Dear Urbana Elementary @ SUES Families,
This year we have worked extremely hard to learn our new building, surroundings, and exits so that all of our students, staff, and family members are safe here at school. One thing that we have discussed with our students is a new drill called ADD. It stands for Avoid, Deny, and Defend. This drill gives options to staff for what to do in an intruder incident. There is not a rigid response that we all do; but adults need to consider multiple factors and then decide on the response they need to take whether it’s leave the building or lock down for example. We have shared with our students about this drill and that we would be practicing this tomorrow.
Tomorrow 5/22, students and staff members are going to have talking points again and then we will do our drill schoolwide. We are doing this to educate our students on what to do in each class with scenarios in order to make them feel safer by knowing what to do. Students may be at specials or in their classrooms for the drill.
We ask that parents please use this opportunity to remind your child that school is a safe place to be and we do drills so that we are prepared in the event we need to quickly leave the building. Please know that we take school safety very seriously and any potential threats to school safety are looked into. We also ask that you take this time to speak to your children about how educating on safety can ease some of the anxiety and emotions that some students might have. The safety of our school is our most important responsibility.
Please remind your child to always report concerns about safety to a trusted adult at school. As always, students or parents with concerns about safety should contact any of our administrators or school counselor. FCPS recommends if you See Something, Say Something, and when it comes to social media, Report It, Don't Repeat It. We investigate and follow up on every concern.
Open communication between families, students, and staff ensures that our school continues to be a safe, nurturing, and productive place for learning.
Sincerely,
Tess Blumenthal and Marc Clausen
UES@SUES Administrators