For years, we've locked the outside doors to our schools when our students are present and asked everyone to follow procedures to get in. We are now extending the closed, locked door policy to inside our schools, too.
Why? This change reflects a life saving lesson our law enforcement partners learned from the tragic events in recent years: no locked door has ever been breached by a school shooter.
School leaders will be working with their building teams as we make this change.
They're already identifying barriers for some such as access to keys, doors without windows, staff who travel, etc. We are fortunate that we can learn from neighboring districts and teachers who have already made this change. We also will learn from each other
Closing and locking doors does not mean that we are in lock down.
We can still use hallways for intervention classes, individual sessions and teachers can still or go outside for class. Visitors can come to our classrooms and schools.
Again, the reason for this change is simple: safety for you and our students. Locking doors has saved lives and prevented injuries.
The locked door policy will be fully in effect here at FMS by February 1st.
