The BRES school community expresses their sorrow to families and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary and the Newtown community. Today, we welcomed back our students with smiles and hugs. We also found comfort in following our normal routines for the day. In the wake of the events of Connecticut, our students may have questions about the events or may want to share their thoughts. If your children express anxiety or concerns about safety, we will address it on an individual basis and not through whole class discussions. Please do not hesitate to contact our school counselor, Esther Wu (919-890-7325 or ewu@wcpss.net), our school psychologist Lisa Occhipinti (919-890-7342) or me (919-890-7330 or cgraf1@wcpss.net) with questions and concerns.
I want to share that safety and welfare of our students is our number one priority. Wake County Public School System has a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan in place. Every school also has its own emergency plan. Staff and students are familiar with their roles and responsibilities during an emergency, and practice them through drills. Our school staff and district-level staff work in collaboration with WCPSS security, local law enforcement and other crisis-response agencies to provide a safe learning for our students on a daily basis. In some emergency situations, it may be necessary for a school to be on lockdown.
Below is information regarding lockdowns:
What is a lockdown?
A lockdown is a precautionary measure in response to a threat directly to the school or in the surrounding community. In a lockdown:
- All school activities are moved indoors.
- Depending on the type of lockdown, interior and exterior doors on campus are locked.
- No one is allowed to enter or exit the building.
- Parents may not come to the school during a lockdown.
- Parents are also discouraged from calling the school directly. Additional calls hinder the ability of staff to respond to the primary task: keeping everyone safe.
- Code Red – used when there’s a direct threat to the school or in the immediate area of the school
- Code Yellow – used when there’s a danger in the surrounding community, i.e. police searching for a criminal suspect in the area
- Code Green – used once the lockdown has been lifted
Once a lockdown is put into place, police and school administrators work together to first ensure the safety of everyone on the school campus. Once the situation has been stabilized, a phone message, email and/ or paper letter will be sent to parents to inform them that the school was placed on a lockdown, the nature of the incident, and about how long the lockdown was in place.
In larger emergencies, such as a Code Red lockdown or lockdowns that affect numerous schools, WCPSS will take the following steps to notify you:
- dispatch an emergency phone message
- update the WCPSS Facebook page, Twitter account (@wcpss) and the WCPSS home page
- notify and update the local media as the situation develops.
Our hearts go our to the families and the community involved in this tragic incident in Connecticut. Ms. Livengood, our school staff and I will continue to take measures daily to maximize constant supervision of our students. Take care, Mrs. Graf