IMPORTANT MID WEEK NEWSLETTER
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.
ADMIN
Kristen and Lauren are at a conference the next few days, so please direct all immediate admin issues to Mark. Lauren and Kristen will be available via email, but there may be a delayed response.
CONSTRUCTION
The front office will be under construction starting on Thursday and will go through the break. During active construction, the main front door will be closed and visitors will be directed to the auditorium entrance to check in, etc. Our office staff will be challenged to meet all the demands of running an office with divided resources and staffing. The main office will still be open. When construction is not actively occurring, we will open the front doors for visitors to enter.
The construction that takes place on Thursday may be noisy at times. However, please plan to do your best to work through it, as this project needs to be completed by December 31 or we lose our grant money to get this done.
Gary will work with the maintenance staff to ensure that construction debris will be confined to the main office space.
BUDGET INFORMATION AND ACTION ITEM
The January school committee meeting on January 6 at 6:30pm will consist of an open forum to discuss the construction of the FY21 budget for Hampshire Regional High School. Typically, there is a preliminary budget presented in February and a final budget presented in March.
The January budget forum will be an opportunity for all stakeholders to express ideas, concerns, thoughts, and proposals. I will present my ideas, and I'm confident town finance committees and select board members will be there to express their own town's challenging financial picture, as it is their responsibility and obligation.
It would be ideal to have staff, extracurricular advisors, coaches, and even students and families present to voice their opinions about the value of our current and potentially new programming and staff at HRHS. For example, many of you were there when the field hockey team presented a great appeal to include their team in the budget next year. If that appeal happened in front of finance committee members and select board members, I believe it would be a more balanced conversation if all parties could hear directly from one another about the rationale as to why we have different amounts allocated for different lines and why we can or can't add or omit certain programs. I know that towns value what we do, but there is always the push for more and more cuts, which we cannot sustain. I'm sure the issue of health insurance will come up, along with the difference between high school funding v. elementary school funding. I think to hear many perspectives of the positive effect of our current programming and why we should be adding programming or funding (like our greenhouse! more tier 2 interventions! a working heating/AC system!) would be powerful.
Please consider attending this meeting.
ORGANIC LOCKDOWN INFORMATION
We are scheduled to conduct an “Organic Lockdown” drill in the near future. We will not conduct an organic lock-down
drill without providing advanced notice. You should be advised of the date of this drill via e-mail, as well as receiving a reminder during that morning’s PA announcements.
Purpose:
The purpose of the organic lockdown drill is to test the ability of a vocalized lockdown announcement, initiated by a teacher or staff member, to pass efficiently and completely throughout the school. A lock-down is the initial school response for circumstances involving a hostile intruder or weapons related violence at your school. The following are two “real life” examples of when a staff member might be called upon to utilize the organic lockdown that we will be drilling today:
· Witness an individual approaching the school with a weapon.
· Witness a hallway fight during which a weapon is produced.
Mechanics:
On the specified date, one lucky staff member will be chosen by your administration to initiate the drill. That individual will be given a letter which explicitly explains what is expected of them. After a brief face-to-face conversation with an administrator and/or a representative from law enforcement, that individual will begin the drill. At that time you may hear someone (ideally multiple neighboring teachers) calling out the words, “Lock-Down Drill! Lock-Down Drill!” As you are securing your door, and performing your quick-peek into the hallway, please echo that call into the hallway by loudly vocalizing, “Lock-Down Drill! Lock-Down Drill!” Please, verbalize the announcement at sufficient volume to attract the attention of your neighboring classrooms.
For the purpose of the drill, there will obviously be NO actual threat present. Although we want to ensure that the school is as ready as possible to deal with potential hazards, it is counterproductive to unnecessarily alarm or scare staff or students. As such it is imperative that you emphasize the word “drill” when you vocalize, “Lock-Down Drill!” In doing the drills, we have also found that people in neighboring rooms may have their attention drawn by the initial call into the hallway, but not recognize what was said. To make the announcement more effective, we recommend repeating the phrase more than once.
You should expect your neighboring teachers to repeat, “Lock-Down Drill! Lock-Down Drill” as they secure their rooms, and in that manner the announcement will spread throughout the school. Once you are secure in your room, you should consider placing a call to the office to notify them of the drill and request that they put the lock-down drill announcement over the PA system and portable radio. If you have direct access to the PA and/or portable radio, a copy of the preferred drill announcement will accompany this form.
How does my role in this drill differ from what I would do in a real-life emergency?
· In a real emergency you would NOT include the word drill, you would simply shout “Lockdown! Lockdown!”
· In a real event, we would also expect you to consider calling 911 immediately, however that will NOT be necessary for this drill.
Thank you for your assistance in testing this important aspect of school security. We understand this is something new and potentially stressful, and as such we truly appreciate your willingness to participate. We feel this drill is very important for several reasons:
· To decentralize the responsibility for initiating a drill with the goal of more comprehensively addressing a variety of potential threats.
· To reinforce and expand the message that staff are empowered to initiate actions to protect life and safety.
· To identify those areas where the common means of communication are inadequate and need to be bolstered.
Thank you again, and please remember to emphasize the word “drill” for this training event.