001good afternoon and welcome to the garle height City School District midday Town Hall my name is Yolanda Hamilton and I am the diversity equity and inclusion consultant for the district I want to personally thank you for making the time to tune in to this live broadcast today and for those of you that may watch the replay later feel free to email questions that you may have regarding the information shared during our time together we will be sure that someone from the district gets back with you to respond to your question questions um the information will be shown on one of the slides featured during this presentation today so joining us here today we have our superintendent Dr Richard Reynolds along with the leadership teams across buildings and departments when I call out your building or
002Department please introduce yourself in 20 seconds or less and just State briefly what safety means to you so we'll start off with the high school hi hi I am Ashley Ward I'm one of the assistant principles here at the high school um safety I believe safety means to us that we are creating an environment where everybody feels comfortable to be themselves to belong in our building and ultimately to just feel free to come and enjoy school and do all the things that we want to see them do thank you Middle School hello everyone I am Mrs Adrien clotman principal of garford Heights Middle School and what does safety mean to me that means that you enjoy coming to work to school learning being in a safe environment where you can grow and prosper with your
003staff and colleagues okay we'll have William Foster then Elwood then Maple Leaf Maple Leaf good morning everybody my name is Paul Glazer I'm the assistant principal at Maple Leaf um Safety and Security to us is a foundation for everything we do to ensure students can focus on why we are here uh which is academic success thank you and have our representatives from William Foster or MW joined us okay pupil services good morning afternoon uh everyone I'm Gordon dpri director of pupil services and safy to us means that when you parents grandparents aunts are at work or at home you can be certain that your young people are safe in school as well as on the bus family engagement hello my name is J Wilson supervisor people services and just as Dr stated sa safety is
004ensuring that all stakeholders um that are part of City School District family have an environment where they feel welcome and um Wanted wants to come to school every single day okay Dei Mr H good morning my name is Tim herd I'm diversity equity and inclusion learning coordinator for the district safety um from my lenss is ensuring that not only do kids feel safe in their learning environment but the transportation to and from school also ensures that kids arrive safely and that the parents feel comfortable allowing their kids to board our buses into our buildings knowing that their kids will be return to safety okay Transportation hi hi I'm Carrie burkholz I'm the supervisor of transportation and our goal of safety is to ensure that all your children get to and from school in a safe
005Manner and and be able to enjoy their learning environment once they get there my name is Gary Mor the operations manager I I I feel the same way when that door opens in the morning I don't want that you have any worries about your child getting to and from school because we have some of the best drivers known to man so that's our job is getting two front school every day saely thank you and so you are all the team that makes sure that we ensure the safety of our students um during their school day and as our model goal we are working for every child every day together so let's hop right into this conversation so Dr Reynolds I like to start off just like our family's tuning in you also are a parent
006correct and you remember the days when your children were in K through 12 and sending them off to school and as a parent parent and as a superintendent you know safety concerns that families have when they send their kids out to school so I'm going to ask if you could just share briefly with the families that are tuning in um about safety as a priority for our district yes and thank you for this opportunity as well um and yes I am a parent I have a lot of children uh and a lot of the decisions that we make in the district or all the decisions we make in the district I'm taking the lens of a parent what do our children need what do we want our children to be able to do and what
007opportunities do we want our children to be able to have um but when it comes to Safety and Security as a parent I want to to be sure that once we send our children to school that they are safe that they are being responded to in a way that's not only just kind of the safety that we usually just think about with you know with just kind of bodily safety but we're also thinking about social emotional learning as well so we want to approach the effort of talking about the whole child when we're talking about safety the same as well to make sure that once they're walking in the building they don't have any concerns about um anyone coming in and assaulting them or um bullying or any of the situation that could happen in
008school that we are addressing those things and we're putting some uh structures in place to ensure that those things are are not happening but we're also focusing on the social emotional learning of students and ensuring that they have that person in the building that they can connect with and have that relationship with to to feel free to to talk about their feelings talk about the things that they're going through and to to really start developing some skills and coping skills when things are are not working the way that they would like them to but being able to to adjust to those things and how to respond to those but when we're talking about Safety and Security that is priority we cannot get to learning if our students are feeling unsafe or they're feeling like their
