2018 Five Star Journal Summer Issue
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By Chris Gdowski, Superintendent<br />
Follow on twitter<br />
@SuptGdowski<br />
additional cameras, limited and secured entry<br />
points at all schools, and shatter-proof glass.<br />
Staffing Needs and Partnerships<br />
Currently all of our middle and high schools<br />
in the district have a dedicated School Resource<br />
Officer (SRO) who is a police officer<br />
from the city in which the school is located.<br />
The task force will consider whether we need<br />
additional SROs, armed officers and/or more<br />
staff within schools to provide supervision.<br />
Additionally, the group will look at staffing<br />
needs to support the social-emotional wellbeing<br />
of our students. This may include<br />
additional counselors, psychologists and<br />
social workers. These individuals are also<br />
often part of the school’s or district’s crisis<br />
response team.<br />
Programs and Curriculum<br />
The task force will look at opportunities to<br />
enhance current social-emotional programming<br />
and curriculum, as well as boost support<br />
for identifying and helping at-risk students.<br />
The group will also explore the need for<br />
resources to help families discuss safety<br />
matters and the social-emotional wellbeing<br />
of students. Other areas include<br />
building upon our schools’ current work in<br />
conflict resolution, bullying, and drug and<br />
alcohol abuse education.<br />
The common component across all three of<br />
these focus areas is “training”. For any recommendation<br />
the task force makes, it will also<br />
identify the necessary training component.<br />
We are thankful in the <strong>Five</strong> <strong>Star</strong> District for<br />
the strong partnership we have between<br />
students, staff, parents and law enforcement<br />
in promoting a safe and secure learning<br />
environment in our schools. This partnership<br />
has strengthened our efforts in crisis prevention,<br />
response and recovery. These efforts<br />
include the emergency plans each of our<br />
schools have, the safety procedures our<br />
students and staff practice throughout the<br />
year, and the communications protocol we<br />
follow with our families in the event of a<br />
safety situation.<br />
The work of our Safety Task Force will allow<br />
us to enhance our safety and security posture<br />
in the <strong>Five</strong> <strong>Star</strong> District. I thank the members<br />
of the task force for their commitment to<br />
the safety and well-being of our students,<br />
and I look forward to reviewing the team’s<br />
recommendations this summer. •<br />
<strong>Five</strong> <strong>Star</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>, <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2018</strong> | 5
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