It is with deep sadness that I write to you this morning. Yesterday, the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was the scene of one of the deadliest school shooting incidents in nearly a decade. At this point, we know that 19 children and 2 adults were killed.
We are devastated to hear about this shooting in Uvalde and our hearts go out to these students, families, faculty, and staff of the Uvalde community. All of us worry about the frequency of these events across our country and understand the anxiety that many of our students, faculty, staff, and families may be experiencing.
We want to assure you that safety is our highest priority, and we update our procedures and responses as local law enforcement officials learn more about responses to these types of situations. Specifically, we wanted to take this opportunity to share just a few of our procedures with you.
- The Bedford Police Department will have a presence in our schools today, and for the remainder of the week, and will continue to monitor any potential threats. We collaborate closely with Chief Fong and the police department, Chief Grunes and the fire department, as well as, Town Manager Stanton and other town officials.
- Each of our schools has developed a building emergency preparedness plan. These plans were created in coordination with local police, fire, and emergency management departments, and their extensive training and guidance have been at the forefront of our plans.
- In recent years our district implemented the ALICE protocol as a response to any potentially armed intruder. ALICE is designed to provide comprehensive preparedness in the event of an intruder in one of our schools. The goal is to utilize infrastructure, technology, and human action to increase overall student and staff safety. This includes annual training in this protocol and supplemental training with periodic drills and scenarios to further increase our preparedness. It also includes physical changes such as main entrance door buzzers. Each school has a crisis committee, a safety committee, and response teams. Currently, more than 900 schools, businesses, universities, hospitals, and municipalities have adopted the ALICE protocol.
Given our students’ exposure to technology, many of them have likely seen information about the tragedy in Uvalde, so this will no doubt be a top-of-mind discussion among families throughout the nation for days to come. Our staff and counselors will be available for students in school as needed and we have provided you with links to a resource that might support you as you process this event with your child(ren). Please reach out to one of your child’s counselors if you feel your child needs specific support in processing this incident.
National Association of School Psychologists: Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers
Printable, translated formats are below (please note that these versions were prepared by NASP and we apologize for any missing languages): English Version, Spanish Version, Korean Version, Vietnamese Version, French Version, Amharic Version, Chinese Version, Portuguese Version, Somali Version, Arabic Version, Kurdish Version,
We hope that you will help us in reassuring your children that we have many safety protocols in place. Our staff will continue to work closely with our students and families when they are experiencing difficult situations and we always encourage all members of our community to speak up when they have a concern. Please be assured that emergency preparedness continues to be a top priority across our district and each of our schools.
Additionally, you may hear directly from your school’s principal about school-specific responses. As always, thank you for your patience, your participation, and your continued commitment to our schools.
Loading ...
