Hello Lakewood Schools Families,
Hopefully, you have seen my previous two communications about our Safety Strategy. This is the third message in the series, aimed to share more about our safety practices, protocols, and procedures, so you feel more informed about our efforts to keep students and staff safe every day.
Once again, there are four pillars to our Safety Strategy:
To re-read the message introducing these pillars, visit here. To re-read the message about our Safety Planning, visit here. To re-read the message about Communication, visit here.
The pillar I am focusing on in this message is Facilities – the campus- and building-specific assets we have available to make our District safe. As I mentioned in my message on Planning from March 12, Lakewood Local Schools was awarded safety grants from the State of Ohio totaling $400,000 this year. Each building received $100,000 for safety enhancements. We are planning to use these funds toward secure doors and entrances, school surveillance, additional exterior lighting, and increased window safety.
Other recent safety improvements include:
- Enhanced Communication
- An updated PA System to make our broadcasting of messages more efficient.
- A new Phone System that places a phone set in each classroom for teachers to have access to immediate communication if necessary, a voicemail function for each staff member, and for classroom-to-classroom communication.
- Secure Entry
- Secured Doors and Entrances – visitors need to state business and be buzzed in through a locked door.
- A new safety vestibule at Jackson Intermediate paid for by the Safety Grant mentioned above is planned for the coming months.
- Improved Security
- School surveillance through cameras and by our School Resource Officers
- Door Barricades
- Exterior Lighting
- Window Safety
In addition, we have automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, and first aid kits in every building (often multiple).
Thank you for your continued attention to this important topic.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mark Gleichauf
Superintendent