School Safety – Everybody’s Concern
Headlines across the nation have heightened parents’ and educators’ concerns about the safety of our children at school. While study after study have shown that the odds of a student being killed or seriously injured at school are extremely small, parents are quick to remind us that their concerns are about children – not statistics.
Iroquois West, like most school districts, has long had a Crisis Management Plan to help us to be prepared in the event of an emergency. While it is impossible to anticipate every possible emergency, our plan addresses fires, tornadoes, intruders, evacuation procedures, and a variety of other situations the could arise during the course of the year. The safety of our students and employees is a concern that we can never take lightly.
On October 4th, the school administrators met with first responders from the local police and fire departments and the county ESDA office in our annual session to review and update our plan. Among the issues that we addressed were the use of technology to heighten security and the need to be prepared in the event of an influenza pandemic (i.e. world-wide flu epidemic).
One of our biggest challenges in heightening security at our schools is that it comes at the expense of the friendly, welcoming atmosphere that we have tried to create in our schools. We want our parents, grandparents, and other taxpayers to always feel welcome at school. Unfortunately, the reality today is that we must limit public access to our schools through a single main entrance and require everyone to sign in at the office. We trust that you will understand. It isn’t that we don’t want visitors; it is important to us to have family and public participation. We do ask, however, that you follow appropriate procedures when visiting. Success in any endeavor requires cooperation and communication.
If you have a concern regarding safety/security at one of our schools, or a suggestion to enhance the safety for our students and personnel, please feel free to call that school’s principal or call me at 815/265-4642. We don’t want to be among those victims who have said . . .. “We just didn’t think that it could happen here !”