009needs are not being met so safety is a priority that will allow us to get to the learning but we have to take care of those issues first and so that's why it is top priority for us to ensure that we're responding to the Safety and Security of not only just our children but we're responding to the Safety and Security of our staff members as well thank you so let's head over to the high school and middle school can you share a bit with our families what are some of the safety measures and precautions that you have implemented in your building for this year to ensure the safety of your students and we'll start off with that it's a two-part question so if you can address that first and then we'll go into the second
010part perfect so um at the high school you know first of all we are we are so happy to welcome our students into the building every single day um and we really hope that um you know all of our families and trust that we are keeping safety to be the of the utmost importance and the biggest priority for us um during our school hours our building is equipped with all the state of art state-ofthe-art security systems including those metal detectors to ensure that no unauthorized items are entering the premises um that's part of our commitment to maintaining a secure campus um in addition to that we do have five dedicated security Personnel who monitor the building and its surroundings at all times um they're trained to respond swiftly um to any potential security issues um
011at the high school as well we are blessed to have our student res resource officer here officer zupanic um he works very closely with us to address safety concerns um and also helps kind of conduct those regular safety drills um to prepare students and staff in case of emergencies um ultimately our building also has a comprehensive safety plan that we have built with administrators security and teachers and all other staff to make sure that we're best serving our school Community um we also have a monthly um Safety Committee that meets um to discuss any sort of safety concerns that might kind of just come up across the board um things we're seeing in the hallways in classroom rooms anything really to just make sure that we are keeping our students safety and our staff safety
012um in mind at all times thank you Miss clapman hello again so some of the things that we have at the middle school we do have four security officers at the start of the day students come through metal detectors as well as their backpacks are checked all students have clear book bags that are provided for them students who are um play a sport or cheer are allowed to bring in additional book bag as well and that is searched and their backpacks and their coats are to be placed in their lockers once they have gone through security we also have any visitors that come inside the building whether it's outside counselors or parents coming in they also go through security and get checked as well before entering inside the school so during the day our security
013guards assist with clearing the Halls during transition checking the restrooms and those High hiding areas that students seem to always find um where they shouldn't be so they are constantly on the Move we practice monthly fire safety drills uh we just completed our building evacuation drill um a few weeks ago so students know the expectations when it's necessary to be Swift and moving out the building quickly uh during dismissal we made an adjustment to have a security guards remain back at the building to make sure that all students are off premises when it is time we also have security walk up to Maple Leaf to make sure our students are doing the right thing being safe respectful and responsible on their way home um and we do weekly check-ins with our security team because they
014see things that admin does not always see and we make adjustments as needed and we also include our staff in these meetings as well because they see things that we don't see either and as soon as we find those out we make quick adjustments and provide feedback thank you and before we jump into that second part I want to go ahead and give um Mr Glazer opportunity to share some of the safety measures and precautions that are at his building this year well at May believe uh the Safety and Security of our students is a number one priority uh we put in place many safety procedures to ensure a secure learning environment we have two dedicated uh security guard who provide a warm welcome to our students each morning as students arrive uh we have
015one single entry point into our building each morning to make sure um there's no unauthorized individuals coming into the building um we have several staff members in the parking lot during arrival and dismissal to ensure students can safely enter and exit their cars and their school buses or if they're walking home um or if they're meeting their siblings coming from the Middle School um throughout the school day our security guards diligently Patrol the building uh we have one guard assigned to each floor one on the first floor and one on the second floor um they monitor students in the hallways their class attendance they offer guidance to students as needed um and they also ensure that all of our exterior doors remain securely locked throughout the day um we also regularly conduct safety drills um
016covering scenarios such as shelters in place uh lockdowns fire drills tornado drills and evacuations um in addition to that our PBS team um here at the school meets monthly um they review data and we make adjustments as needed to ensure students are demonstrating safe and positive behaviors in our school building thank you you so thank you for speaking to that and can you share with the parents how can they partner with you to ensure that their students are safe up on their arrival and dismissal from school so the big thing um is following our um you know all of our procedures in the morning we have um certain enter and exit points um for traffic patterns how people enter our parking lot exit our parking lot um again we have staff out there each morning
