School Safety Updates
School safety is on all of our minds more than ever lately. We want to be sure that families and community members have accurate information about how we approach school safety in the Lake County School District, as well as how we prepare students and staff to respond in emergencies. Here a few resources for parents who want to learn more, or have questions:
- The School Safety section of our website includes lots of information in English and Spanish about the best practices we use in our schools.
- Save the Date! In partnership with our law enforcement partners, we will be offering a School Safety Update & Forum on Wednesday, April 4th at Lake County High School from 6-7pm. LCSD staff will be joined by representatives of the Leadville Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lake County Office of Emergency Management. We will share an overview of our practices and take questions.Please join us!
- The letter below appeared in the March 8th edition of the Herald Democrat and is a good overview of our current partnerships and practices.
- Please reach out to your student’s school or the district office directly with any other questions!
Letter to the Editor, March 8, 2018
We are acutely aware that the topic of school safety and emergency response is on the minds of many members of our community given national events. We are profoundly saddened by the recent tragedy in Florida. The safety of our students, staff and schools is our collective top priority, and we wanted to provide an overview of the work we are doing together to protect that safety. Our work is centered on two focus areas: prevention of emergencies, and response to them.
In the area of prevention, we have worked together to form a strong partnership between and among our agencies that allows for frequent and open communication. We have strengthened physical security at our schools, such as installing a buzzer entry at all school buildings. In the school district, we have added mental and behavioral health supports that provide help for students who need it. And we have robust systems in place to identify concerns and address them early.
Though we hope to never have to use these skills, we also have done extensive work to prepare ourselves for responding to an emergency. Using the nationally recognized Standard Response Protocol as a guide, our students and staff train and drill regularly to practice our response to different kinds of emergencies in schools. Law enforcement, emergency management and school staff frequently come together to implement best practices, observe practice drills and provide feedback for improvement. Situational and safety awareness have measurably improved in our schools thanks to this practice.
Every day, 50 million school children in the United States go to school and come home safely. The odds of an act of violence in our schools are statistically very small. We have not let these odds decrease our vigilance and attention to preparation, and we hope that this knowledge is helpful to the community in these unsettling times. We welcome any questions about our collaborative work on school safety, and we thank you for playing an active role in keeping our community and our schools safe.
Wendy Wyman, Lake County School District Superintendent
Mike McHargue, Director, Lake County Office of Emergency Management
Rob Glenny, Leadville Chief of Police
Rod Fenske, Lake County Sheriff
