110-LB-03

http://today.uci.edu/news/media_advisory_detail.asp?key=177

For immediate release

FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

Jan. 5, 2004

MEDIA ADVISORY

UCI Forum to Address Orange County School Safety in a Post-Sept. 11 World

EVENT: Most school children know to duck under their desks if they feel an earthquake, but do they know what to do if they hear gunshots or smell a toxic odor in the air? Do teachers know what to do? The UC Irvine Center for Unconventional Security Affairs will host school superintendents and principals, law enforcement officials, PTA presidents and Orange County business leaders at a UCIthink.Community Forum titled ?School Safety: Are Schools as Safe as They Should Be?? The forum will address many of the new challenges to school safety in a post-Columbine, post-Sept. 11 era, as well as provide information on several innovative programs and resources available to Orange County Schools. Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona and Orange County Superintendent of Schools William M. Habermehl both will speak at the event. For a full list of speakers and topics, see www.cusa.uci.edu/ucithinkschools.htm

DATE:
Monday, Jan. 12, 2004

TIME:
8:30 ? 11:30 a.m.

LOCATION:
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, 100 Academy, UCI Campus

INFORMATION:
Admission is free, but seating is limited. To reserve a seat, please call (949) 824-9670 or email cusa@uci.edu.

BACKGROUND:
The UCIthink.Community forum is an annual town-hall style discussion sponsored by the School of Social Ecology. It brings together the UCI community and the local public to build partnerships and use social ecology research in an effort to address community issues. This forum was initiated by a Center for Unconventional Security Affairs special research team, which had convened to examine school safety in Orange County. Led by Richard Matthew, UCI associate professor and director of CUSA, the team developed a theoretical model of a school shooting incident and used specially designed software to map out the process of events. Through the exercise, the team realized that there exists a considerable period of vulnerability for schools between the occurrence of an incident and the arrival of law enforcement and fire and medical responders. This pointed to the importance of active crises response planning by schools and of improved awareness by teachers and students of appropriate responses.

CUSA was established in 2003 in the School of Social Ecology to address the security challenges of the 21st century through research and education programs that integrate experts from private and public sectors.

###
Contact:
Lori Brandt
(949) 824-5484
lbrandt@uci.edu

UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit: www.today.uci.edu/experts.