Important Safety Reminder

Dear Families,

We are reaching out to you regarding the safety of students on their way to, and from, school. 

In many neighborhoods surrounding our schools, students congregate in nearby apartment complexes, private businesses and parks. The prevalence of violence, fights, drug use, and other incidents involves not only students, but also non-students and sometimes adults.

Our District has made calls to law enforcement to help address these issues when they arise. Despite our best efforts, the number of individuals involved has continued to grow in these types of locations. 

We encourage you to discuss this matter with your student and emphasize the importance of not spending time in these areas either before or after school. If your child needs somewhere to go, please inquire with the school office regarding after-school programs that can provide academic, leadership, tutoring, and enrichment opportunities. In addition, schools offer diverse extracurricular and athletic activities. For additional details, including enrollment requests, please contact the school.

Also, we wanted to remind our community about important safety information when traveling near our schools. 

For those who cycle and walk to school, make sure you are crossing streets at marked intersections and looking for traffic. Don’t always assume a car sees you or will come to a full stop. Also, please be aware of your surroundings, and whenever possible, try to travel in groups. If you ever come across anyone suspicious that makes you feel unsafe, please notify school staff right away.

For those of you who drive, the volume of pedestrians day-to-day requires safe routes, driver safety practices, and awareness to prevent accidents. The roads that travel around our buildings are posted as school zones, and should be treated as such at all times. Extreme care needs to be taken when driving where children can be distracted from danger. Please note that most school zones have a speed limit of 25 miles per hour, and in most cases, we should be traveling much slower when children and pedestrians are present.

There are also new daylighting laws in place that prevent parking within 20-feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk. Students, especially those on bikes and other wheeled devices, can pop up suddenly behind a vehicle into the street. Please take this into consideration when visiting our campuses.

Please model safe behavior and cross at marked pathways even when roads appear to be empty. Children may not only be following your lead, they may be literally following your path behind you.

The safety of students is very important to us, and we are committed to preventing situations that jeopardize their well-being, but we cannot do this alone. Your trust and support is appreciated, and your collaboration to keep our students safe is necessary.

Let’s build a culture of safety, thank you.