We would love your input! Please read the information below and answer the
two questions at the bottom, if you would like to provide us with feedback about important changes in our school.
Email your response by July 8, 20123 to Principal Oakman. Thanks for your interest and continued support! jmoakman@wsesu.net
July 1, 2013
Safety Improvements and Important Changes at
Weathersfield School
The
Emergency Preparedness Committee, the WS School Board, WS staff, faculty, and administration,
Select Board members, local fire and rescue responders, and interested parents
and community members met for a working supper on June 20, 2013, at the AVFD to
discuss ways to make our school safe, but still welcoming, in this era of
universal change. This two-hour meeting was fruitful, and the subsequent 90
minute discussion with the EPC after that meeting helped us to formulate a plan
for change:
Summer
maintenance projects will be complete by the start of the new school year. Many
safety changes have been made to the school to make it safer in the event of an
emergency, from safety glass to restructuring the main office.
We
have over 100 volunteers who support our school in a variety of ways. Volunteers
have all necessary paperwork on file and are great about checking into the
office for their visitor’s pass before going anywhere else in the school, so
this procedure is unchanged. Our staff
is dedicated to continuing to welcome volunteers and community use of the
facility.
However,
unless prior arrangements have been made for the use of the school, the school
will remain locked. Office personnel will be on duty until 4:00 pm. After that
time, the school will be closed.
In
accordance with new state laws, fire drills and lock down drills will be
practiced all 10 months of the school year, from September to June, with a
minimum of 5 drills of each in the course of the school year. Our teachers will
continue in a calm and nurturing way to train our students to remain safe. The
intent is not to frighten children, but to empower them to react appropriately
and to think on their feet when confronted with the unexpected.
Please
do not park in the fire lanes, including during concerts and when arriving to
pick up or drop off your children. This lane MUST be open at all times.
The exterior
doors of the school will be locked during school hours. Visitors will be buzzed
in from the outside of the building by the office staff.
Parents
are asked to drop their children off at the main door between 7:00 and 7:50 am in
the morning, rather than walking them to their class or locker, or visiting in
the all purpose room. On the first day of school this year on August 26, 2013,
parents of students in grades K-4 will be able to walk their children to class.
Parents
who wish to speak with teachers or other school personnel before, during, or
after school need to go to the main office to see if that staff member might be
available. If the staff member is unavailable at that time, parents are asked
to make an appointment, which can be done via email, telephone, or through the
secretaries in the office.
Morning
bus duty personnel will greet children coming to school by bus at the main
door, opening the door for them to enter. Children will go directly to the all
purpose room, as in previous years.
At
bus dismissal time, 2:20 pm, bus students will line up at the front door, which
will remain closed and locked until bus duty personnel walk students out to the
buses. We will be boarding all five buses in rapid succession, which represents
a change. The buses will be lined up from the front right of the school as you
face it, all the way back to where the kindergarten classrooms begin. The
school will maintain the sidewalks, even in winter months, to ensure that this
process is fluid and safe. We are anticipating bus dismissal will take
approximately 10 minutes. We encourage parents to call the school prior to 2:00
pm with any transportation changes, so the office staff has adequate time to
alert teachers and children regarding the change in plans. Please do not take
your child out of the bus line. In case of any emergency changes, go to the
front office, and a secretary will assist you.
Parent
pick-up and dismissal of walkers will look different this year. Parent pick-up
students and walkers will remain in their classrooms until the buses have left
the school. The parent pick-up entrance will be the same door, next to the
kitchen, but will not be opened by school personnel until 2:20 pm. Please go
directly to the all purpose room and wait for your child. The sign-out
procedure will not change. No child may be taken from the all purpose room
without being signed out by the parent or otherwise authorized adult. In the
event the staff member on duty does not know or recognize the adult
accompanying the child, the school reserves the right to ask for
identification. It is important that the office is clear of distractions during
bus dismissal time. Once buses have departed, which we anticipate will occur at
2:30 pm, parents who wish to speak to school personnel will be able to go to
the office to make arrangements.
This information is being sent to all on the WS Watercooler and the
principal’s Parent/Community Electronic Group List, looking for feedback
regarding school changes listed in this letter. Your feedback will be appreciated
and considered as a core group of representatives from the administration,
staff, and the EPC chairman review the data and make final changes to our new safety plan. Please feel free to respond in email to the
two questions below by July 8, 2013. We
intend to report this information and your feedback to the WS School Board on
July 15th, with the final plan recorded in the FY 14 Student/Parent
WS Handbook and by posting it on the WS website.
Questions:
1.
Do you have any concerns regarding school
safety that are not addressed here?
2.
Do you have any other comments or suggestions
you would like us to consider?
Sincerely,
JeanMarie
JeanMarie
K. Oakman, WS Principal
Weathersfield School
135 Schoolhouse Road
Ascutney, Vermont 05030
802-674-5400, ext 129
Fax: 802-674-9963
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