HOUSTON, TX — May 12, 2008 —AnComm, creator of 'Talk About It(R)' — the nation's first and only anonymous online and text based reporting and emergency notification service for schools — is pleased to announce the addition of Catherine Toohey, M.Ed. to the company. In an effort to strengthen AnComm's ability to help Texas schools stay safe and avoid tragedies, Ms. Toohey will take on the role of School Safety Specialist.
Prior to joining AnComm, Ms. Toohey acted as a School Safety Specialist for the Texas School Safety Center in San Marcos. In fact, Ms. Toohey was instrumental in the development of the School Safety and Security Audit Toolkit — the standard audit protocol for the state.
This Toolkit instructs school administrators as to how to perform safety audits required by Texas Education Code 37.108. It contains information about implementing emergency operations plans and mandates that all school districts in Texas audit their facilities once every three years. Since the law went into effect in September 2005, the audits must be completed by August 31, 2008.
Ms. Toohey's experience and expertise will be imperative to help districts put procedures in place to mitigate disasters, as well as prepare thorough, practical and efficient emergency plans. As directed by law, the Texas Safety Center will be collecting district audit results this summer. One key area the district audit report will address will be in regards to central anonymous reporting systems. The Attorney General of Texas, the honorable Greg Abbott, strongly urges all districts to make use of a system such as 'Talk About It®', to report bullies, threats, and other crimes on the school campus.
While at the Safety Center, Ms. Toohey also provided educational training throughout the state in the areas of Best Practices in School Safety, School Violence, Emergency Operations Planning and Security Audits. Additionally, she collaborated on Texas Unified School Safety Standards and played a key role in publishing "Best Practices in Texas Alternative Disciplinary Programs", funded by a grant from the Texas Education Agency.
Ms. Toohey is certified by FEMA in the following areas: Incident Command System 100, 200, 300, and 400, as well as IS 120 and 130: Exercise Development and Evaluation IS 362: Emergency Operations Planning for Schools, and IS 197: Special Needs Planning.
Sponsored by AnComm, Ms. Toohey will host Free Safety Training Meetings for Texas districts this summer. On June 11th-13th, she will be presenting at the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Summer Conference. For more seminar information, visit http://www.ancomm.com.
About AnComm's 'Talk About It®'
Developed by AnComm, 'Talk About It' is the nation's first and only anonymous online and text based reporting and emergency notification service for schools. Easy-to-use and implement, ‘Talk About It®’ is a preventative solution focused on bridging the communication gap between students and faculty to foster a safer, more comfortable learning environment. To learn how your educational institution can benefit from AnComm's ‘Talk About It®’ anonymous online and text based reporting service, call 1 (866) 926-2666 or visit their web site at http://www.ancomm.com. |
