School Safety Blog
DIG IT – Doors, Identification badges, Gates, IT passwords
Two years ago, we began our DIG IT campaign to enhance security on our 29 school campuses with four simple but effective, everyday practices.
Two years later, DIG IT is no less important. We need our community’s assistance to help us keep these security principles and practices at the forefront at each and every SUSD campus.
- Every door should be locked. The locked classroom door is the last line of defense in an active threat situation. Perpetrators do not breach locked doors: they move on.
- Every person on our campuses - staff, student, or visitor - needs to have a badge visible on their person. It is not just required - it is a safety issue.
- Like our doors, we want our gates closed and locked unless a staff member is monitoring the opening. This ensures that people who are not supposed to be on our campuses do not enter them.
- Finally, IT passwords should not be shared. Everyone has at least one device. These should not be left unlocked, and your password should be unique and not shared. Do not place your password under your keyboard.
We also want to remind you to check what your children are doing on their various devices. As a district, we do our best to monitor what is accessed over our Wi-Fi network and on our school devices. However, if your child uses a device over cellular or public Wi-Fi, we are unable to monitor what is on it.
There are apps out there now that create Deep Fake, AI-generated images. Some of these images can even be criminal. Please take the time to monitor what your children are doing on their devices and make sure that if there are inappropriate images that you do not send them to school administrators over any network. Bring them in on the original device or on a thumb drive so they can be turned over to the police.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Josh Friedman, CEM
Director of Safety and Security
- 0924
Bus Safety Campaign to Combat Dangerous Driving Practices
We are pleased to have the support of the Scottsdale Police Department in our campaign to ensure the safety of our student bus riders. Expect to see increased enforcement in the first few weeks of the new school year around our school zones and SUSD bus stops.
Why the campaign? During a one-day national survey in May, our bus drivers observed an alarming 144 instances of motorists passing stopped SUSD school buses that had their stop arms extended and lights flashing. That is illegal.
Drivers must remain stopped and not proceed until the school bus either begins moving again or the bus driver turns off the flashing red lights and withdraws the stop sign. Nothing less than the safety of our students is at stake, so please help us ensure that. Read more about the campaign here.
One Team
The 2024 Olympic Games are underway in Paris and just as with the students in SUSD, each of the athletes there deserves the chance to compete and excel. It doesn’t matter where they are from or anything else about them other than that they have the opportunity to do the very best they can.
Here at home, the SUSD Security team, with the support of our public safety partners, is prepared to work to ensure that distractions within the district this school year are minimal so that every student can be successful.
While there will be things that may create distractions, by working together as one team with you ‒our parents, families, and community members ‒ we can keep our children focused on learning while they are at school.
Please reach out to us with anything that you hear or see or that your students relate to you so that we can deal with issues and solve problems before they impact our campuses. We want you to report incidents and rumors, and ask that you and your students do not repeat them or repost them. Together we can keep our kids safe as they strive towards the gold.
Thank you.
- 0824
We made it to June, and while many of our students and staff are headed off for the summer, others of us, including your district Security staff, are reviewing the challenges and successes from the just-ended school year and planning and preparing for the next one.
In Security, we work year-round, thanks to a Governing Board decision about a year and a half ago. While many of our campuses are closed for the summer, we still have 14 campuses that are active with students learning and practicing fine arts and sports.
Our security staff also uses the summertime to refresh and replace emergency equipment and check all aspects of our emergency plans and systems to ensure that we are ready for the coming school year. The Security team will also be receiving refresher training in CPR, first aid and crisis prevention which now includes de-escalation techniques.
The SUSD Security team will be working hard all summer to ensure that the 2024-2025 school year is the best one yet.
Senior Pranks Funny … NOT FUNNY
As we approach the end of the school year, it's important to emphasize that seniors’ excitement about their pending graduation does not outweigh our unwavering commitment to the safety and security of our campuses.
The home stretch of each school year is often accompanied by senior pranks and after-hour activities on our grounds that are not permitted, so it's imperative that everyone understands the serious implications of such actions. Any unauthorized presence on school grounds or engagement in illegal activities, including pranks, will result in severe consequences, including potential criminal charges and school discipline.
It's heartbreaking to witness years of students’ dedication overshadowed by impulsive decisions, but we must prioritize the safety and well-being of all students and staff. We urge everyone to make responsible choices and avoid actions that could jeopardize their future, disrupt the learning environment and result in not being able to be part of graduation ceremonies. Let's work together to ensure a safe and positive end to the school year!
STAY COOL AND HYDRATE
As we enter the hottest months of the year, it's essential to prioritize sun protection and hydration to stay safe in the Valley’s famed summertime. Even brief exposure to the intense heat, especially during outdoor activities such as lunch breaks or transitioning between classes, can lead to sunburn and dehydration. To safeguard your child's well-being, please ensure they have sunscreen readily available and a refillable water bottle in order to stay hydrated throughout the day. These simple steps can help prevent heat-related illnesses.
Scottsdale Unified School District, along with most other school districts and government agencies, utilize an incident-management system implemented and run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. Called the Incident Command System (ICS), the system is designed to allow organizations to manage an incident, no matter how big or small, to integrate seamlessly, regardless of what agency they work for. This system is used, for example, to manage wildfires and major events, such as the attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as pre-planned events, such as the Super Bowl and Waste Management Phoenix Open.
SUSD has always required district and campus leadership to be trained on the ICS basics that are offered online. Over the last two years, the district has also hosted several in-person classes to conduct advanced training for SUSD’s incident command team. This team represents the district-level leadership that manages any incidents that occur on or that impact an SUSD campus.
Over the course of these classes, we have come to recognize that for a K-12 school district, the ICS system is not ideal as it is geared more toward public safety, first-responder agencies, such as fire and police departments than an education entity.
SUSD is working with the City of Scottsdale Emergency Management and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to revamp these ICS classes to make them more suitable for the education professionals who must manage an emergency situation. This new class will provide a certificate of completion from ADE and a greater understanding of how to utilize the staff on a campus to provide the leadership and tools necessary to mitigate an incident.
This new program, in conjunction with ADE, will become the model for all school districts in the state so that educators will be able to continue to learn about and fit within the ICS system, but also understand how classroom and campus staff fit into that role as first responders. This groundbreaking discussion allows SUSD to pave the way for other school districts once again and will ensure that student safety is not just a priority, but that we are able to integrate seamlessly into the public safety, first-responder world when needed.
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