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Schools in Florida turn a new course for safety

FSSAT to roll out at state's 67 school districts via secure online portal

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Pratima Harigunani
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MCLEAN, USA: Haystax Technology, Inc.announced the launch of a new online tool, developed for the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), for conducting school safety assessments state-wide.

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The Florida Safe Schools Assessment Tool (FSSAT), as explained, will enable Florida school officials and their law enforcement and emergency management partners to assess the safety of all 6,000-plus public and charter schools in the state. FSSAT will be accessible to authorized users from FLDOE, other agencies and the state's 67 school districts via secure online portal.

"We are honored and excited to be working with the Florida Department of Education on this important initiative," said Haystax CEO William B. Van Vleet III. "Our system is designed to highlight the individual safety and security issues facing each school, as well as to allow district and state officials to develop a broader understanding of the threats and risks confronting all schools in their areas of responsibility."

Haystax, formerly Digital Sandbox, Inc., developed FSSAT in collaboration with FLDOE in response to a 2013 budget requirement from the Florida Legislature to "help school officials identify threats, vulnerabilities and appropriate safety controls for the schools that they supervise," with the added capability to generate written automated reports on safety assessment findings.

Among the specific issues to be addressed in the assessments are school crisis preparedness, physical security systems, policies and procedures for crime and violence prevention, security staffing, professional training requirements and school-community collaboration on safety.

FSSAT is also able to store critical information such as emergency plans, blueprints, contact details and photos, so that those responsible for the safety of Florida's schools have a single source when they need to rapidly access data on a particular school, it added.