School Safety

Re: Emergency Preparedness

Dear Parents/Guardians, Students, and Staff:

Thank you for navigating to our emergency preparedness webpage. All of our schools have been training to prepare for emergencies. These situations can come in many forms and require our vigilance. We are fortunate to have excellent partners to work with locally with the Bedford Police Department, Fire Department, Facilities Department, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Public Works.  We also collaborate with the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC), a consortium of police departments, and the School Threat Assessment and Response System (STARS), which is a team of regional police and school personnel.

In addition to these steps we also ensure that our personnel stays up to date on best practices in school safety, have crisis plans in place, have practiced these plans, and coordinate to assist with the mental health needs of children and adults before, during and after a crisis. These plans include procedures to respond to critical incidents requiring school evacuations, such as emergency lockdowns, hostage situations, fires, etc.

These efforts, led by our District Critical Response Team, are active in each of our four school buildings.  Through their leadership, we have been able to enhance our safety and security procedures, including our adherence to the ALICE protocols. ALICE provides an options-based response that is different from a “lock down” only response. 

In any emergency, response strategies will depend on the nature and scope of the incident and prevailing conditions. Public safety officials will play a critical role in identifying the specific nature, cause, and extent of the emergency, as well as providing guidance to administrators on the appropriate response steps. In such cases, we will react at the direction of public safety and health officials.

For more information about the emergency preparedness of your child's school, please reach out to the building principal.  Working together will keep all of us safer.

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