To the Franklin Community,
In the midst of the overwhelming sadness brought on by the tragic incident in Newtown, CT public safety officials, school personnel and Town of Franklin officials are more committed than ever to the safety of all students, teachers, administrators, and support staff that occupy our schools and public facilities. All parents should feel secure and comfortable in the fact that the schools and public safety are vigilant in our pledge to prepare, train, and if necessary, carry out all functions necessary to counter any threat to the well- being of anyone associated with the schools in our community.
Each school has a comprehensive safety and emergency response plan that has been developed in collaboration with the Police Department, Fire Department, Facilities staff and the administration of the School Department. Our practice drills are monitored by the police and we continually refine our procedures based on the feedback we receive form our public safety officials. Our emergency plans are reviewed with all school personnel annually. In October, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent met with Police officials to review our building based plans and to review current research on handling these violent situations. As part of our on- going collaboration we will review/revise our plans according to best practices. On November 15, the Franklin Police Department and the Office of the District Attorney sponsored a crisis drill at Franklin HS. Based on the training we are refining our procedures within the context of the most up to date research from national law enforcement leaders.
As school opens on Monday, each school leadership team developed a plan to address any issues that impact students as they arrive at school. We requested the police have a presence on each campus to assure students and parents that our commitment to a safe educational environment is a community priority. We encouraged our school administrators and teachers to engage in the typical day to day programs that have been scheduled and follow the normal routines. Using
Open Circle,
Middle School Advisory and our trained counseling professionals, we are able to support and meet the emotional needs of our children.
As we move forward we want to assure all parents and concerned residents of our combined dedication to providing an environment where all those at the schools feel protected and secure, where they know that school and public safety professionals are alert to possible threats, where they have confidence in public safety’s readiness for any incident that may threaten that security, and where there can be no doubt in our ability to engage in what we see as integral part of our duty to protect and serve. Please feel free to contact any or all of us if you have any questions or concerns.
Respectfully,
Jeff Nutting Stephan Semerjian
Town Administrator Chief, Franklin Police Department
Gary McCarraher Maureen Sabolinski
Chief, Franklin Fire Department Superintendent of Schools