017directing traffic um greeting students when when they get off the bus we unload one bus at a time to make sure the students can get across our parking lot um across a crosswalk safely U making sure they're walking um and just promoting our um three PBS expectations are be safe be respectful and be responsible so you know that starts from the minute the students get out of their cars um enter the building um and we take that with them throughout their school day thank you miss clotman and miss wart what are some other things that parents can do to support you and partner with you in ensuring the safety of students once they enter the building um from the high school I think the biggest piece is just communicating with us um you know we
018know we can't do this alone and we encourage our parents to really partner with us in ensuring that our our school remains safe um staying engaged not only in your child's education but also you know joining different committees like the PTO and things um and Reporting any sort of safety concerns you might have we know that our parents sometimes see a lot more than we do as well you know so any of that sort of communication is super helpful um building that strong collaborative relationship um between home and school is really a key aspect to maintaining um that security within our building um one of the other other big things is really just kind of following through with our school protocols if you need your student to be dismissed early making that phone call that
019way they're not just walking out of the building and you know and causing concern so it's really following through on those steps that we have in place here at the building to make sure that they're communicating with us appropriately so we can get everybody where need to safely um you know it is really our top priority in making sure that they trust us with their students education and wellbeing and we're going to work hard to do that as long as they continue to you know enforce those sorts of things for us at home as well so I Echo with Miss Ward she took the words right out of my mouth however I would like to add that during dismissal time here at the middle school we make announcements so the people outside can hear our
020announcements so the parents who are waiting for their child in a car here what we're saying being safe respectful and be responsible on your way home you know don't bother the businesses don't bother the students at Maple Leaf there's still instruction um we also send out weekly reminds to parents and so that's another way that we communicate the expectations of the building and just have that two-way communication to back and forth because parents do hear things before we do and just bring it to us so we can take the necessary steps to make sure that everyone is remaining safe thank you and I just want to remind our um audience that's viewing if you have any questions um during this town hall feel free to either send a text to 216 342 8402 again that's
021216 342 8402 or you can email Miss Wilson at g w LS o n GHB bulldogs.org that's G Wilson GH bulldogs.org so thank you for um sharing that valuable information and I want to hop over next to um Safety and Security we have um officer Chapman who has joined us and is the newest member of our team working to ensure the safety of students in our district officer Chapman if you would like to just briefly introduce yourself and maybe share um some of the things that you're seeing and things that you're implementing regarding safety for our district at large that would be great okay um good morning I don't know if everybody can hear me but uh hopefully it's all good all right um I just started um here as the safety director um maybe
022about two or three weeks ago I come from a background um of security for over 20 years in the correctional field um I'm also a football coach and so I'm definitely aware of kind of what goes on in schools as well um a lot of the things I've I've witnessed as far as going around and things that I would like to implement is definitely a few more officers um for the middle school and high school it is a larger area to cover we do have a abundance of students so that would be an area I was looking into as far as um middle school and high school as well as using badges um ID badges for all our students I think it's very key and important to find out who's in the building and who's
023not supposed to be in the building kind of where they want to be I mean where they're where they should be as far as their picture grade and everything of that nature um getting more visual on our camera system as well we we have a camera system and we kind of need somebody to monitor that situation to kind of deploy our um officers to the right area so when we do have those blind spots and some of those troubl times where we're end Transitions and things of that nature um that's as far as everything else it's kind of a work in progress um but those are the main things right now that I'm looking into um try to jump start everything for this year and kind of get the ball rolling thank you officer Chapman
024and again welcome um to our district and so um in moving on and continuing with the conversation I would like to um really speak to the attendance piece and that's part of safety and how our parents can work to um help to sure students safety by with regarding attendance and I know that um Mr hurt our our diesel team also miss rice we have been having conversations about that Mr herd if you could just speak to that um employing the parents as to how they can um support the district in terms of our attendance and Student Success and how that ties into safety so great question a way that parents can support our efforts in getting a handle on the attendance and we know that attendance issues are prevalent Nationwide so the Garfield approach would
025be we're really being intentional about um the attendance of our students in the buildings every day so parents get support in that way by ensuring that their students get to school on time that if there's a situation where the student won't be um eiling at the prescribed time that the parents are communicating also um check-ins with their students throughout the day to make sure that they're where they're supposed to be or even if we have situations where the parents are receiving attendance calls to be very proactive and reaching out to the buildings um to ensure that their students are make it to their class on time the safety uh reasoning behind that is we're responsible for these precious students from the time they start their journey to school to the time they and it's important
