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AASD Security Debrief - April 6, 2023

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I want to walk him every one last week we had an incident that got at least for me it was extremely intense and extremely real and I'm sure it was for the majority of the people in this room today as we walked through the process with police cheese our security forces our police force and a different people that were involved we debriefed on issues that we saw minor things that needed to be corrected for the most part space Coupe was very happy with how how everything went but at the same time we have to look at this situation is and see how we can we can learn and grow from it so today Vision was a we should do a full a full debriefing with with with staff and faculty and the purpose is quite simply and we're not going to be able to have as much of an exchange with this many people but the idea that we could we could will all of your questions and then we would pretty much to do some down in the topics and make sure we covered and told you where we were and analyzing and dealing with those issues so it this time I'm going to turn it over to buy add and he's going to take it from here regarding your the next steps and how we handle this situation here you Warrior buddy first want to thank everyone for being here this morning very important opportunity how to get together as a school district family to staff to debrief and have the start of a conversation with something that you hook the never have to revisit or go over but on open the world we live in today it's all reality and it's something that we have to face on a day-to-day basis it's something that you are on the front lines of day today working with our kids and all the challenges that our society and our families are bringing to us daily basis your jobs are incredibly difficult unbelievably difficult and they continue to grow it in in expanding complexity so with that being said I would first want to thank you for the for the amazing job did everyone in this room did last week in the face of a potential major major incident that being said I first want to recognize our school district police staff who are here on the front lines each and every we're very fortunate to live in a district that values protection and law enforcement and safety and we're very fortunate to have our own police staff who do everything that they can do to protect our students or staff and our faculty each and every day so I do want to recognize them individually what would potentially happened last week is is there he was Bill tells me all the time that's what keeps me up at night and just to introduce those guys are director Culpepper author John McFalls John Riley Greg McNeil Ashley Williams and I don't think they're all here but Jim Conway Fred Martin ouska Joe daversa Joe Sunderland Mike Walker Mike pilgrim Brian work but and Brian riggleman so let's give him another round of applause for what they do for us each and every day did the other piece of this is that we very fortunate to have multiple local law enforcement agencies in our community that we work with and have an amazing working relationship with Chief Joe Merrill from the Altoona Police Department Joe Cox from the Altoona Police Department and new chief police at Logan Township by Dave Hoover stop the collaboration and partnership that we have with our local law enforcement in the communication that it takes in order to keep our students and our buildings and our facilities and our staff safe we would struggle to do that there's a lot of local communities that surround us it don't have what we have so we are very fortunate in the unique situation that we are as a larger Urban based but widespread School District with multiple campuses each with their own challenges in each with their own meekness part of what we're going to discuss today that all of you had voiced you in terms of looking at individually with your own buildings there are circumstances and questions and things that are that are particular to or individual buildings into a star population into a piece of the community so those are those are things that we want to address but I do want to stress today is it is a starting point this is not a one-and-done conversation if anything we realize that we we are not amusing that that kicked  in the last week 100% you know and we will never be immune and unfortunately in our society today with the uptick in the end of violence that we see not just in schools in our society in general this is something but it has to be at the Forefront of priority of everything that we do so that being said I do want introduce Chief Merrill who would like to give a few comments on the start off our morning thank you good morning we all thought it might be beneficial and I don't want to take up too much of your time do you have a lot to go over but two for me to speak on the police perspective of how you all did and then give you a little indication of what was actually happening from the first responder side because obviously you all weren't out there and being able to see what we were doing so the the initial call for those that are not aware were to the 911 Center was that there were six people shot in a bathroom at the Altoona High School again we would all later find out that this was part of a larger hoax that happened. Only across the state of Pennsylvania but actually in other states but at the time that was very real to everyone in this room obviously so the initial responding off sisters were already in the building okay I'm mediately your Police Department went to work and within approximately 60 seconds they were backed up by Altoona police officer Logan Township Lobster and a Blair County Sheriff's deputy those were the first outside resources that arrived on scene and it was approximately 60 Seconds within 2 over the course of the next 2 to 10 minutes approximately 35 Altoona police officers additional Logan Township Police Department officers Blair County Sheriff's Department Penn State attorney general agents Homeland Security agent and Blair County Probation all flooded the school it's estimated right now and we have a larger debris for the First Responders next week that there was over 75 officers that eventually made it to the school and and that's within that 62nd to approximately 10-minute time. Okay. Is an addition to who was already here the Altoona fire departments and a med both showed up I'm obviously the Altoona fire department primarily initially block 6th and 7th Avenues to divert traffic away from the school's which ended up being a huge success in the in the second phase of this one when parents started showing up which I'll touch on Brie in a minute a magic staged had other resources close by but an initially staged at least one crew on a command staff member with me out front in the event that we would have needed medical assistance the fire and also would have transitioned into a role of what we call rescue task force and they would have started providing medical assistance if that was going to be needed so that was the initial setup okay cuz I recognize we all recognize from your folks perspectives you had no clue what was going on and it probably felt like an eternity so without getting into too much detail as the Officers Training is to go to stimulus that's for active shooter training okay the initial stimulus you almost always receive is the initial call directing us to a location or what we're looking for them when we arrived on scene we're trying to find additional stimulus stimulus in the sound of gunshots people screaming more intelligence this person ran this what happened though