Geneva Elementary School Underlines Safety in Wake of Sandy Hook Tragedy

In the wake of the tragic shooting deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, Principal Julie Dye sent an e-mail to parents Monday outlining how Williamsburg Elementary School in Geneva is communicating with students and underlining Geneva elementary schools' security procedures.

"This past Friday we were all deeply saddened by the tragic events that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut," Dye wrote in a 304Connects message. "We join our nation in expressing our sadness and shock over this horrific event. Certainly our thoughts and prayers go out to the Sandy Hook school community as they begin the longprocess of healing."

Dye said she knows that parents' thoughts "immediately turn to your own children and their well-being," so she underlined 11 school safety practices that have been, and will continue to be, in place.

Similar practices are followed at all Geneva elementary schools.

1) Each school building has a designated entrance with all other access points locked from the exterior. All visitors must be “buzzed” into the main entrance by office personnel.

2) Each school guest is monitored and screened. Visitors must report to the main office, sign in and wear badges or lanyards.

3) Adult supervision is always in place both in the classrooms and in the lunchroom/playground areas.

4) The district, in cooperation with police and fire departments, has developed standardized school emergency and crisis plans, and each school engages in regular preparedness training. Administrators and building emergency response teams continue to participate in training and “table top” crisis planning.

5) Schools engage in regular school preparedness drills—including intruder/lockdown, fire, weather and earthquake drills—so that staff and students are familiar with emergency procedures.

6) All buses have video-monitoring systems.

7) An emergency communication system is in place that can get emergency messages out to the public quickly through an automatic phone calling system and parent e-mail blasts.

8) School-community partnerships enhance safety measures for students. Geneva police and fire personnel review emergency procedures, and have taken part in actual drills. First responders are familiar with School District 304 buildings and have copies of each building’s blueprints so they can be used in an actual emergency.

9) There is a pre-determined off-site Parent Reunification location. All certified staff have been to this site, and all building administrators have received training on the procedures that would be used to reunite children with their parents if they have been evacuated from their school. The location of the site is confidential so that any potential intruders are not aware of its location. Parents would be informed as to the location of their children in the event of an evacuation on the day they are evacuated.

10) The district is currently in the second year of a two-year Crisis Preparation and Planning process that was funded through a federal grant. "We have been engaging in significant training and preparation at all levels across the district for quite some time now," Dye said.

11) In terms of overall prevention, we continue to encourage a safe, supportive school climate that includes school wide behavioral expectations, caring school climate, positive interventions and supports, psychological and social work/counseling services, and schoolwide social-emotional skills training.

"Teachers will not be initiating conversation relating to the events that occurred at Newtown, but we are ready to support the emotional needs of any students who may need help," Dye said in the email. "Even though the Newtown tragedy did not happen in our school district, and certainly odds are that it never will, there has been much media attention and many of our students may have been exposed through various media outlets or overhearing adult discussion of these events. This can cause unintentional secondary trauma to young students.

"Our main priority in the coming days is to ensure that children who may be distressed feel cared for, supported and safe. Please know this support is available if your child displays unusual symptoms of anxiety." 

SOURCE: School District 304

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