Scotts Valley Unified School District addresses safety concerns raised by Florida shooting
UPDATE 2/21/18 5:50pm The Superintendent of Scotts Valley Unified School District is addressing safety concerns raised by parents following the school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.
A letter sent out to the community by Superintendent, Tanya Krause, said the district has up to date preventative measures and a response protocol should a school shooting occur.
“Certain protocols contained in such emergency plans are secured documents, and not shared with the public in full, for the protection and safety of students and staff,” said SVUSD officials.
Vine Hill Elementary School Principal Julie Ebert says aside from fire, lockdown and earthquake drills, staff has also been trained on active shooter situations, “This year we were able to have someone from Scotts Valley PD come to one of our staff meetings and do some training with us on active shooter protocol.”
Principal Ebert says while the dialogue is extremely important, it is also important to not put fear in young children, “there’s a fine line in elementary school because we don’t want to instill fear in children so we really do a lot of dialogue as a staff about how to handle things, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we do a lot of drilling with children.”
Some parents are requesting that the school district participate in the March 14th National School Walk Out event. School officials say the staff is discussing what the districts participation could be and that they are finding ways to empower students and the community in a safe and coordinated manner.
“We are going to discuss it as a leadership team, all of the principles in our school district together. Personally, I think a walk out on our campus, I don’t think the children would really understand it and it could create some security issues. I would like to see us do something more symbolic like perhaps something where we have everyone together surround our school as a way of showing that were committed to protecting our children,” says Principal Ebert.
Parents I spoke with say they like the idea of doing something to show unity. “They want to do a linking of hands, around the school, and I just think that shows solidarity and unity and that you know we are here for them and support them. It’s an opportunity to have the kids see what parents think and know that the parents actually care about what’s going on and are concerned for their safety,” says parent Gil Pennington.
There is also a rally scheduled for March 24th in Santa Cruz about the topic of school safety.
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The Superintendent of Scotts Valley Unified School District is addressing safety concerns raised by parents following the school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.
Superintendent, Tanya Krause said they have up to date preventative measures and a response protocol should a school shooting occur.
“Certain protocols contained in such emergency plans are secured documents, and not shared with the public in full, for the protection and safety of students and staff,” said SVUSD officials.
Some parents are requesting that the school district participate in the March 14 National School Walk Out event.
Krause said she and staff are discussing what the districts participation could be and that they are finding ways to empower students and the community in a safe and coordinated manner.
KION’s Ashley Keehn has more, watch the full story on News Channel 5, 46 at 5 and 6 p.m.