obviously now again because we know it was a hoax was we had that initial stimulus for bathrooms at the high school and then we had no additional stimulus to direct your actions so the initial offer linked up with the school district police almost immediately and started going to the bathroom they encounter some walk bathrooms they encounter some unlock bathrooms and then as the flood of officers coming we're happening we made the conscious decision to dividing up resources the initial entry team that came into this to this incident came into this building we started dividing the resources between the a building this building and the junior high I know there's Maybe questions on why the junior high got the same level of response and and quite simply with the close proximity and the fact that these two buildings are connected and incidents such as this in the absence of stimulus or any sort of intelligence that can direct us specifically where to go we have to treat these three buildings equally okay so that's why those approximately 75 officers were ultimately divvied up each building had an offer that kind of took charge of that building and he chops her hair at least one if not more of the school district police assisting them because they know the layout of the building better than us they have access to keys and everything like that okay once the initial bathrooms were starting to be cleared and or we were working on keys to open them the officers then start clearing the Open Spaces you probably heard them checking doors if your door was locked they moved on if they saw you they generally tried to make sure are you okay but they were clearing the Open Spaces the big Auditorium the hallways and the stairwells and then eventually were starting to form what we call protective Corridor and that's where we start leaving officers at different key points of intersections and stairwells so that if we have to evacuate people or get metal Medical that's into the building we have a protective court order that they can travel through once again that that secondary flood of officers came in we assign two of the detectives to kind of pull away from the searching and we put them with your staff on the camera system starting to try to determine whether we could see if anything it happened or not somewhere in the middle of this initial incident we started getting information that this was possibly a hoax that there was another call similar in at least six round and County at that point we didn't know the extent of how far and all the schools that it had happened that but we started working with your Administration we did not feel comfortable though lifting the walk down and officially saying it's a hoax until we both had all the buildings cleared and we had some sort of assurance on the security cameras that there was no abnormalities for lack of a better term the bill things were actually cleared and officers were staged in protective corridors before we were able to even get the the camera system cleared so even though there was probably a longer. Of time that you were still in a lockdown you were secure buildings were secured before okay kind of simultaneously we started having parents show up and that's something that is a common Trend and we're starting to have to deal with it never used to be part of training and now it's something we're having to wear deal with the quickly we established that the library parking lot was going to be where we attempted to get parents to congregate and a lot of them did a lot of them didn't a lot of them came to straight to the school wanting to get there understandably emotional we attempted to work with your public information officer are public information officer to put out information as we got it as quick as possible to help the potential deescalate that situation where angry parents were coming because we weren't letting them in the school once we were able to confirm that it was hopes we essentially just transition to more of a security element you guys coming up with plans on how to get the kids out that the parents wanted out and we just kind of stood by just make sure everyone felt safe and that no emotions got out of control so immediately after the incident response team did a kind of a quick debriefing our Patrol unit did a debriefing and then those leaders came to us and we had a Command Staff debriefing that afternoon I met with your administrators near Police Department the next morning and then we kind of had a deal everyone was interested in what we can do better okay and that's something that's something everyone should be proud of because it doesn't matter how good of a job we do this is a pretty serious thing and we should always strive to be better without exception every officer that was debriefed was absolutely amazed at the outstanding job you you folks did and a story that needs to be the headline okay of things that we could do better over here or maybe you know one class from over here that wasn't silent but overall not just you did a good job amazed and pressed and a lot of us have kids in your District what if you were in front of me for training last last year I believe it was a believe is at the beginning of the school year and I told you you guys are going to be the ones that this is a real incident you all are going to be the ones that determine the safety of the children and and then for this incident to happen and if there is a silver lining in this incident it is the closest thing that we will ever have to a live action drill that is realistic that we can truly trapstar response and again you guys overwhelmingly exceeded expectations one officer who is I can't remember what floor he was assigned to but literally thought it was an in-service day because all the lights were off all the doors were locked the children were heading the reports of doors being secured and unconventional ways which is something I know we talked about for those that were in this training there was people reporting the teachers funny teachers in positions of advantage in case there was an actual assailant and there had to be some sort of interaction and we did jot down the few areas that we thought there could be improvement from your we also dropped down many areas of improvement that we want a Brandon are both again our larger debrief is next Tuesday from the first responder sign the next morning and this is probably just as equally impressive as the job you folks did the next morning when we met with your Administration in the police department that they started off you guys self-identified almost every area that we had identified for improvement and your staff had already come up with a solution or at least a potential solution somewhere things that could be fixed right away some more long-term goals and that was that was done almost 24 hours after the initial incident so again I kind of want to add I want to and I should say everyone did an amazing job I'm very very proud of not only the the First Responders response and how that went but more impressed at the school district and trust me if there is someone that understands that schools never do anything right they always get criticized for everything they do it is the police okay so again everyone did an amazing job the only thing I asked and your your leaders and your Police Department are absolutely doing it I asked you to do it yourself is let's just try to figure out ways we can get better because this is something worth protecting will never be perfect but we should always strive for Perfection right so I'll turn it back over to you folks and I'll be available for questions if if needed so again I want to thank Chief Merrill mr. Hogan and chief for