September 6th, 2022
Dear Families,
The safety and welfare of our students and staff are our highest priorities. To provide schools an opportunity to practice emergency response procedures, the District has planned assemblies in all of our schools regarding threat preparedness. The assemblies will be led by Mr. Robert Fatula, IASD Safety Consultant, and Mr. Michael Travis, IASD Safety and Security Coordinator. The assemblies will be conducted on September 9, 16, 19, and 23. The Senior High and Junior High will conduct their training on September 9th. East Pike will conduct their classroom training on September 16th.
Ben Franklin Elementary will conduct its classroom training on September 19th. Eisenhower and Horace Mann will conduct their classroom training on September 23rd.
The purpose of these assemblies is to make our students aware of the appropriate response in time of an emergency. This includes a discussion on the school’s preparedness for an “Active Shooter” scenario. I realize this is a difficult conversation to have with our students and I assure you that the presenter will structure his comments to the appropriate context when considering his audience.
Over the past five years, the District has taken a variety of steps to increase our preparedness and awareness regarding these types of unfortunate events. The training drill aims to improve our ability to protect students, save lives, and reduce injuries. As part of the District’s plan, I feel it is necessary to conduct these school-wide assemblies to help staff and students understand the topic and be prepared to the best of our ability in the case of an active shooter scenario. In October, we will conduct rally point drills that serve as an extension to the training mentioned above.
As a District, we deliberately do not publish every detail of our safety plan as we feel that would make our schools more vulnerable to a person who might want to do harm to our children. However, we can tell you that we routinely review the lockdown procedures in every building and have gone over these procedures with our staff members.
In closing, we are committed to doing everything it takes to keep our students safe. These drills and assemblies are a part of our overall safety plan. If you feel that the topic of “Active Shooter” is too sensitive for your child, please contact your child’s school to request that they are removed from the classroom training/assembly. Each school will have a location for those families who wish not to be a part of the day’s conversation.
All the best,
Mr. Michael J. Vuckovich
Superintendent of Schools