Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and Community Members,
Sadly, we have learned of another horrific school shooting, this time in Winder Georgia. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the families and staff of Apalachee High School.
We understand that school safety is on the minds of students, parents, staff and community members. It is on our minds, as well.
As details of this senseless act unfold we want to provide you with safety and security measures we have in place at our schools. We have safety plans in place at each of our schools that we consistently review, evaluate and practice. You can find our general safety plan online. Each school plan is customized and updated annually. You may make an appointment with your school office to review your school’s plan.
In SMMUSD we have worked and continue to work to harden the perimeters and entrances to elementary school campuses. By creating better defenses, we reduce the potential threat. Previous bond measures have replaced and improved fences, windows and doors have been replaced, and front offices fortified with buzz in systems and ID checks. Bell, clock and public address systems along with electronic locks improve the communication to lockdown.
For middle and high school, there have been incidents where threats come from inside, by a student attending the school. Secondary schools require a different approach that predominantly focuses on reducing the threat through interventions prior to the person entering with a weapon. While the middle and high school campus perimeters have been fortified using previous bond dollars, the strategy to reduce violence has been on constructing and modernizing buildings to provide more supervision, mental health support and improve response in case there is an incident.
As with every other school shooting, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Uvalde and too many more, we will study what happened and strengthen our best practices to reduce threats. There are many significant and minor improvements in the works, including those being designed into Measure QS (Santa Monica) and MM (Malibu) projects.
We will be working with local law enforcement, Santa Monica Police Department and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department serving Malibu to increase patrols to our schools both before, during and after school to provide a sense of security to our community in the coming days. We will continue to train the faculty, staff and students on what to do to prevent and respond to violence.
Additionally, we meet regularly with our local law enforcement officials, in partnership to keep our schools and communities safe. These meetings include other city authorities and focus on our current safety plans and discussing additional preventive and proactive measures that may be taken to better protect our students and staff from acts of violence.
We regularly review our threat assessment protocols with our staff and local mental health professional partners. We continue to encourage staff, students, and community members that if they “See something, Say Something.” Additionally, reporting concerns to school staff, calling 911, and/or utilizing WETIP is strongly encouraged.
Student and staff safety are our top priorities. It is our goal to engage students in schools that are safe, well-maintained and family friendly.
Here are three resources that may be helpful to you and your family during times of school tragedies:
● National Association of School Psychologists: Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers
● National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Parent Guidelines for helping youth after a shooting
● Common Sense Media: How to Talk to Kids About Violence, Crime and War
Please continue to take care of yourselves and each other.
Sincerely,
Dr. Antonio Shelton, Superintendent
