NL School District to participate in armed intruder simulation
As the one year anniversary of a 15 year old student who took a classroom full of students and a teacher is reflected upon for Marinette High School, New London School district hopes to learn from the experience.
"Although the chances of anything like this would happen in one of our schools is remote, there is never any guarantee," Superintendent Bill Fitzpatrick said. "We want to know what to expect as well as how to respond."
The district has invited Marinette High School Assistant Principal Josh Polomis to share their story and what they have learned from the experience with staff members during a teacher inservice on Thursday, December 22.
Following Polomis' presentation, members of the New London Police Department and the Waupaca County SWAT team will conduct an armed intruder simulation with staff members.
"We want to draw as much information from the experience as possible," Fitzpatrick said. "Having gone through this in advance, we will hopefully save lives if we should ever be faced with this situation"
In addition to safety, administrators shared core organizational values with school board members during Monday's school board meeting.
Administrators are committed to creating a value-based workplace. It's their goal to work to identify, develop and communicate shared meaning of values that staff can effectively contribute to the district's mission: Success for all students.
Months of discussion with administrative teams, the board of education and staff has produced many recommendations on the core values which help to define the district's mission.
The Mission Leadership Team took these recommendations and based on the five most repeated values among the groups, they drafted a proposal for organizational values to be included within the mission.
The five values the district collectively recommended form the acronym PRIDE: Passion, Respect, Integrity, Dedicated and Excellence.
The first sentence of the proposed draft reads "We put students first in all we do."
"How we hold ourselves to that are in these values," Fitzpatrick said.
Director of Teaching and Learning Kathy Gwidt further adds "These core values serves as the foundation of our mission."
In January or February administrators and board members will make a final decision to formally adopt these organizational values.
Board members also discussed five policies/procedures for transportation. The policies/procedures on Student Conduct on School Bus and Student Transportation were addressed the most by board members.
Under the general rule section of Student Conduct on School Bus the area of disagreement was what students are allowed and not allowed on the bus.
According to policy/procedure 443.2 section A students are only allowed to bring personal items needed for the school day and are to leave valuables, food, toys, electronics, etc at home.
Board president Keith Steckbauer felt that students who have a longer bus ride home should be able to have a snack on the ride home due to the early lunch times. Board member Virginia Schlais disagreed saying that eating food on a bus could cause choking.
There was also discussion on electronics. Some felt that it would be difficult to enforce no electronics on buses for an age group that uses electronics on a daily basis. Others felt that electronics should not be allowed as a distraction to the bus driver.
Administrators and members of the Policy-Making Committee will review the recommendations of the board in the areas discussed. Revisions to the policy/procedures will be made based on safety concern and the most effective way to enforce safety.
Revisions to the policy/procedures will be presented for final approval at the January 9, 2012 regular scheduled board meeting.
"Although the chances of anything like this would happen in one of our schools is remote, there is never any guarantee," Superintendent Bill Fitzpatrick said. "We want to know what to expect as well as how to respond."
The district has invited Marinette High School Assistant Principal Josh Polomis to share their story and what they have learned from the experience with staff members during a teacher inservice on Thursday, December 22.
Following Polomis' presentation, members of the New London Police Department and the Waupaca County SWAT team will conduct an armed intruder simulation with staff members.
"We want to draw as much information from the experience as possible," Fitzpatrick said. "Having gone through this in advance, we will hopefully save lives if we should ever be faced with this situation"
In addition to safety, administrators shared core organizational values with school board members during Monday's school board meeting.
Administrators are committed to creating a value-based workplace. It's their goal to work to identify, develop and communicate shared meaning of values that staff can effectively contribute to the district's mission: Success for all students.
Months of discussion with administrative teams, the board of education and staff has produced many recommendations on the core values which help to define the district's mission.
The Mission Leadership Team took these recommendations and based on the five most repeated values among the groups, they drafted a proposal for organizational values to be included within the mission.
The five values the district collectively recommended form the acronym PRIDE: Passion, Respect, Integrity, Dedicated and Excellence.
The first sentence of the proposed draft reads "We put students first in all we do."
"How we hold ourselves to that are in these values," Fitzpatrick said.
Director of Teaching and Learning Kathy Gwidt further adds "These core values serves as the foundation of our mission."
In January or February administrators and board members will make a final decision to formally adopt these organizational values.
Board members also discussed five policies/procedures for transportation. The policies/procedures on Student Conduct on School Bus and Student Transportation were addressed the most by board members.
Under the general rule section of Student Conduct on School Bus the area of disagreement was what students are allowed and not allowed on the bus.
According to policy/procedure 443.2 section A students are only allowed to bring personal items needed for the school day and are to leave valuables, food, toys, electronics, etc at home.
Board president Keith Steckbauer felt that students who have a longer bus ride home should be able to have a snack on the ride home due to the early lunch times. Board member Virginia Schlais disagreed saying that eating food on a bus could cause choking.
There was also discussion on electronics. Some felt that it would be difficult to enforce no electronics on buses for an age group that uses electronics on a daily basis. Others felt that electronics should not be allowed as a distraction to the bus driver.
Administrators and members of the Policy-Making Committee will review the recommendations of the board in the areas discussed. Revisions to the policy/procedures will be made based on safety concern and the most effective way to enforce safety.
Revisions to the policy/procedures will be presented for final approval at the January 9, 2012 regular scheduled board meeting.
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