Message regarding Safety & Security

SAS Families:

As you know, lives were lost yesterday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at the hands of a former student.  Our hearts go out to the victims, families, and everyone affected by this horrible tragedy.

Far too often, school shootings and violence are in the news. The reasons for these senseless acts of violence will continue to be debated. However, it is important that we, as a school community, continue to work together to prevent such incidents from occurring.

At Saline Area Schools, we have worked diligently over the years to provide safeguards for our students and staff in the event that something were to happen.  In addition, we have also worked to prevent something like this from happening at all.

I want to summarize some of the safety and security measures Saline Area Schools has taken recently so you have some talking points to use with students, staff and parents:

• Provided SAS teachers, administrators, paraeducators and others with ALICE training, (Alert, Lock down, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) in the fall of 2014
• Provided SAS employees with School Safety Training provided by Secure Education Consultants (which include former Secret Service personnel) in the summer of 2016
  • New employees receive this training each August
• Modified drill schedules to comply with State law and to provide more realistic scenarios
• Secured school buildings during school hours and installed secure entries in each school building, (project was completed August of 2017)
• Modified emergency procedures including the following:
  • Discontinued use of code words and began using common language to describe situations and location of emergency, (ex: “Intruder in the cafeteria” instead of “Code Hornet”).
  • Provided staff with the ability to utilize building all call to facilitate communication in emergency situations
  • Expanded response options beyond traditional lock down
  • Began conducting spontaneous emergency drills (including cardiac emergencies)
• Monitor internal communication for threats using Gaggle
• Monitor external social media communication for threats using Social Sentinel

In conclusion, I am taking this occasion to assure you that we will continue our efforts in being proactive to keep our buildings safe and secure. If you want to share your thoughts – please us  “Let’s Talk” .

Sincerely,

Scot Graden

Superintendent