everything that they did to support the school district their response or kind words because when we have situations like this we have to have Camden and Frank conversations about what worked and what didn't work because they mention the focus is on getting by and that's what this morning is about is really looking at let's let's go over what happened our response within also look at what can we do to make improvements and I want to thank you over 250 people that responded to the survey that was sent out last week with a your comment or question they could help guide this presentation so this morning we're going to walk through a couple of pieces we hope to have met or at least addressed most of the talking points that were mentioned in the, so there are some specific things that are unique to your building your situation your your your educational community that we're going to continue those conversations at the building level with all the stakeholders and teams as we move through not forget anyone mind if I sit here to kind of look at this job is kind of going over the general timeline of the events of last Wednesday but essentially our administrative team and you were you were busy doing what you do we were in the middle of our weekly meeting was kind of ironic that we were literally talking about the planning process for developing and having a yearly live active shooter drill in of our buildings that we would then rotate through we were in the midst of the conversation officer pepper what was driving that conversation when the call came over the radio and when he said active shooter I mean Hearts drop but that lasted a few seconds and then that point poisson process kicked in we initial I initiated our our procedures we went to an immediate lockdown at 9:32 and we called after all buildings so one of the biggest concerns that came up and we were going to dress and if you did not get one of the handouts that was issued at entry we're going to make sure that everybody has these we are also getting them card Stockton I needed for each and every one of your areas so that we have a very clear communication tool across our district as to what what things mean when they are now over the PA system or by e-mail or however works vacating at that point so that was one of the biggest things that there was some confusion about what what meant what and there had been some individual things that individual buildings so we made it first priority was to make sure that in terms of communication very clear signals in messages that we're going to be going out to all staff members faculty and staff regardless of your it whether your classroom teacher or custodian someone working in the cafeteria whatever it may be that we have no confusion as to what it means we call for stay-put shelter-in-place lockdown and what that means we're going to be going over there was a little bit as we move through here at 9:45 Dr. Phillips please brief by the police and the call was reported to be at I can tell you when I got here when the first things that we identified was that we we had a key issue and that was something that a lot of you had brought up the ability to lock classrooms the ability for our partners that are coming in responding if you would access classrooms restrooms and those types of things we had a number of restrooms here at the high school and that were locked so I was going around with these tactical teams providing them with the key that I had to open all of the buildings and that is something we identified very very quickly that is going to be something that we need to rectify right away access ability to keys because we're locking space is what we need to access them what is that going to look like and not just thinking about the high school or the junior high school because all eight Elementary buildings had unique situations were the age of your doors the age of your building the types of lock sets that you have on your doors those are all things that we need to look at individually and make sure that we're we're doing uniformly across the district after. I was briefed by the police the lockdown was called at the remaining schools so even though there was not an active threat at any of our elementary buildings or any of our out buildings we did feel that it was it was important to go for a complete lockdown at all of our buildings and one of the ones that identify this as being a concern was the administration building we don't have a safety plan for the administration building that is something that we're going to rectify immediately because moving into the new facility in the new building that was just something that was missed and obviously that's something we need to correct in terms of what are the procedures at that building their communication issues identified at our Maintenance building at Adams there were other concerns that were that were brought up all valid concern that this exercise is going to allow us to react as Chief Marilyn Mansion want one of the challenges and we have talked about this is especially in an urban setting or even in your buildings how do we establish the safety perimeter when and if we would have an event to allow for first responder and other essential staff and employees to be able to get to the scene and not allow Outsiders for your other people to be able to access building students etcetera that was something also that we looked at in planning purposes are we going to go about rectifying it in an urban sitting like the campus around here where we have five six thousand kids in any given time that's difficult especially when you have a lot of foot traffic coming from the surrounding community and understandably parents or are very very very upset they're very concerned and then also what we do live in Altoona and Indian people are are nosey and they want to know what's going on it's like you know that they listen to their scanners you know they see things they do you know literally I didn't the one thing we did check how long was it before someone put the Facebook there's a shooter at the Altoona Area High School it was less than 3 minutes Less Than 3 minutes from the 911 call less than three minutes lesson 3 minutes it was the social media and we all know what that response looks like and what kind of in a chaotic that that can that can that can incite so obviously that's something that we can look at the one thing that I will say was encouraging was it the feedback and from community members in the family they were scolding those people that were doing that like hey you need to let them do their job you need to this is how you support your inhibiting the process you know making a thousand cell phone calls and you know my phone was blowing up like everyone in their grandma wants to know what's going on even my son he sent me a text about 20 minutes in it looks like you're having a good day thanks I really needed that but your do the kind of things and that's human instinct you know I'm sure you wanted to make sure that your children are okay your children of your family members want to make sure you were okay and we completely understand and recognize that but but at that point in time or Focus hundred percent Focus needs to be on what is our tasks and responsibilities that time which in most of your cases it is to take care of kids and to make sure that we are doing everything that we can do for you to take care of yourself and for you to assist in taking care of the kids that are in your charge first call was made to parents I think this is pretty good response time within a half an hour there was an official notification from the school district that went out and if anyone doesn't know Paula Foreman these are