Dear Sanford School Community,
The safety of our students and staff is our top priority. We continue daily measures to ensure our schools are safe. In addition to locking our exterior doors and screening visitors entering our schools, staff train for a variety of crises that may be encountered.
These may include health issues, accidents, or intruders. We also stress that if you see something that has the potential to impact the safety of students, staff, or community members, please report it to an administrator, school counselor, or local law enforcement agencies.
During the 2022-2023 school year, we began a new approach to active shooter incidents called ALICE. ALICE is short for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. It is a federally endorsed approach to deal with active shooter and other emergency situations. (For more information, click here)
- Alert – inform people of the threat, give as much information as possible.
- Lockdown – Students and staff can choose to lockdown and barricade the room they are in if they determine it is not safe to evacuate.
- Inform – pass on as much information as possible to others and to first responders, including 911.
- Counter – an effort of last resort, if an armed intruder is able to get into the space that they are in; students are being trained to use every effort to stop the intruder instead of being passive victims.
- Evacuate – If it is safe to do so, all are encouraged to evacuate the building, and remove themselves from the threat.
(Click here for grade specific handouts)
In August, Sanford School Department staff received initial training in the ALICE model and will continue to receive ongoing training on the ALICE model techniques which have been shown to save lives. We have started to teach students their roles in an emergency situation by conducting safety drills frequently.
On Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 pm in the Sanford Performing Arts Center, we will be hosting a Safety Information Night for parents. The evening will be an opportunity to learn more about the ALICE model and safety in the Sanford Schools.
On behalf of the Sanford School Department, I wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to welcoming everyone on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023.
Sincerely,
Matt Nelson, Superintendent of Sanford Schools