Man, tie, office

To our Central Valley Family,

In light of the recent school tragedy in Texas, I want to take a moment to speak to our school family about school safety.

Our students' safety is our first priority.  School can only be a place of learning when our students and staff are physically and emotionally safe.  We take that responsibility seriously.

School safety begins with a series of board-adopted district policies. Those policies cover a wide range of topics, including the condition of our facilities, the use of technology, student supervision, building visitors, health practices, and emergency procedures.  You can view all policies online at http://web2.moboces.org/districtpolicies/?public=centralvalleycsd.

The District Safety Committee has oversight of the district's safety procedures.  It is made up of school administrators and directors, a representative from each of the teachers and support staff unions, community law enforcement and emergency personnel, a community member, and district communications.  You can learn more about the committee and its responsibilities at https://www.cvalleycsd.org/pag...

In accordance with Central Valley CSD's policies and state and federal law, the board of education annually reviews and adopts a district-wide safety plan.  This is a general plan that guides the district's safety efforts.  You can view a copy of that plan at https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1368192/CVCSD_Wide_Safety_Plan_2021-22_Adopted.pdf.  In addition, each school building has a detailed safety plan designed to cover any foreseeable emergency situation. The specifics of the plans are routinely updated to reflect the latest concerns and the best advice responding to those concerns. Detailed, building-level plans are not shared with the public to better protect students in the event of an emergency.

A big part of our safety planning is to prevent a crisis before it happens.  Our buildings are locked throughout the school day and we allow only one point of entry once school begins to prevent unauthorized visitors. Each building has a School Resource Officer, a member of law enforcement who monitors building safety and works with students and employees to maintain a healthy environment. Each building has counselors who help identify students in crisis.  This year, we partnered with Connected Community Schools, a group that connects students and families with a full range of financial, medical, and psychological services.  Our instructional staff receives annual training in Social and Emotional Learning and emergency procedures and many have training in crisis intervention.  We routinely practice lockdown, shelter-in-place and evacuation drills at each building.

Finally, we continually review and modify our safety procedures to reflect the realities of our day.  To that end, we cannot do this alone.  If you see something suspicious around the school or if you see worrisome changes in your child's behavior, reach out.  Our goal is to keep every student and staff member safe.

None of this is foolproof, but together, we can do our best to make school as safe as we can.