Lakewood Local Schools Safety Strategy - Message #1 (Introduction)
February 16, 2023
Hello Lakewood Schools Families,
Student and staff safety is a top priority in our District. We take this responsibility very seriously and appreciate the partnership of students, staff, families, community members, and our first responders to keep everyone safe.
To this end, we want to share more about our safety strategy, practices, protocols and procedures, so you feel more informed about our efforts to keep students and staff safe every day.
There are four pillars to our Safety Strategy:
1. Safety Planning
Our Safety Planning pillar is comprised of several things: our safety committees, our safety plans, and our safety drills and training. We are required by law to have safety plans for every building in our district. Those plans are reviewed annually by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure we have an effective plan in place.
2. Communications
Our Communications pillar includes all of the people we deploy, and tools and channels we use, to get information out in the event of safety situation.
3. Facilities
Our Facilities pillar is made up of the campus- and building-specific assets we have available to make our District safe.
4. Partnerships
Our Partnerships pillar encompasses all of the individuals, agencies and entities with whom we work to ensure our safety strategy, practices, protocols, and procedures are accurate, effective, and can be executed to keep our District safe.
This comprehensive strategy allows us to be proactive in our approach to safety planning, while also being able to effectively and efficiently react to situations as they arise. Our community continues to be our best and most reliable defense against threats to our schools. Through well-developed relationships with our staff, students, local law enforcement, and safety agencies, we receive information that helps us assess and maintain the safety of our campuses.
In the coming weeks, we will delve deeper into each of these pillars. Please understand that we will only be sharing general information so as to avoid exposing critical protocols and procedures that need to be kept confidential.
Thank you for your attention to this important topic, and your continued partnership in keeping our District safe.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mark Gleichauf
Superintendent