Help us keep our schools safe

Working together, we can continue our tradition of safe schools. Below is information that we want to be sure you know.

• No firearms or explosives of any kind are allowed on school grounds, including firearms stored in vehicles driven onto school grounds by adults. State law strictly prohibits this, and all violators will be prosecuted.

• All visitors must register with the school office as they arrive. Anyone failing to do so will be in violation of state law and may face prosecution.

• Conduct at sporting events and other extracurricular events will be closely monitored and all board policies and state laws will be strictly enforced.

• Please be reminded that a dog trained to find drugs will be used on a routine basis in school buildings and parking lots.

Thanks for your cooperation in making our schools safe havens for learning.

Parents should familiarize themselves with our emergency procedures

In a given a school year we will deal with a wide variety of issues ranging from weather emergencies, bus wrecks, school lockdowns and the list goes on. Our department is responsible for emergency management and we work directly with our schools to provide guidance, and support.

The most important thing in any emergency is accurate, concise information. That goes out as quickly as is feasible. We have made it a practice to be as transparent as possible but sometimes all information cannot be immediately released depending on the situation. Sometimes releasing too much information prematurely jeopardizes the response or even related investigations. I hope everyone remembers we can’t always give real-time play by play information if we are managing an emergency.

Our first and foremost job is to care for our students and staff. Parent updates come as quickly as allowed.

You as a parent or family member can do some things to make sure you are supporting your kids and us.

1. Sign-up for our Remind emergency texting system.

2. Make sure you have your phone contacts updated with the school.

3. If you get a notification of an emergency occurring at your child's school, please don’t go to the school. You will on impede our response and interfere at a time when we are tasked with caring for hundreds of kids and staff.

4. Please remember we will provide you updates as quickly as possible as well as directions of how to reunite with your children.

To sign-up for emergency response texts with Remind. We know we have an awesome responsibility dealing with over 14,000 people but our department and schools are up to the challenge. Looking forward to a great year.