a few community relations director she's amazing she's in and you know in a crisis situation having someone like her who's as good as her job as she is keep everyone calm in to do what needs to be done it is really again a benefit that we have in the Alton area school district did not a lot of places have someone to thank Paul for everything that she did on that day at this point it was just I did to try to maintain the perimeter that there was going to be a staging point at the Altoona Library where we would be getting press releases and where information out to parents or parents were or directly away from the buildings they were directed to the Altoona Library where officials Miss were coming from law enforcement and or. School District officials at approximately 10:35 because and in this was one of the concerns why not immediately send officers everywhere and when it when you're in a car situation you have to allocate more resources at a chief Maryland indicated to to the stimulus and at the time all indications at that time where that the stimulus was on campus it was High School Junior High School it was this area so that the chauffeur personal response to those areas is initially in immediately always going to be to the stimulus but at that point we also recognize it that we all have other buildings in lockdown we want to do and make sure you make sure you do it a safety check in a sweep of those building so the officers in teams of officers they were dispatched to all of our elementary school at 10:45 we lifted the lockdown in enter to stay put and we can we'll get to that language in what that means for you as an employee within the school in at 10:54 we made a second call confirming two parents that there was that there was it the call was confirmed to be a hoax and at this time that we were looking at this basically maintaining our environment but by then we had hundreds parents I'm flooding the campus area and trying to then orderly maintained that that became the responsibility we felt very importantly that they needed to see Haley myself dr. Tell to tell them directly we have confirmed that this is a hug your children are safe I understand that you want to see and talk to your child that you may want to remove your child from the building we are going to absolutely give you the ability to do that but we need to do so in a safe in an orderly fashion it is one of the biggest criticisms and trust me I know because I was with the bullhorn out at the junior high at 2 a.m. or at 2 p.m. telling everyone okay everyone is still in line you got to leave but you got to get your you got to get in your car and you're going to have to go and meet your kids how they were reason being had to make sure that we had a safe departure system in place for our bosses in our students to access the sidewalks on 6th and 7th Avenue to be able to depart the building safely one of the things it was a challenge and this is something that we very quickly the administrators in the building's recognize this is it an environment that would be rich for an opportunity for someone to try and take a kid so the fifth the first thing that we had to recognize that we have to have a system in place very quickly to be able to address that are we going to release students to someone we have to sure that they are a guardian or an approved emergency contact that can pick up that child and inevitably you know we had you know one person and they would show up while I'm here to pick up kids from 9 different families once and I apologize we can't do that safe and secure the children we matched up their ID with our Skyward system to make sure that that person was a valid person and we had the student eyeball that person they physically had to come in and pick them up that takes time. Took a lot of time and we had as many people with his many devices facilitating that as we could but the reality is in this is our firm belief the best place for those children to be was to be with you where they can reassured that they were safe that you could talk about the scenario in the situation and that there was no danger or threat than this acetate of the need for their students to leave the building however that being said we completely understand I understand as a parent I three teenagers I completely get it I want to see my kid even if it's just making sure that they're safe and that's important very when we and we do recognize that so we facilitated the process for that to happen and happen is efficiently we could in that moment shortly thereafter we had to immediately brief with our administrative team security team at the same time we know that law enforcement and their tactical rival team were debriefing as well we establish a plan meet the very next morning with law enforcement with our police staff and administration to review everything is teeth Maryland said you know we spent the entire night how do we get better number one coming down from that Amo hi to getting yourself to the point where you can think rationally and start looking at making decisions for how we can improve in the future there was a follow-up letter sent to staff at approximately 1:28 and then at 6 p.m. we had drafted I sent out a time message to all of our parents and families regarding the situation so to follow up with dr. L and chief Merrill we then debriefed the next morning it was decided at that time that we felt this was necessary it was essential and it was something that we needed to do as quickly as possible we didn't want it to go on weeks at a time as quickly as we could so we decided that this would be the best day the number one get out information our parents to be able to put a 2-hour delay system in place and also to give you an opportunity to staff members to provide us with feedback questions and input as to what we could address at this time so that's why there was somewhat of a delay I know there was some concern mentioned in some of the commenting and questions why not an immediate debrief with everyone and that was we try to go about it systematically and to make sure that it was done in a way that would be responsive but also we Pro a even finding out what information that we wanted to go over that's kind of summing up the day I mean I know from my perspective I mean I was spent you know I went home with you day I was physically ill and I'm sure many of you were as well scuse me not meeting on easy day and the more that we learn from it and we use it as a positive we can turn it into something that will benefit us all moving forward so that being said if you have your hand out with you once again these are all going to be provided in hard copy format I will try to get them laminated this is going to be something that we're going to have in every room in every building in our school district so that we don't have any confusion or lack of communication as to what means what do in looking at this this news from the least of your level of severity to the most of your level severity and I will tell you this this does not answer all questions but what it does is it gives you a quick reference visual guide they can guide your actions in the event of a crisis situation like we experienced last week so just kind of reading over through this number one Safety and Security of our staff and our students will always be will always be our priority ahead of academic achievement ahead of athletic accomplishment ahead of accolades in the Arts in the music for the it's a head of everything that is at the Forefront of what we always do and what we represent this sign will be posted again and all over again so in there there was some confusion with it and it would met at least say that in terms of the communication