026that we know where they are at every given moment so that in the event of a situation of emergency that we're able to communicate with the parents and able to ensure that we are putting this the student safety first thank you okay so another piece of um ensuring student safety is making sure that they get to school safely and we work with um Miss Carrie bals and her wonderful team in doing that and I would like to just ask transportation to share briefly about safety from your perspective and how parents can support um and partner with you all in ensuring the safety of their students in their transit to school absolutely well the safety measures they start right here at the transportation garage so our drivers they all pre-trip their buses every morning before they
027even go out on the runs they check all the lights and the fluids make sure that the bus is running properly um we also have the state highway patrol which inspects our bus several times a year so we know our buses are running good and then um this year it's great because we added a lot more staff so we have Aids on all of our buses this year which is wonderful because it helps us to um be able to take attendance on the buses and make sure the students are all getting on and off at the right places so that's been very helpful this year um some of the concerns we like to address are the parents getting on the buses that's something that we've had problems within the past and it's not because we
028don't want you or we don't want to welcome you but more so because you know we don't know we know the students but we don't know all of our parents so there could be people that shouldn't be getting on with the student getting on and stuff so um we ask that the parents do not enter the bus if you have any concerns call the bus garage um we'd be happy to talk with you we have open communication here um another thing if your student didn't go to school in the morning but you brought them in let us know just so we know to expect them at the end of the day um those are some safety measures place of safety that's huge um and that's a big problem we have the students don't like to
029stand there they like to run around and play but um in the morning when we come to pick up the students it could be dark and there's a lot of spots that we can't see plus let's face there's a lot of cars that see a big yellow bus and they don't want to wait behind it and they Zoom around so um if your child is venturing away from that place of safety there's a very big risk of them getting injured so that's why we push it it's not because we want to be mean and say oh you have to stand there and um on the bus they have rules that we follow and again not to be mean but just to help the children get to school safe so um if there's assigned seats which
030some of the drivers do follow it's because they know which kids get along which kids could sit by each other and um which ones don't do so well and a lot of times we get the group of older kids in the back that like to play around too much so they'll assign seats where they know fits best and they try to still sit your child with their friends um so that's another safety precaution that we have um and then of course the eatings choking reasons and stuff like that so these are some of the rules we ask that they follow and and they will get written up if they're not following hopefully that that place of safety is very important we know we're going into Daylight Saving Time and so during pickup in the morning
031it may be darker so again working with um as Carri has Miss krie has stated to ensure your students safety that they maintain that place of safety um you're absolutely right there are times when I'm traveling in the morning and I see people go around school buses all the time even though the stop sign is out and that's very dangerous so it's important you know to keep your children in this place of safety and even not assuming that you know people are stopping making sure that they stop making sure that you see your child get on the bus and having discussions with them right because there are um policies and procedures and guidelines because busing is a privilege and we'll let pupil service um speak to that in a few um if anyone else on
032your team would like to share um some safety tips or precautions for parents feel free to do so yeah thank you I just want to tell you how how how safe we take driving kid to it from schw each day um our drivers right here there's 26 million kids ride buses each year and I'll tell you what that be sitting there in front of like 40 50 60 kids and get to school sa there and back each day imagine being a parent and you have more than two kids in your car this not put 50 kids in your car just put 60 kids in your car and to see what these drivers do at six o'clock in the morning four o'clock in the afternoon the hands have to go off to a driver we have
033to respect that driver as being a professional because I can tell you right now the training these drivers go through to drive a school bus I can tell you right now that the average driver and I would put money on it you I don't gamble I would put money on it that these an average driver could not pass a bus safety inspection for for a driver he could not do it that's how butts are invol driving these school buses and we do it proudly here in G nights for a long long time and they love it too love it Granda thank you I don't know okay Brenda did you have anything to add or did they cover it all they cover it okay thank you so again in speaking to our guidelines busting is a
034privilege and so as you mentioned the safety assigned seats making sure that our drivers are well trained having respectful communication with drivers right and so again busing is a privilege we know for some and there are guidelines that um guide behaviors on the bus and expectations and so I would like to ask Dr Dupri if you can speak to the importance of adhering to those bus guidelines to ensure safety of students during Transit and any other um information that you would like to share with parents to um you know continueing this conversation thank you m hi again parents and community members we you can see from the 12 people who are on this broadcast and this is only a handful of us who are concerned about Safety and Security for your children uh we have
