Happy New Year and welcome to the January Safety Spotlight! For those that are new to this monthly column, I’m Dr. Brooke Gialopsos. I am one of the Co‑Presidents for Council and am a Professor of Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Forensics at Seattle University. My research and service work center on school-based violence, and I collaborate often with the district’s safety team in several ways, including serving on the LWSD Safety Advisory Council. To help connect my roles and passions, I created a monthly Safety Spotlight this school year. These updates are designed to share general school safety and emergency preparedness information with parents and families. Topics will vary widely each month—for January, I am focusing on two drills that will occur.
For most emergency drills that are required, the school can select the exact day to practice the necessary skills. In January, there are two separate “drills” (aka: skills or procedures) that schools will practice. First, is the “Hold” drill. I briefly touched on this in December in an effort to distinguish it from “Secure.” The revised Emergency Procedures Poster, which was updated in the 2024-25 school year, provides some helpful information, too. Essentially, Hold is used for situations such as altercations/fights, as well as medical, behavioral, and/or mental health situations that involve students/staff. The focus here is on keeping individuals where they are (this may involve not letting students change classes or move down the hallways), so that the issue at hand can be quickly and safely handled. There is no threat to the school, and students are typically held for a brief amount of time. 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.
The other drill in January is the review of the school’s emergency supply inventory. In most schools in LWSD, this is a joint effort between the school’s Associate Principal (AP) and the PTA/PTSA’s Emergency Preparedness (or E-Prep) Chair. The bulk of emergency preparedness supplies are purchased by and maintained (or co-maintained with the AP) by the PTA/PTSA (or other parent group). There are a lot of reasons for this, and I am happy to field questions, but this is absolutely an area that is ripe with inequity. As many of you know, I have been working on collecting some data on this topic to help share with the appropriate district leaders. If you are a PTA/PTSA that currently does not have an E-Prep Chair, I strongly encourage you to reach out. I am happy to help you get started. It can be overwhelming, but it is important and we are here to help!
Last year, reviewing and updating the supply list was a task undertaken by the LWSD Safety Advisory Council. The current supply list is on our website. Please note that the district will be purchasing the “Office Kit” that is listed on the last page of the inventory list. The reason the emergency supply inventory review is a “drill” is that supplies are examined in order to identify what was used, what items (if any) are expired or close to their expiration date, and ordering (or making a plan to order) some replacements, if possible. If budget allows, then the E-Prep Chair can help identify other items on the list to purchase. Typically, this process also involves reorganizing or tidying up the shed/closet/room so that the supplies are clearly identifiable and accessible. Most E-Prep Chairs then share the updated counts/inventory with their AP and the AP submits it through the Raptor Drill Manager used by LWSD. The next E-Prep Chair meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 10 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at the LWSD Resource Center (Sammamish Room). If you do not have an E-Prep Chair, then any member can attend and learn more about the process and ways that we support our students and community. Please reach out with questions President@lwptsa.net