Welcome to the December Safety Spotlight! As you know by now, this spotlight is an attempt to bridge my professional and service hats. I am a true believer in the power of education and awareness, especially when it comes to human and natural disasters. LWSD has an incredibly robust school safety approach, better known as the Layered School Safety. As part of this beautiful rainbow, there are trauma-informed drills (see the orange School Safety layer). The month of December focuses on the “Secure Drill” while January emphasizes the “Hold Drill.” To better understand these, please take a closer look at the Emergency Procedures Poster that was updated in the 2024-25 school year. Lockdown and barricading were covered in last month’s spotlight, but I wanted to explain these additional two terms. For Secure, all individuals are brought inside, exterior doors are secured, and blinds/lockdown shades are closed. Students and staff remain in class and perform normal operations. This might occur if there is police activity in the neighborhood or a wild animal (here’s looking at you bears, coyotes, bobcats, etc.) is spotted on or near the school campus (essentially, in situations that occur outside of the school and do not involve students/staff). Hold, however, is used for situations such as altercations/fights, medical or behavioral situations, etc. that involve students/staff. The focus here is on keeping individuals where they are so that the issue at hand can be quickly and safely handled. An added benefit to this response is that it can reduce the capturing of such issues on videos/pictures and sharing them on social media. Just remember that all these procedures and policies are designed to foster a safer learning environment while also creating a culture of preparedness among students/staff.
Thank you for reading this edition of the Safety Spotlight, and please reach out with questions or suggestions. Also, if you are interested in a free presentation to your PTSA community, please reach out to me at President@LWPTSA.net.