that went out to to our staff members into our students if we would call a stay put there will be one of two announcements made Interstate put this is a drill this is this is a drill or we are in a state put this is not a drill at that point when you get whether it's a Jew or not a drill we're following the same procedure in the consistency with that is very important the more that we stay poised and the more that we stay composed will be very important in all of these situations and more importantly as we move down there a lockdown what what you would spirit the expectation is that all doors are locked and that being said we will talk about Keys here in a second your lights can remain on in your classrooms and in your spaces you can continue teaching and working in your space they can be business as usual within your space movement is permitted in the hallway so if a kid has to go for an early dismissal has to go to the restroom has to go to the nurse that permitted in the hallways under your normal system utilizing hall-passes call systems or whatever that is in your individual location however no one will enter or exit the building and it's important we model that is staff members that we are not lying I got to go and I I got I got to get this. I got to do during that brief period of time which is hopefully Breathe No One Is entering or exiting the building so anytime you hear a Stave put notice over the PA system worth it sent by email or both that is the expectation at that time shelter in place is called you here want to do announcements we are in a shelter in place this is a drill or we are in a shelter in place this is not a drill so people tacos so why would that happen obviously being in different environment within the community there may be something going on in the community that we were made aware of from the 911 center from local law enforcement whatever it may be that is a preventative measure we are entering these stages security within our building there were times we had some recent incidents were there were calls of shots fired in the community half a mile way whatever may have been might have been an issue or concern at the CTC might have been an issue or concern at Sheetz that's probably the most recent one you know they'll go into lockdown so those would be the kind of scenarios where that might happen here the expectations in that scenario all doors once again should blocked your lights can remain on you can continue teaching and working however you were at this point to remain in the classroom no movement outside of the room no movement outside the classroom no movement in the hallway and once again no one will enter or exit the building until that is lifted By Your Side by your building and ministrator or someone else responsible within your building either via PA email or otherwise that's the part that is a pretty good practice and expectations is being placed in the final thing this is what we experienced on on Wednesday is a lockdown lockdown has the most severe of those incidences we are in a lockdown this is a drill we are not we are in a lockdown this is not a drill and I know from the situation we had here at the high school we had to get back on a number of times and reiterate this is not a drill this is not a drill and that is something procedure we as administrators or those that are charged with with directing this action that we will get better at that we will make sure that we are being consistent and that we're delivering accurate consistent messages via this language now what does that mean that means all doors are locked your blinds are closed if you have blinds if you don't have blinds we understand that your lights at that point should be turned off you should be away from doors and windows and we do realize this is a challenge so one at one of the indications that came up was why does every door have like it has either at a window in the door or window next to the door so we asked you know why is it that way DuraCoat for one do you have to have a way to visibly access and egress in the classroom so even though that presents challenges it also creates opportunity that you're able to visibly monitor that if there's something going in at on in the classroom that you have eyes on it cuz I know I've been to some rooms and that they're all blacked out there's construction paper up and those kind of things so that may solve one issue but it may create another issue you know something happens that is gay turn on the classroom and nobody can see in that can create a safety and a safety issue as well so it is to kind of darned if you do do and if you don't or practice will continue to be as that we want to be able to see in classrooms however in a lockdown situation as much as you can trust me I know if you just walk right down here you're going to see a classroom that we call Fishbowl and we have a number of them they're all glass they're all glass so individually we have to look at this building in this individual circumstance the plan going to be for that classroom for those students for that office or High School attendance office so what are we going to do in this scenario and those are things that we got to work through talk about and make sure that we get to barricaded necessary so one of the things that come up as is its proximity of phones that if you needed utilize the phone they're they're close to the door so they're close to where people can see in there close to the glass so those are things that we're looking at how do we rectify address those concerns proximity of your classroom desk you know where is that at so that if it you needed the barricade and obviously your desk is it is one of your you probably our biggest pools in the classroom your heaviest item where should gas be located in proximity with in the room did it quickly and meaningfully be placed in front of a classroom door if necessity you know where file cabinets where other items that those can be quickly with the help of students moved to an area that it could be utilized to barricade no one enters or exits rooms or the building that being said you know one of the biggest questions was what what if we did have an intruder or an active shooter that was making their way through the building we did not have that confirm we had a report of that we did not hear shots fired we did not have a visibility of anyone being running through the building or did Fred actor in the building so that wasn't the scenario last week however what if that happens you know that that's something that we weed struggle with because if you have Alive Real situation at what point do then turn to run hide fight because those are the scenarios that we talk to you guys about and we trained you on so lockdown tells you to do this but at what point do I need to run hide fight you know in the end we're going to talk a little bit more about your what that looks like in there's no clear-cut Ironclad answer to that it's going to be very situational and it's going to be determined by the situation is going on at that given time so we can't we kind of move through these days some pieces we talked about the updated language the things that we are going to emphasize once again we feel like you need to know this in your kid need to know this for their own mental health and understanding is it this is a drill this is not a drill but impress upon your students at any given time their behavior how they're approaching it should not matter whether it is a drill or not a drill they will take that lead from you as employees if you. eat it like it's serious like it's not a drill we would hope that they would follow suit as well and that is something that again we are going to