School Safety Week Drill at AMS 10-18-22

Dear AMS Students and Families,

You will recall at the end of September, we did a school safety overview with our entire student body, which included fire, severe weather, and information regarding lockdown protocols.  As part of school safety week next week, we will be holding an ALICE safety drill next Tuesday, October 18.  Before I go into the logistics of that drill, I’d like to review some of the updated safety measures taken at Anderson Middle School.

Over the past few months, AMS has updated our school safety practices to include:

• Installed NightLock door security systems on every room.  These provide an extra layer of security in the event that a door needs to be barricaded.
• Equipped each classroom with a Go-Bucket.  These buckets contain various useful materials in the event of a longer term lockdown in a classroom.
• Tested all Emergency Call Buttons in every classroom.  These are a direct line from every classroom to the front office.
• Established a school reunification site (LaSalette Church on the northwest corner of Coolidge and Harvard in Berkley) and formalized a procedure for pickup in the event of an emergency evacuation.
• Held yearly ALICE refreshers with all staff members.
• Increased collaboration with Berkley Public Safety via walkthroughs, training, new officer introductions and regular meetings.
• Formed a School Safety Advisory Committee that is composed of various stakeholders (administration, paras, secretaries and teachers).
• Require all staff and visitors to wear ID badges at all times in District buildings.
• Established quarterly meetings with each of the local public safety departments (Berkley Public Safety, Huntington Woods Public Safety & Oak Park Public Safety).
• Universal emergency bags in every classroom.
• Updated school trauma kits and expanded the training of staff members in CPR, Narcan, and Stop-the-Bleed.

We’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about and planning what our next school ALICE drill should look like.  Because of the sensitive nature of these types of drills, our conversations tend to focus on doing a drill that balances being educational, informative, and empowering, while being sensitive to the angst that students may have about this topic.

With this balance in mind, our drill next Tuesday will go as follows:

• I will make a PA announcement, which will include a quick overview of what ALICE stands for followed by an explanation of how the drill will operate.
• I will give a specific hypothetical scenario of an intruder in the building.  There will not be any references to “a shooter” or “guns.”  We will keep verbiage used in a less threatening manner.
• Teachers will hold classroom discussions about the layout of their classrooms and how they pertain to ALICE along with walking through potential responses based upon ALICE protocols and training.  We will not be evacuating the building or barricading furniture in front of doors, however students may practice using the NightLock door locks. 
• At the conclusion of the drill portion, teachers will show a short video from Superintendent Francis outlining the safety measures in place across the district. 
• I will get on the PA to finalize the drill and offer several follow up reassurances for students.
• Throughout the day, teachers will continue to reassure students and make sure they are doing okay.

Although this drill represents some of the procedural aspects of school safety, I think it’s equally important to recognize the social emotional component.  Our positive school culture, the relationships we’ve built with our students, and the kindness and respect we display towards one another also contributes greatly to a safe school environment.  The staff at AMS cares deeply about our students and will be supporting them both during and after this drill.  Our hope is that, although difficult, this will be an empowering experience for students to learn more about ALICE and that we can collaboratively work through it together.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Michael Ross
AMS Principal