North Lake Superintendent Gail Buermann (right) discusses emergency preparedness with representatives of Great Basin Insurance after a related PACE Day session on Thursday at the Sunriver Resort. Buermann said PACE Day’s many helpful sessions make it “like a mini law conference.” (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
Cybersecurity was the headliner for the 2024 PACE Day, but most of the major threats to schools had a star turn Thursday, April 11.
That breadth was precisely why Ray Brown traveled from his Scappoose School District to the Sunriver Resort near Bend for the conference.
“I try to keep up on the regulations to keep our schools out of trouble,” said Brown, the South Columbia Family School principal.
Property and Casualty Coverage for Education is Oregon’s leading insurance pool for education, with more than 300 public organizations as members. PACE is a joint operation of OSBA and the Special Districts Association of Oregon.
Tim Belanger, PACE Board chair, emphasized in opening remarks that because it’s an insurance pool, the risk and the reward are shared. When school districts prevent costly lawsuits and expensive accidents, everyone has more money to spend on students, said Belanger, the Oregon Trail School District business services director.
Belanger said that PACE coverage is different from an “off-the-shelf” insurance policy because members can control their costs with good practices.
“We are all in this together,” he said.
More than 200 people signed up for the one-day event with an opening reception the night before. School officials in human resources, transportation, administration, facilities, security and more from around the state took the opportunity to network and learn from each other and workshop presenters.
FBI Special Agent Alayna Colburn presented best practices to protect against cyber threats during the keynote address. Attendees could pick between multiple follow-up sessions on cybersecurity as well as workshops on issues such as employee accommodations, liability dangers and Title IX updates.
“It was hard to choose between the sessions because I wanted to go to all of them,” said Tracy Powell, the Glide School District human resources director.
In particular, Powell was interested in a session on emergency drills to help her district more effectively and efficiently prepare for possible incidents.
PACE has tried to make the conference more accessible and Thursday’s event had record attendance, according to Dave Harvey, PACE administration director.
“The agenda was fantastically packed and relevant for everyone,” he said.
Harvey encourages members to reach out to PACE with questions and to access its many resources.
“We are breaking down barriers to give school staff access to important training,” he said. “Ultimately, we want the safest environments we can create for our employees and our children.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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