increase were required to do so many practices a year bus evacuate valuations one alternative drill are we typically do an evacuation drill and then you know a drill where we relocate to another another location we may look at doing more internal building drills where do we stay put do a shelter in do a lockdown we may do that district-wide just so that we can practice that on a regular basis and some of them will be announced some of them won't be announced but those are things that we feel like that you're asking for and that we need to make sure we're doing more frequently came up quite a bit in the in the questions was putting in a code system either through like a word or color those kind of things all of the research and from our expert that is highly not recommended that is highly not recommended so we're going to try to keep things as simple as possible with your guy that we're giving you we went to make it visible and visual in the classroom and as much as we can consistent across all of our buildings out of all of this we've had significant conversations about okay what do we need to do better and what do we need to improve upon and what what an antonym talking to what you saw and I'm glad because that is something it is this is not the first time this conversation is come up and I don't know if it is raining or board of directors here School Board directors okay Mr Francis at home with Miss Francois Ford Raptors is in the back I will tell you and and Mr Francis is is one of the most vocal proponents of safety measures that we need to put in place within our school district is it currently under Board review but I feel very confident that moving forward this is this is going to become a reality sooner than later is it we will add armed security greeters at both are Learning Express program in all elementary buildings in as soon as we can along with those on we are looking at what facility considerations we need to make is once again your buildings are all different and the Man Trap at 10 Lincoln looks will be different than the mantrap at Logan I mean Logan's is like a closet so we need to look at what is the most practical and makes the most sense for each of those individual locations in what facility adjustment and or modifications we need to make to have that system work the way that it needs to work so I want to applaud or our Board of school directors for their forward-thinking and they're in there I can their priority and concern first and foremost Safety and Security Student Center staff so Mr Francis and Restless board thank you very much for what you're doing so some other things and in some of these are when I say proprietary the reason why many many requests we had outside people we had researchers we had the media that wanted to be part of this morning and we decided that this was very important that this was this was for our internal family this is for us so that we make sure that we understand they're all on board and consistent with what we want to do as a school district and you know and I wouldn't stress with you that what we talked about here although we don't want to see it on social media we don't want to see you do a screenshot of this on social media so we're asking that that this become part of work product this is part of what we are doing is professionals and we're doing is Educators and support staff within our buildings so other things that we can put in place now Beyond purchasing anything additional training whatever it may be wearing your ID badge so the one thing that was that we found is that when a police officer when they're going to clear location we need to make sure that who is he and who is in our buildings in our classrooms is who should be here so wearing your ID badge something as simple as that is very very important because it identifies you as someone that belongs it identifies you as someone that should be here so keep and if that's something that again in at the secondary level we want a model that for our students as well he's he's was a major issue and keying and interlock systems and all of our building is something that we are doing a comprehensive review of as we speak in as soon as possible we are going to make the modifications and adjustments at each building level cuz it may look a little bit different at each building level to make sure that every teacher every substitute covering teacher or any other person that needs to have a key or the ability to lock a classroom or space has that ability at their fingertips all staff sub Chicken in once again the other pieces were looking at is secure boxes we need to make sure there a law enforcement Partners have a way to quickly and easily accessed everything that they need the tools that they need to do their job so we are wearing the part in the in the process of putting those things in place as well so that I'm not running around with them opening doors so but that that was something that came out of you know our our our lessons learned as we went through last week a notification system whether that be through common email text Jean we're looking at the best way to notify systems force all staff instructional staff at anyone else that may be in our building it's not part of our current systems Subs subcontractors any other visitors to our buildings how do we make sure that everyone that is in our building knows what they need to do and they understand what the responsibilities are still on top of that there's a training component they were working on with those entities of outside contract and entities to be able to make sure they have the information that they need to do what they need to do a fact that lie in our classroom there will be metal detectors they've already been ordered I know if they've arrived yet we were metal detectors like we do at the high school in the junior high school at every Elementary building as soon as they arrived we talked a little bit about the Run hide fight and again this is situational in the thing that we can that we can most emphasize is to get away from the nearest immediate threat so the example that we had talked about as if it if your in a lockdown in what city a building which is processed in the land how do you know Wednesday lockdown versus to enact run hide fight for a protocol and procedures that becomes a judgment call and that becomes being aware of your surroundings and being more aware of situations what is going to the most safe thing for the kids and for you that you were in charge in at that point if it remains being locked down and hiding and barricaded then that's what you do if it means the thread actor or the people or whoever that the concern is with is infiltrating your area then you need to enact run hide fight run if you can get away from the scenario as quickly and safely as possible hide if that works and is a last resort fight in it and unfortunately in all the scenarios that we seen we've had Heroes students we've had Parents we've had employees firsthand address threat actors take them down in disable them and do what they needed to do in those scenarios let's pray that we never have to be in that situation let's hope that we are never in a scenario where you have to make that call you know I always see the luck favors the prepared when you fail to prepare you prepare to fail so one of the things that we need to do is as much as we can we need to be prepared for those situations but in the end we are inappropriate we're trusting your professional judgment because it is the day the thing the thing that came loud and clear everyone's Focus here last week and if you looked at any parent you know Communications in their comment was it I'm proud I felt safe did my kids were with