I shared the beginning
of this letter at the Back to School nights last week. I said that I would share details of the
safety plans and answer some commonly asked questions, I apologize for the
length of this letter but the information is very important…
One thing I
reflected on, from the end of last school year, was the school shooting at
Noblesville Middle School. While these
situations seem to occur more and more, never has one been so close to
home. I fear that with our 24 hour news
cycle and the short attention spans of social media, these tragedies will soon
be considered the norm by those that report such horrific attacks on our
children.
I would like to
reassure our SPX families that we have safety plans in place, in case of an
emergency of any kind. These safety plans are fluid, as it is important that we
learn from these events in hopes to be the best prepared, as no 2 situations
have really been the same. We review and update our safety plans each
year. We communicate and train our staff
with all the most up-to-date procedures and they in-turn will practice with our
students.
Below are some
commonly asked questions from parents, regarding the safety of our children and
our procedures. Please do not hesitate
to contact me if you have any other questions.
What is the current lock down procedure for an active
school shooter?
In the event of a
lockdown situation, all teachers are to make sure there are no students in the
hallways, close and lock their doors, turn off the lights and sit quietly away
from doors and windows. We are currently
looking into new door handles that will allow teachers to be more efficient in
this process. Our hope is to have this
completed in the very near future.
How will parents be notified if there is an active
school shooter? Via text, phone
call? Immediately or after the lockdown?
There are different types of lockdowns that could occur
at school and each has a different procedure including how it is communicated.
1. School lockdown - students are still
allowed to go from classroom to classroom, but will not be allowed outside the
building for any reason. We will NOT
allow anyone to enter the building. This
has happened at times when a suspect was in the area of our school and the
police have notified us to lock down. In
this instance, we will inform parents of the events via email after
the situation has been resolved. If the timing
of such lockdown affects drop off or pick up, parents will be notified via the
OneCall Now system with instructions of procedural changes.
2. Classroom lockdown - all teachers are
to make sure there are no students in the hallways, close and lock their doors,
turn off the lights and sit quietly away from doors and windows. This is what
Noblesville MS had to do. In this case,
parents will be notified as soon as the situation is safe and under control,
via the phone messaging system OneCall Now.
If this were to happen, instructions will follow as to what to do to
retrieve children. No communications
will go out until the police have secured the location, and a plan is made for
parents to pick up the children. The
more people that are on campus, in the event of such a circumstance, make
things difficult for police, EMT, fire and rescue, so we will not notify
parents until the procedures are in place.
3. School/Church evacuation - in the
event we have to evacuate the school/church property, we have an agreement with
the North Side Baptist Church and all students and staff will be relocated to
the church. In the event this happens,
once all students are accounted for, the OneCall Now system will be used to
notify parents and give instructions for pick up.
Please understand
that we have these procedures in place for everyone’s safety - your children
and our staff. So please do not come to
the property until you receive instructions.
This is critical for a couple of reasons:
1.
If the suspect is still at large, we do not want
those involved questioning a parent who wants to make sure their child is all
right. We want the first responders
involved in the search to focus only on the suspect.
2.
If you were to fill the parking lot, or line the
streets with parked cars, the proper emergency vehicles might not be able to
get into the parking lot.
3.
The students may have already been evacuated to
another location, much like what happened at Noblesville MS, and this will
cause more confusion.
What is the lockdown procedure on Mass days going to
and from the church?
In the event that a situation arises as students are
moving to and from the church, supervising teacher(s) will decide which
building is closest and move the students towards that building. In the event we are in a building lockdown,
for example, the police have a suspect on the loose, students will remain in
the school and not pass outside to church or vice versa until we have been
notified by police that the situation is cleared.
What is the lockdown procedure during Mass?
At this time, we
do not have a lockdown procedure at Mass.
We have discussed this at parish staff meetings, and will be formulating
a plan soon. Once this is completed, it
will be shared with all involved.
How often do the students practice these procedures?
The state of
Indiana requires that we do fire drills, once per month, and tornado drills,
and security drills once per semester.
How are the students and teachers being instructed to
address other students who may make threatening accusations or are
demonstrating abnormal behavior?
If a student
experiences or observes another student making threatening accusations or
exhibiting abnormal behavior, we ask they tell an adult immediately - a
teacher, parent, assistant, administrator, an adult of any kind. These reports should then be communicated to
the administration for investigation. Our staff has received bullying awareness
and training and this will continue to be an ongoing part of our monthly staff
meetings. Teachers encourage students to
reach out to an adult if another student is experiencing difficulties and we
ask that parents encourage the children to do the same.
Again, please
know that your children’s safety is of our utmost concern and we are constantly
striving to anticipate and prevent any of these situations and if one should
occur, respond immediately and appropriately.
Please do not hesitate to contact me to further discuss or if I can
answer any other questions.
