Dear NUSD Staff and Parents/Guardians:

Our hearts go out to the families and staff involved in yesterday’s tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. We hope and pray that we never experience a tragedy like this in our schools or community.  However, if it does we are prepared.

We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously, and practice our emergency response plans frequently. We have robust plans and train all staff in both pre-event intervention and emergency responses. In the area of training, we conduct ongoing fire and lockdown drills and simulated disaster drills for our staff.  These trainings are reviewed and modified as needed.

We also provide a specific Intruder Training (active shooter) for all staff.  Our training also includes the Incident Command System (ICS) and is one way in which we do our best to protect students and ourselves.  We work directly with professional fire and police officials who use ICS for emergency response and communications.

We have a strong relationship with the Novato Police Department and the Novato Fire District, and we routinely work with them on safety measures, plans, drills, and intervention opportunities.  Police officers are often on our campuses, and we’re working with NPD to formalize an agreement to ensure officers are dedicated to our campuses in the future.

We have contracted with mental health organizations to be at all of our schools to provide support to those students in need.  Those organizations include North Marin Community Services, Bay Area Community Resources and Partners.  We also participate in county-level community discussions to create crisis response protocols.

We are also sending staff to the California Student Mental Wellness Conference next week.  The principal focus of this conference is to identify interventions to successfully support student who may have mental health needs and to discover new ways to keep our students in school and engaged in learning when they experience behavioral difficulties.

We also train our staff to speak up and report suspicious activity they see at our school sites or offices.  NPD Chief Adam McGill recently referenced U.S. Homeland Security’s slogan, “see something, say something.”  I encourage everyone to report any questionable behavior either to your school principal, call the main NPD phone line 415 897-1122, or report it to NPD through [email protected].

These horrific situations are so difficult to understand, let alone explain to students. Below are a few resources to provide some support:

Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers

Tips for Talking With and Helping Children and Youth Cope After a Disaster or Traumatic Event

I’m also including a link to Chief McGill’s message today.

A tragedy such as this reminds us to hug our loved ones a little tighter and appreciate each day a little more.  Be well and safe.

Jim Hogeboom