Paine Primary School principal Betsy Schmitt addressed new security protocols in a letter to parents on Monday. Below is the letter in it’s entirety.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Dear Paine Primary Families,
Thank you for sending your children to school today and for trusting us to keep them safe while they are
in our care. Mrs. Glover and I visited each classroom first thing this morning and the boys and girls all
had happy smiles on their faces and they were busy at work. That is how it should be.
I wanted to take a moment to update you all on the safety procedures we have implemented since
learning of the tragedy at the elementary school in Connecticut on Friday. As Dr. Neill’s message to
parents stated this morning, we will continue to evaluate our plan during the holidays and make
additional changes as necessary. For the remainder of this week, our main entry door will remain
locked during school hours. Should you need to visit the school, please knock on the front door and an
office worker or PTO volunteer will open it for you. You will be required to fully complete the visitor’s
log, and to place a visitor’s sticker in a very visible place on your shirt. When you leave the building you
must also sign out on the log. I will be conferring with Dr. Neill to determine whether the front door will
remain locked when we return from the holidays, or if an alternate plan will be in place.
All other exterior doors will remained locked during school hours for the remainder of the year.
Additional keys were issued to modular teachers this morning so that their students are able to access
the building for emergency trips to the restroom or to attend other classes. Using the extra key is a
short term fix. We hope to have an alternate entry access that is easier for students to use, but that will
take some time to order and install. Our maintenance staff is currently researching the options. All
modular doors will remain locked at all times, and each teacher has a procedure in place for allowing
entry after hearing a knock on the door
.
The City of Trussville assigned Officer Josh Payne to our campus for the remainder of this week. He is
walking the hallways and patrolling the exterior of the buildings throughout the day. Many of the
children got to meet him today and they were very excited to have a policeman in our building. For
them he is cool, for us he is an extra layer of protection. Dr. Neill and our city leaders will continue to
discuss extending this plan over the holiday break, and hopefully we will have an officer assigned
permanently to the campus.
Finally, at the beginning of the school year I reviewed our safety plan with the staff. The procedures are
something that must be discussed and understood in order to be effective. On Friday afternoon I sent
an email to the staff reminding them of our process for locking down in the event of a crisis. At our
faculty meeting this afternoon each teacher received another copy of our safety plan. We reviewed
each step of the plan, and we developed a short list of things we can do to make our plan more
effective. I have already contacted those who can assist us with this. However, we know that we will
need to continue to consider every possible aspect of our plan and update it as needed.
Please know that we are doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of our students and our
staff. Should you have any additional concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to call or email me.
For the children,
Betsy H. Schmitt