035guidelines that all students are presented with at the beginning of the school year as our youth and we simply say things in there that you may think are common sense but they're for the safety of all the kids in the driver bus now imagine when you go to the mall you go to Giant Eagle wherever you go and you got three kids in the back seat well imagine being a bus driver with 30 kids in the back seat and trying to uh keep water keep it quiet uh not have radios blasting so that they can concentrate and get our young people delivered safely to their destination and when you see around the community you'll see not only buses but you'll see Vans and they could be going to the zoom they could be gone to
036a school building uh to an athletic event and all of these times of day and night very uh crucial in terms of making sure everybody on board is is safe when you get parents when you get the guidelines from the Transportation Department please go over the rules for the bus so that every child will know just what is expected of them and what they should report if they see something that's not safe uh we do this every year and it's always for the children's safety and as well as for the driver and a bus Aid if they're on the bus some things that now this is the unfortunate piece because sometimes we have young people who uh do things that are not appropriate on some of our vehicles and parents if you would keep this
037in mind a bus or a vein a school property it's the same as being in a classroom the same rules apply uh you have to behave Keep Your Hands to Yourself listen to the adults on the bus and that kind of thing we have to go over these rules every year because sometimes some of you maybe get upset because you hear about a child being put off the bus well every time a child is put off the bus typically it's always for Behavior so you're not supposed to cuss at the driver you're not supposed to cuss at each other you're not supposed to do jumping up and down in you see you should not be fooling with the windows by pulling them up and down and that kind of thing it should not be any
038food or drink on the bus I'm sure I left some out Miss Burk Holtz or M M I'm sure I left some things out there's many probably left out but I mean they're all posted on the school website for everyone to look over there's also a page for the parents to sign and return to their drivers um just so we know that your child has seen these rules and you have read the rules and stuff so when you do get that phone call it's not like surprise so so um everything's post on there yes you you listed some of the big ones um keeping hands feet to themselves not standing up jumping over seats stuff like that are our big issues we do have yeah we talk about a distracted driver on a telephone could
039you imine distracted driver when you're driving a school bus you have to look up in that mirror because something's going on behind you so that's what we're trying to do trying to eliminate the distractor that driver so driver's eyes can be forward not backwards and parents no go ahead Dr de parents you will notice sometimes that uh maybe you're walking or driving your child to school and you'll see a bus pass right by you to go to another school well sometimes you're concerned that well how come my child can't go to that school because it appears to be closer to where we live the reason for that is that we have boundaries uh that represent areas of the district and within those boundaries the people have to go to these schools that are appropriate to
040those boundaries so we're not trying to make your job as apparent difficult we simply have to re here to guidelines for boundaries um the contact information that you receive in the handbook that I mentioned earlier you have to sign it please and send it back to your school because we have to know that you're ready we don't want you to get a surprise phone call about something that occurred on the bus and frankly you may say but I didn't know about that that's why we make sure everybody has a copy of the handbook we'd like you to read it first sign it talk to your young people about it and then if you have any questions you can call uh members of the transportation department when you have a change of address a change of
041email a change in your cell phone please let your school know and the transportation department because if you call the school and you update your information that information might not get immediately to the transportation department so please let everybody in the buildings and the transportation department know when you change your cell phone number you you move address it next okay thank you and I want to mention again for those tuning in if you have any questions you can text 216 342 8402 or email G Wilson GH bulldogs.org also in the event that you would like to contact any of our leaders um our leadership team directly you can gather their information from the garle height City Schools website it's very userfriendly you can click on schools or Department of Transportation and it will give you
042the relevant contexts for those that are on the on the town hall this afternoon um now one other thing I as you all were talking and I'm thinking because I'm a parent as well um some of the tips that you've shared so far one making sure that my contact information is updated sometimes as you st Dr depri and I'm glad you mentioned that we think oh I got a new cell phone I got a new number and it never even occurs to you to update the school that your number has changed and that is so important because we want to be able to reach you in the event of an emergency right so make sure even if you want to give the office a call and I know don't get on me pupil services or
