School safety is often in the news and always on the minds of watchful parents. But for families within the North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) district, faculty, staff, and officials are always working to improve schools and address safety concerns, both inside and outside the classrooms.
“Prevention truly is the key to school safety,” said Dr. Debra Clemens, Superintendent for North Thurston Public Schools, whose own two children attend school in the district. “The locks, school resources officers, and fences are visible ways that we keep students safe. However, it is those invisible things—the warm greeting at the beginning of the day—that cultivate a caring environment. The question, ‘How are you today?’ The act of listening.”
In the spring of 2018, Clemens released information on school safety and preparedness training to all parents after the devastating shooting in Parkland, Fla. The message is heartfelt and comforting:
“Every student will feel safe…These words are embedded throughout our district’s Strategic Plan as a key ingredient to student success in North Thurston Public Schools. They are words we don’t take lightly.
It is by fostering positive relationships as a daily act, as well as helping a child to access additional support and mentoring when needed can make all the difference. Together, with a combination of safety efforts and prevention, we can help continue keeping our schools safe for everyone!”
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Monty Sabin echoes these thoughts. “Student safety has always been of the utmost importance for North Thurston Public Schools. We take the responsibility to care for children entrusted to us by their parents and our community very seriously.”
This responsibility is more than simply an aspiration. “We have utilized significant resources from our 2014 bond to provide upgraded security cameras at all of our building sites,” Sabin said. Previously, there were 270 analog cameras throughout the district and half of the buildings did not have any cameras. Today, NTPS has 1,400 digital cameras providing exceptional detailed coverage of all interior common spaces and complete coverage of the exteriors of all 22 buildings. When construction is completed at North Thurston High School and Pleasant Glade Elementary, the total number of cameras will reach 1,550. “These cameras play an important role in providing a safe environment for our students and staff. They also can deter criminal behavior and send a message of security to our community.”
Schools also are required to run a variety of safety drills throughout the year. One of those school is Pleasant Glade Elementary, which got to put their drills into action last year when they had a bomb threat.
“Ensuring and maintaining student and staff safety requires a multi-faceted approach that incorporates ongoing planning and preparation, clear communication, and practice, practice, practice,” said Pleasant Glade principal Andrew Pitman. The school has a small staff team who meets on an ongoing basis to review/refine school-wide emergency routines and procedures and expectations. They also purchase and inventories emergency supplies. Recent school safety responses have also included:
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Part of the district’s plan involves increasing the number of quality surveillance cameras Photo courtesy: North Thurston Public Schools Be willing to have hard and sometimes uncomfortable conversations with staff, students, and parents regarding school safety.
- Increased staff training throughout the year, prioritizing active shooter situations.
- Established reverse lockdown drills that allow us to evacuate the playground if there is an identified threat within the building.
- Increasing communication to parents regarding expectations and policies.
- Making sure building visitors follow established student check-in and check-out procedures including wearing visitor badges when walking through the building.
- Enhancing visibility (increasing the number of windows, increasing the number of quality cameras) AND limiting building access points as part of the remodel.
Pitman says it is never too early to start making children aware of what to do in an emergency, including lockdown drills and evaluating different strategies. His school also established reverse lockdown drills that allow staff to evacuate the playground safely if there is an identified threat within the building.
“Whether staff and students are inside or outside, they are trained to respond based on what they are seeing and/or hearing. The key is to flee the area or get behind a locking door as fast as possible depending on where the individual is. Once an individual has done that, then they need to continue to evaluate and respond to his/her surroundings.”
Students are also helping nurture a safe learning environment through relationship-building activities with their peers. Aspire Middle School for the Performing Arts, for example, introduced a “Start with Hello Week” to encourage students to introduce themselves to someone they haven’t spoken with before. At first the response was lukewarm. After all, it’s middle school!
“The whole idea to be forward and enthusiastically kind to all your peers seemed somewhat uncomfortable at first, but our leadership pressed on with the concept and tried to endorse it as coolly and easily as we could,” said Ahna Rader, an Aspire 8th grader.
“We were always presented with the constant reminder to say hello! It seemed somewhat odd to introduce ourselves to our classmates halfway through the school year, but it was nice to get the second chance to, because you can’t get to know everyone at the beginning of the year,” said Rader. “Overall, I found the ‘Start with Hello’ week to be greatly beneficial to our school morale. I do believe it should be instituted in many if not all schools, (at least for a trial run), but the basic idea of starting with hello, should be a mantra for all schools.”
Julie Major, tip administrator and business director of Olympia/Thurston County Crime Stoppers, and Robbie Wright, NTPS safety and loss prevention coordinator, explain that this year they are educating students about programs like Crime Stoppers in local schools, continuing to add computer-controlled door locks, panic/lockdown buttons, emergency blue lights on all buildings, and letting parents know that all busses now have security cameras.
They recommend concerned students and families bring up any safety worries, questions, or issues with their child’s school principal and read more on the district’s website. Videos of the Superintendent’s Roundtable are available and monthly Messages from Deb address all aspects of student life.
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