Homeland Security Information Reported by Schools
Homeland security information reported by schools has been limited primarily to the college and university level, as well as some specialty and vocational schools (e.g., flight training schools). For instance, the Department of Homeland Security's Internet-based system collects and analyzes information concerning foreign and exchange students. Homeland security emphasis at the lower levels has been primarily on crisis response at the district and individual school level, where plans have been expanded to include responses to possible terror attacks.
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School Emergency Response Plans
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With few exceptions, the nexus of homeland security and schools has been primarily in helping schools develop and test crisis management response plans. In recent years, many schools at both the K-12 and college/university level have incorporated "backpack drills," emergency response measures, and school-wide emergency notification and lock-down procedures into their emergency plans. Much of this evolution has come about in response to tragic school shootings, such as those at Columbine and Virginia Tech; little is directly related to conventional terrorism. One exception abroad was the horrific terrorist assault on a school in Beslan, Russia, in September of 2004, in which separatist terrorists took over a school and hundreds of students and teachers were killed.
Homeland Security Measures
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After the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States, the public became aware of what should have been warning signs of possible attacks--in the form of reports from several local FBI offices of unusual numbers of students of Arab origin undergoing flight and pilot training at U.S. flight schools. Unfortunately, these reports were not given the attention they deserved, and their potential for warning of impending attack was missed entirely at senior levels of the government. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has since intensified efforts to obtain such information from U.S.-based flight schools, technical programs and colleges and universities.
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Types of Information Reported by Schools
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At the college/university level, DHS has implemented the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which is responsible for certifying schools to accept foreign students in academic and vocational schools. The program has an Internet-based system run by DHS to collect and record information on foreign students, exchange visitors and their dependents before and during their stay in the U.S. Material gathered includes biographical data, academic information, criminal activity reports and other information that might signal malicious intent, student status violators or other indicators of suspicious or potentially threatening behaviors.
Focus of Homeland Security Reporting from K-12 Schools
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At the primary and secondary school level, there are few established and virtually no nationwide programs to capture this type of information from a homeland security perspective. Recent emphasis has instead been on increasing schools' awareness of, and ability to effectively respond to, potential terrorist threats. Any further reporting is at the discretion of the schools and their administrators and is also fraught with privacy concerns.
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