FORT KENT, Maine — Valley Unified Superintendent Ben Sirois warned dad and mom and residents Wednesday to not be naive in pondering {that a} faculty taking pictures couldn’t occur in northern Maine.
Directors of Valley Unified faculties in Madawaska, St. Agatha and Fort Kent developed a plan a number of years in the past to maintain college students protected and have been constructing on it, particularly within the wake of an elevated variety of faculty shootings throughout the nation. Sirois stated there have been safety measures for a minimum of the eight years that he has been within the faculty system.
On the day after a faculty taking pictures in Uvdale, Texas, the place 19 elementary school-aged youngsters and two academics have been killed, Sirois issued a letter to oldsters discussing the Valley Unified security plan.
“Though we don’t wish to give it some thought, it goes with out saying that after every faculty taking pictures happens, we can’t be naive to one thing this tragic taking place in our distant space of Northern Maine,” Sirois stated.
The Maine Faculty Security Middle additionally urged the state’s faculties to overview their emergency plans and to ensure native legislation enforcement is aware of what they’re.
Entry doorways in any respect Valley Unified faculties are saved locked through the faculty day, and guests to the colleges should be granted entry to the constructing by workplace personnel.
With using COVID funds, the excessive faculties in all three cities have been supplied security vestibules on the entranceways, offering an additional layer of safety towards potential attackers. These funds additionally have been used to reinforce video surveillance methods in every of the colleges.
With using faculty revolving renovation fund loans, such security vestibules might be accomplished on the remaining Valley Unified faculties by the top of summer season break, he stated.
The faculties are all ALICE-certified for lively shooter coaching of scholars and employees.
ALICE, which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate, is a coaching program designed to equip individuals with the talents they would want if ever an lively shooter or aggressive intruder have been within the faculty constructing or on faculty grounds.
Sirois stated with the intention to maintain college students protected it’s essential that folks communicate up when confronted with any data that would point out the potential for college violence. Training Week experiences that the Uvdale taking pictures is the twenty seventh in america this yr to date and the 119th since 2018, Sirois stated.
“We can not specific sufficient the significance of ‘see one thing, say one thing’ on this age of social media and in consideration of the psychological well being disaster on this nation,” Sirois stated. “All the college safety measures on the planet don’t evaluate to a proactive strategy to stopping these tragic occasions, and oftentimes, people who plan for a mass taking pictures usually share data on their social media accounts days previous to taking motion.”
Together with the letter, Sirois included data for folks and educators about speaking to youngsters about violence.
