emotionally, and educationally.

  • Dennis Vance - Head Custodian, West Clermont School District (Middle School), Clermont County
  • School Resource Officer Jim Souhrada, Edgewood City Schools (Intermediate School), Butler County
  • Jeff Futo -Public Safety, Emergency & Special Services Manager, Kent State University, Portage County
  • Jon Lemen-Director of Risk and Emergency Management, Clark State College, Clark County

To read about the Stand Out Award nominations in their entirety, click here.

In addition, the Summit also included announcing the six winning entries in the school bus safety public service announcement video contest. One of the recommendations of the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group called for the Ohio Department of Public Safety to work collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders to deliver impactful school bus safety public service announcements and other public awareness materials and opportunities. High school media programs were encouraged to create training videos for the public.

School Bus Safety Public Service Announcement Winning Videos

The winners include:

The OSSC, in conjunction with the Ohio Traffic Safety Office, vetted the entries and selected the best videos.