that teacher cuz their priority was my child and that's something that we need to continue as a focus room configurations we talked a little bit about proximity of gas proximity of phones are going to keep that can be utilized the barricade in a situation of that nature. things that we want to have conversations about sooner than later and look at working with your building level administrator what needs to happen to make that work any time that we are going outside and we know that we don't have enough radios at this point but I need to make sure that our outside or Pease are our recesses or anyone that is going outside and they have a group of students at that point when something like this is called they need to be able to hear that communication am I know we have some systems and the High School junior high school for outside phys-ed and I know there's some things in place for outside recess for for elementary buildings we need to make sure that we're doing that so we will be making anywhere we don't have enough radios anywhere we don't have enough ways to communicate with anyone going outside we're to make sure that that's put in place as well the other piece and you may not know this but all schools have it heavy schools plan and that we review in and then we go over that on an annual basis that is something that is going to be more inclusive in terms of involving all stakeholders and not just administrative review a lot of the best ideas that we've received in a lot of it that the comments and the things that is going to impact change of come from you and that is something that we need to continue I need to take advantage of and make sure that we are hearing all perspectives and angles on situations as they arrive those are confidential again there's our proprietary those are things that we share with the world, but those are things that really died what were going on a day-to-day basis to make sure that in the event of a crisis or circumstance no matter what it may be fire Intruder whatever it is that we have a plan for that one of the things one of our board members brought up when they had to the train derailment you know we obviously we live in it in the training community and we had around here not that long ago what would happen in the event that we needed to if it has a hazardous material situation what is our protocol you know are we going to be in the shelter and place we can stay in the bed is it going to be a parent unit depend on the environment atmospheric type stuff going on what are we doing so we need to be prepared for everything and have a plan and in all situations oh I'm sorry I didn't mr. Johnson is here so the person that brought up a Johnson one of our other school board of directors is back in the back thank you mr. Johnson for being here preciate it he's also the head of our policy committee Sodor policy committee meeting one of the things that we looked at specifically was our our response our crisis Management in those specific types of situations because of you know when things come off if you got a few things so we're trying to be as proactive as we can in this mess we will be offering training opportunities for all staff that I missed one but maybe I didn't I'm not very good at this I'm there yeah we're good nephew nephew hey so one of the things that came up about our some of our elementary buildings and it's some of you've actually already done this is the doors that would not lock from the inside of implementing the system where utilizes a magnet strip that will keep the door locked on the inside and prevent anyone from getting into that classroom so any room that has a scenario where they cannot be locked with a key from the inside we are looking at an alternative solution to that one which has already been implemented in it in a number of cases and buildings in classrooms across the district this came up quite a bit so a couple of years back we had you all download an app called Merc and it is something that we've been building for a number of years now and have plans to be able to implement and utilize it is is an activation system and notification system a communication system in the event is a mobile mobile emergency response plan it has all of our this a school's plans that I alluded to building layouts all of those kind of things that also has 11 button notifications for active shooters for whatever it may be we have not done a good enough job with this terms of getting this out and in training and implementing with staff so we're in the process right now I'm looking at that more more closely to figure out is this something that is going to work is it something that we wanted you need to implement and if we're going to do so we need to train in a meaningful way so that there will be more to come on merp we will definitely have a plan one way or another prior to the next school year summer for something that it is being reviewed as speak it is being reviewed is something is the weather not we will continue with that it is a viable tool or is it something that it did is not necessarily a viable tool and we want to go in a different direction things that are not recommended in these were actions that were made that we've checked with law enforcement code enforcement all kind of things to see if these are are are viable solutions for us or not safety ladders for second and third floor inhabitants of classrooms and buildings the ladders or are not recommended although it sounds like a great idea to be able to evacuate the building out of a second-floor window utilizing a safety ladder fire alarms you may have them in your children's rooms in your home they are not recommended in fact they are they very much the turd from being a part in any classroom environment and also did mention about the we have a system or way to to to disarm thoughts in the answer to that is yes however it is not recommended did that is a common practice or protocol in any type of scenario where you would have a crisis situation we are going to have training opportunities you can expect to see more District in building level trainings in addition to that ancillary tree opportunities there going to be made available to any staff member who would like to participate I can tell you the bill and his team they participate in table tops Another Round Table discussions and trainings with a 911 center with all of the surrounding school districts and municipalities all the time they are constantly being trained and I know you know John and the rest of Team Greg that they have outside the training as well they're bringing people when I know we had Kermit here last year. you guys about active Shooters those are the types of things that we will continue to do but more Hands-On we are going to do more practice and or training at the building level for these types of events today in sentences as a come up I can't get into specifics but we are we are looking at at other additional safety measures that will address some concerns some of the concerns mostly is the amount of glass in the amount of accessible entrances to our building the concern you know unfortunately night and I need somebody brought it to my attention this morning we we have an air pressure issue a nice cool weather if you design but sometimes when air gets into the it creates a scenario where our doors remain a jar and that's a major concern if our doors are not are not locking you know on their own you know an inn in one of our employees that you told me that chief police Hoover was walk down the street today to come to the to come to the event and we had one of those such doors you know this morning so obviously that's something we have to rectify that's something we need you