Safe Schools Week: October 21-25
Dear Berkley Schools Community,
As you know, safety is a top priority for the Berkley Schools. As a District, we are committed to providing safe physical spaces as well as a safe community of belonging for each of our students and staff. We work hard to lift up, encourage and support each and every child to make sure everyone feels loved. It also means we have no tolerance for hate. We denounce any acts of ableism, anti-semitism, homophobia, racism, and any other forms of discrimination or harassment. We hope our students, staff and community know that if they experience any acts of hate, to bring it to the attention of a trusted adult.
It’s also important for us to keep you, our community, informed of our updated safety practices and resources. As we have done in years past, we are hosting a District-wide Safe Schools Week, October 21-25. Please take the time to read through all our messages each day as they contain very important information for our families. Safe Schools Week will include sharing information about our safety practices and systems in addition to practicing drills in our schools. We also will be testing our communications system to ensure we can reach all of you in the event of a real emergency - you can expect a test call and text on Wednesday at 6 pm. Every day during Safe Schools Week at 6 pm, we will send an email communication to families about a component of our safety plans and protocols. Please see details below to learn all about Safe Schools Week.
Safety Drills
During Safe Schools Week the Berkley School District will practice a variety of school safety drills.
The District safety team will practice their response protocols with one of our buildings on Thursday, when that school participates in their ALICE drill. This drill will help school and District safety teams practice responding to a “crisis” in real time. This drill will not involve a public safety response. You will receive email and text notifications while this is taking place.
Each school will also participate in an ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) drill during the week. During the ALICE drill, teachers will talk to students about the components of ALICE and reinforce any changes from years past. The message will differ according to the age level of the students. Our intent is to let students know that in the event of an emergency they should follow the direction of their teacher or nearest trusted adult.
Schools may also practice a fire or tornado drill during Safe Schools Week.
Communications System Test
On Wednesday, October 23, we will test our new communications system, Finalsite. We will send a test phone call, text message and email to all primary contacts in MISTAR. If you have added your phone number and email in MISTAR during the Back to School packet window, you can expect to get these messages on Wednesday, October 23, around 6 pm. It is not necessary to call us to tell us you got the messages. Finalsite automatically texts all numbers labeled as “mobile/cell” in MISTAR.
The Berkley School District is always evaluating the safety measures we have in place to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our students and staff safe. I am very confident in saying that our schools have never been safer, but please know that as members of the community we all have a role to play in school and student safety.
As always, I am grateful for our school community and to be a part of the community.
Sincerely,
Scott Francis
Superintendent
Berkley Schools
