This is the fifth segment in a series around the 2025-26 strategic priorities. This week, I'll continue last week's theme around the topic of school safety.
At the upcoming Board meeting this Thursday evening, I will be presenting an annual Safety and Security update which can be viewed live or you can watch the recording afterward on the district's YouTube channel. As I described in last week's newsletter, the Centegix Crisis Alert system is our major safety initiative this year, but it is important to point out that this is simply the latest in a layer of critical physical and emotional safety protective factors we have built into place over many years. Below is a research framework related to best practices in the field of school safety, all areas to which MSAD 51 has been working toward in our comprehensive safety and security planning:
Other safety initiatives in 2025-26, in addition to Crisis Alert, include continued evacuation/reunification planning, providing 'stop the bleed' kits in every classroom in the event of an emergency, and coordination with first responders around incident command through table top exercises. Evacuation/reunification planning involves deepening our levels of readiness and response if one or more schools had to quickly exit the campus due to an unforeseen safety event.
As a side note around the safety incident that was communicated out last Thursday evening, it is the intent of MSAD 51 to notify the school community when a significant threat has become known to the schools, even if that threat is no longer credible or viable, as was the case last week. The district's procedure in such instances is to ensure that families and staff are provided multiple avenues for receiving these communications (i.e. phone/voice mail, text, and email) in a timely manner, whenever possible.
Next week will conclude this series on the 2025-26 strategic priorities. In case you missed previous segments in the series, check out the links below:
Summary of Priorities
New State Legislation involving Pre-K
New PK-5 Literacy Curriculum Resource: CKLA
Crisis Alert by Centegix