to notify us of and be we need to be more timely and addressing their scenarios and concerns as they come up cuz you look at Uvalde look at some of these other scenario is the bigger concerns there would not that they broke in the front door or they they they shut off the front door like you did a Nashville they came in to prop open entrance so those are things that we all can be very proactive in training our students and making sure that we are not propping open doors we are not letting people win anywhere outside of our secure vestibules during the school day that we are doing everything we can do even if it's an inconvenience and we know there will be inconveniences that we have to do that for the Safety and Security of everyone individual classroom and building concerns that you may have in it if everyone does their part I'm looking at it from my perspective from my world for my fiefdom my Island here's my concern with my classroom here's my concern from my kid or Myspace whatever it may be in report that to your daughter finished Raiders and as we continue to work through we will address each and every one of those you know we already gone through and we've we've put together every question that was that was there not of them or deleted every one of them is going to be addressed and reviewed and considered what we need to do better aftermath you after this whole happens you need to take care of you in order for you to be effective in the be the best you can for your you need to take care of yourself your own mental health your own coming down from the high your own dealing with stress and this isn't just in this scenario but you if you experience this everyday you're in the toughest profession in the world and I know you know that your jobs are incredibly incredibly difficult and they're not getting any easier and in order for you to be able to do what you do everyday you have to make sure that you're taking care of yourself as well so there are times that you need to prioritize your own mental health your physical well-being and make sure that you're taking care of you along those lines we did email out to all employees are employed assistance and this is free to everyone and we will we will push this out again there are services available for anyone that needs it that can assist in a variety of different areas whether it's Stress Management whether it's runs the gamut of everything that you made me support and assistance with we're very fortunate to have that at our disposal in addition to that your friends and rely on one another have conversations don't be afraid to talk to cry I mean the Babbling idiot in time so like don't be afraid to do that that's okay in fact it's encouraged your counselors within your building or experts they are mental health experts Drew sent out some resources and materials on I cope and deal with and talk about these types of situations with your kids and how to decompress and how to process yourself don't be ashamed or afraid to utilize that it's completely acceptable and it's encouraged we do have a specific training opportunity coming up at the end of the month it's called alert Trace which stands for advanced law enforcement rapid response training crase is the most up-to-date nationally-recognized training for active shooter event this training will identify three important options the avoid deny defend your kind of your run hide fight they take on different vernacular as we move forward but it is the most up-to-date active shooter training there is a total on Tuesday April 25th in the evening and it is open so there will be a sign up by email if anyone that would like to participate we will send out information pertaining to that very soon the last thing I would like to say is is it we do we do need to celebrate successes and when we do well we need to we need to acknowledge and recognize that so the one thing that we put together next Tuesday I know it is a day off however at our baseball varsity baseball game which is being held at the curve Stadium free entry we are going to have prior to the game away to recognize all of those responded to the to the 911 call and we would like his many of you to be there is if you like to bring your family your kids to cheer on our Mountain Line baseball team but also to be recognized and be part of our of our educational community and family we will be providing a token of our appreciation to all of our law enforcement partners in recognizing them as well and I would like nothing more than to have as many of us there to thank them but also for you to take the bow that you very much deserve that is all we had planned for this we want to be sensitive to your time in to get you back to your buildings to start the school day again I can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate everything that you have done and everything that you continue to do but I would be remiss if we left this morning before number one reminding you to please take donut water on your way out but also I mean is as most of you know our superintendent after 41 years has decided to retire at the end of the school year unlike most of us that would would want to go to the beach or to vacation or do nothing he has decided to become a full-time student again so he he'll be living out of dream of going back and getting his Advanced performing music degree Duquesne University and will be starting full-time classes and if any of you guys I know I'm feeling on the show my age Rodney Dangerfield Back to School he's going to be doing the triple Lindy at the pit Aquatic Center so we're to try to get that on video and get it on YouTube but I just wanted to take this opportunity to see if you would like say any words but to give us an opportunity to thank him for everything that he's done in the seven years and let's be honest I mean the last seven years has been probably the most difficult in the history of education and to have his leadership and guidance has been has been unbelievable tell thank you very much. Pretty self play talking what I did how I did it was only possible through all of your efforts I've been very lucky individual I've been able to walk into situations we're quite frankly we found chaos it is so much easier to clean up when everybody realizes it has to be done and all of you from the board through the bus drivers in The Faculty through the custodian through the maintenance people we spent the last seven years rebuilding an educational system you are all to be commended you all should be extremely proud of the effort you put in whether it's learning nuke killer morning new procedures having different expectations the whole structure our students the Families Our communities have grown and benefited from that it has been a pleasure I don't know whether I should be happy that I made 7 years and my two predecessors didn't make 3 but that's sad a lot of good people made it happen and we've done a lot of things that I think you are enjoying the structure the order and the process cuz I think you feel like you're getting traction finally for the first time in a long time so for that commend all of you I thank all of you yes I'm insane I'm going back to grad school but it's something I've always wanted to do and finish you will see I might totally flame out and and beat or I might rise above but isn't that what we do cuz there's there's there's nothing to gain by sitting on the curb and watching life go by so all of you I say thank you have a blessed holiday let's have a great day today and hopefully see you at the curb on Tuesday thank you

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AASD Security Debrief - April 6, 2023

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