As a district, we are dedicated to keeping our schools safe.  This commitment includes the following:

= A School Resource Officer: Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year a full time school resource officer was added to the staff as part of our safety team. The SRO position is a joint venture between the District and the Village of Batavia, and we are appreciative of the support from Village Council and the Village Administration.

=Safety Drills:  Our students and staff participate regularly in safety drills throughout the school year.  These drills are to practice our protocols in case of a fire, tornado or school threat. We also communicate with the students in an age-appropriate manner why we are conducting these drills and explain the expectations in case of a real emergency.

=Volunteer Background Checks: Certain volunteer positions require a full background check prior to assuming volunteer duties. In general, these are volunteers who may work unsupervised in the building with children under the direction of a teacher or who chaperone school field trips.

=Safety Reporting System: The online reporting system and the 1-866-listen2me phone system are for students and parents to report concerns which may affect the peace of mind of students or jeopardize the safety of people or school facilities.  This information is also found in our student handbook and on our webpage at http://www.bataviaschools.org/.

=Emergency Training: Our district staff have been trained in ALICE and practice this during the school year. ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) training prepares individuals to handle the threat of an intruder and lead others to safety. Local law enforcement officials are also included in our training and drills.

=Emergency Notification: The district uses a notification program called ThrillShare to communicate with families via phone and email.  We also utilize standard media outlets and/or social media (webpage, Twitter, etc.) to inform key people in an emergency situation. CLICK HERE to review the District Communications Protocols.

=Security Cameras: All district buildings and school buses are monitored by security cameras. 

=Safety Meetings: The District Safety Team, comprised of building administrators, a member of the Board of Education, and local law enforcement officials, meets twice per month.  We review and exercise our emergency plans several times each year with our Safety Team and staff.

=Trauma Informed Practices: As a District this year we are growing in our understanding of Trauma Informed Practices and developing resilience in children who have experienced trauma in their lives.  We were fortunate to have Dr. Robert Shapiro from Children’s Hospital as the featured speaker at our 2018-2019 annual staff kickoff meeting. Dr. Shapiro spoke about the concept of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and ways in which staff members can respond in order to allow for healing and permit learning to continue.  We also had members of the administrative team attend a training on childhood trauma through Child Focus over the summer and recently teams from each school attended training on the Resilience Project, which will be brought back to each staff in building level trainings this fall. The work to deep our collective understanding of the impact of trauma will continue during the 2019-2020 school year and we will explore steps to reduce the effects of childhood ACEs during monthly staff meetings.

=Threat Assessment Protocol: Our administrative and counseling teams attended a training on Responding to Student Threat of Violence in August 2018.  Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, each building began using the same model to evaluate concerns about student safety, which allows us to have a more uniform response between buildings any time a concern about school safety is raised.  We are using the Virginia Threat Assessment Model, which is nationally recognized as a proven tool in evaluating cases where there are incidents that may impact student safety.  CLICK HERE to view an image of the decision tree that is used when processing any concern about student safety.

=Visitor Sign In: Every visitor to a district school building during school hours must enter through the main entrance.  If a visitor plans on entering the building beyond the lobby, for lunch or any other business, they must provide the office with picture I.D, register in the office and receive a visitor badge.  At the end of the visitor’s time in the building they then must sign out at the office.

Part of helping the District to ensure the safety of all students is a community wide understanding that gun safety is everyone's responsibility. Recently, several community members have partnered with the District in providing resources to share regarding the safe storage of firearms in the home.

Be Smart For Kids - https://besmartforkids.org/

Department of Justice Safety and Security for Firearm Owners - https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/guide/safety-and-security-firearm-owners-atf-p-530022/download