UPDATE 8/31/18: Lockdown Drill Announcement
The safety and welfare of students and staff are the highest priority at Salt River Schools. We practice safety drills throughout the year to help prepare staff and students for real emergency situations.
Today, each school practiced a lockdown drill led by our Safe Schools and Security Team, in partnership with the Salt River Police Department. Salt River High School practiced their lockdown drill around 9:30 a.m.; the Early Childhood Education Center practiced their drill around 11 a.m.; Salt River Elementary practiced their drill around 1:30 p.m.; and the Accelerated Learning Academy practiced their drill around 3 p.m.
The school conducts one “Lockdown Drill” per semester at each site and as needed. Our drills are not pre-announced. This type of drill secures the school building and safely shelters all students, staff and visitors inside the building.
The purpose of this drill is to ensure that during a real emergency, students, staff and visitors are kept safe from any danger that may occur outside or inside the building. During a lockdown drill all perimeter doors to the school building are locked and remain locked until the danger or issue outside or inside the building is removed. To ensure everyone remains safe, no one will be allowed to enter the building or leave the building until school and law enforcement officials authorize such a release.
Our school has worked closely with local authorities and representatives from U.S. Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to correctly develop and implement safety procedures. The goal of practicing emergency drills throughout the school year is to improve our ability to protect students, save lives and reduce injuries. These practice drills allow us to evaluate our emergency operation plans and improve our response skills.
We are pleased with the outcome of today’s drills and feel reassured that our safety plans can be implemented effectively by our staff.
Please note: During a real emergency, parents and emergency contacts of students will be notified during and after the event by Salt River Schools’ administrators through our notification system, which includes phone calls, texts and email, among other platforms.
As such, it is important your contact information on file be current. If you need to update your contact information, please contact the school’s front office. It is important that parents and emergency contacts do not attempt to contact the school, teachers or students during an emergency as that could impact everyone’s safety.
Your student may tell you about today’s drill and it is important to talk with them about why it’s important and ask what they learned. Our goal, while practicing important safety procedures, is to be sure all students feel safe.
We also invite you to join Salt River Schools for the upcoming Soda With Security event on Thursday, September 27, from 6-8 p.m. where safety officials will be at Salt River High School showing caregivers how to recognize different types of illicit substances to help raise awareness about their dangers. More details will be available soon on www.saltriverschools.org.
If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to call the Salt River Schools Administration office at 480-362-2500.
The following text was originally published August 1, 2018
Welcome back to what will be another fantastic year of learning for your student. Teachers and staff have been hard at work preparing lesson plans and activities that are both fun and challenging.
Providing a strong academic environment starts with students feeling safe in their school. Salt River Schools has an active security team that partners with local authorities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students, staff, visitors and facilities. This takes shape in many ways:
-
Students and staff review and practice emergency drills, such as lockdowns or active shooter alerts, throughout the year. We do our best to communicate with families immediately after these drills take place to avoid confusion/fear and to remind parents to keep their contact information current in case school officials need to reach them in a real emergency.
-
A SchoolMessenger notification system that calls, emails and texts families in the event of emergencies, events and other important information throughout the year (make sure to “OPT IN” to our new mobile messaging system and free smartphone app!).
-
All outside fences and doors in all of our schools are locked during school hours with only the main entrance door enabled to receive visitors.
-
State-of-the-art security camera system at every school building.
-
Trained counselors who provide students with assistance in social-emotional-academic matters.
-
Monthly Soda With Security events that offer families and the Community important course topics including internet and smartphone safety, mental health awareness and suicide prevention, drug use and gang awareness/prevention, active shooter training and more.
-
We offer school- and Community-based leadership and diversion programs to keep students on the right track when it comes to making choices that impact their health and wellbeing.
-
A close partnership with the Salt River Police Department that includes three School Resource Officers who provide positive role modeling, criminal deterrence and safety guidance to students and staff, as well as a K-9 unit to conduct random drug searches when needed.
-
Trained security personnel are actively present in and/or available to every school building, including a robust radio communication system in place between security staff and school administrators. Click here to find out more about the Safe Schools & Security Team.
We want families to be our partners in keeping students and schools safe. If you or your student have questions about safety and security at Salt River Schools, please reach out to your school’s administration:
ECEC 480-362-2200 | SRES 480-362-2400 | SRHS 480-362-2000 | ALA 480-362-2130
We value and appreciate your comments, suggestions and safety tips throughout the year. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe first week of school – and beyond!
Sincerely,
Dr. Louis Laffitte, Jr., Superintendent