The Layers of School Safety

THE LAYERS OF SAFETY IN CANON CITY SCHOOLS

There is no ‘one thing’ schools can do to keep students and staff safe.  School safety has to be multi-layered and involve a comprehensive approach to safety focused on training educators to spot warning signs in at-risk kids paired with a rigorous safety plan/protocol training for all staff and partnership with law enforcement and other community groups. People, policies and practices are more important than just hardware and software to promote a culture of safety in our schools to provide a safe and tranquil environment in which the educational process can take place.

At Canon City Schools, our main safety/security goal is to create a comprehensive school safety fremework to not only respond to potential acts of violence but to be proactive and implement measures that will enhance our efforts to prevent, protect and mitigate the likelihood of a violent act taking place on a school campus.  Here are the "Layers of Safety" employed at Canon City Schools:

• Director of Support Services who is dedicated to implementing and overseeing safety and security protocol and processes.
• Our workforce is taught to be 'security savvy', to be vigilant and to report suspicious activity. This multiplies chances of detection – as well as deter those with hostile intent who may be watching.
• Over 600  exterior and interior surveillance cameras on campus' and school buses, monitored through out each school day.
• Over 400 digital portable radios  in the hands of employees to enhance ability for quick and reliable a communication through out the district
• Security guards and 3 Canon City Police Officers serving as full time School Resource Officers who monitor both exterior and interior campus safety.
• Improved/updated public address and alarm systems directly tied with law enforcement in the event a quick response is required to an act of violence.
• Secure building perimeter requiring all external doors to be closed and locked at all times.
• Fobs and key cards that allow only authorized personnel to have access to doors other then the main entrance.
• Secure main entries monitored by school personnel (Coming in 22.23 to our Administration Building)
• Visitor management system requiring all visitors to provide valid state issued ID and background check upon entrance to our buildings.
• Full-scale training conducted with our regional 1st responders on an annual basis.
• Social Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction in our schools for students.
• Mental health screening for students and providing more counseling support then ever before.
• Trained school counselors staffed at every school.
• Partnerships with our community Behavioral Health organizations to remove access barriers and provide school based services.
• Regular Lockdown and Evacuation drills at every school.
• Comprehensive Threat Assessment process when/if threats are made involving students.
• Annual training for all staff on our Standard Response Protocol
• Use of the Safe2Tell platform for students, staff and parents to report suspicious activity or safety concerns.
• Gaggle services to help ensure the safety and well being of our students when using school issued electronic devices.
• Go Guardian services to help maximize our students learning AND keep them safe on their school devices.
• Creating a positive school climate that cost almost nothing and can significantly reduce the threat of violence in schools.
• Emergency kits in each classroom with essentials to allow a class of 30 people to get through an extended emergency/lockdown situation.
• District Safety Committee and Building Safety and Response Teams who work to reduce hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices, investigate safety and security concerns, conduct inspections and can act as emergency response team in the event of an emergency.
• Installation of "Push and Turn" lock on every classroom door to ensure the ability to easily lock the classroom door from inside the classroom in the event of an emergency.