043building leaders and your phone might be ringing a little off the hook but go ahead and give the school a call just to verify that your information is up to date your phone number your address your emergency contacts because we want to make sure again that's part of the partnering with us to ensure the safety of your student pieace the other key um tip that I heard was in in terms of attendance um and maybe this might be more applicable to high school middle school but you you drop your kid off to school or send them on the bus you get a call from attendance that they're not here right making sure that you know where your children are has setting those expectations when the bus comes to get you you you get off you
044get on the bus and when it drops you off you go home um making sure that if your student is not going to be in attendance that you call and maybe even send a note so that that is an excused absence right we want to make sure that um when students are missing school um we know that there's doctor appointments and things that come up and making sure that that is an excuse absence also communicating that to um the bus garage is helpful as um Miss Carrie stated as well and then also maintaining that place of safety the times is changing and we know that it may be a little darker upon on um pickup times in the morning so we want to ensure student saf another tip for parents is also when you're sending
045your P your kids on the bus or Vans it doesn't it doesn't hurt to do a book bag check also to make sure that they're not bringing anything to school that they're not supposed to bring right that could we can nip that in the butt right away and so sometimes you know they want to sneak their little maybe bring their little Electronics to show their friend or something that they think is cool that might violate our bus guidelines so just doing a simple book back check to make sure that they're only bringing um the materials that they need to have success in the classroom environment um Dr dpri go ahead two quick things we thank you one is parents because the weather is still warm but it's getting go sooner you may want to think
046about having them wear clothes that are somewhat reflective they're not all dressed in black second thing is and it's nothing to do with your parenting style we see so many little kids like we did last week in evacuations you may have sent them to school with a jacket but when they leave school or sometime on their way to school they end up hugging themselves because they're cold but it would help us if you would remind your young people if you leave the house with a jacket or a coat you're supposed to wear so just little tip that might uh help you thank you thank you now I know that there are some additional opportunities for for um parents to be involved and again I believe parent involvement is a key component to safety um and
047behaviors in the school buildings we know that par parental parents um having a presence a parental presence excuse me in the buildings also helps to shift culture and to support safety Miss Wilson can you share some of the opportunities that are um upcoming or existing for our students to become involved absolutely um thank you m um I want to really start off by saying this is really a collaboration between all stakeholders this is a collaboration between our staff members our students our families and our community to really ensure that we are maximizing every opportunity that we can to ensure the safety and security of all of our students our Safety and Security of all of our staff members and ensure that we're doing it together um so there are many opportunities where we're going to
048come together and I'm really going to be calling out to our families and community these resp support we want to be sure that we are working together and we are all on the same pace for as transportation we want all students to maximize we don't want anything to get in the way we don't want issues arise and it hinders that opportunity for them to get so if that means us having to come together to come figure out what's the you know any group problems to we we want to come together we want to be sure that we're doing it but we all understand reasoning behind decisions that being and and we will always make the best decision for the safety of students and all staff members in the community that's involved so I call to
049action on the family members I want to see if we come together to see if we can bring families of our our students that ride bus to come together and bring any concerns or questions that they may have and really support one another in our bus drivers and our bus a and all of our staff members to ensure that we are getting all of our students in seeks every day to learn um the attendance piece was brought up and that's very important we want to be sure that we are maximizing every hour House Bill 410 has changed from days to hours so we are monitoring the hours that the students are in ourc so if they're coming late if they're leaving early if they're you know tardy to class all of those hours every minute
050really count so anywhere that we together to remove any of Transport stud we want to be the we have our PTO that started um on October 5th we had our first um meting at um tomorrow Excuse Me Miss Miss Wilson are you able to adjust your um distance to your microphone we we had a little trouble hearing the last few statements that you made is it better yes that's much better okay um our PCL meeting is tomorrow um October 19th at mwood at 6m and we really are calling out our families and Guardians to come out and really see how they can contribute at a building level and really um this is a great way to maximize the opportunity of being visible seeing how you can contribute and see how we can work as partners
051um because we know our families are our students um first teachers and we want to know how we can maximize our opportunity to collaborate and provide many other opportunities for our students in our building as well as our staff um so we have our PTO meetings coming up we also are going to be doing some C collaboration with um Community Partnerships for our Top Dog program so it's really um calling out community members uh family members to have a presence on our um school property from element from PRK all the way to 12 so we have those opportunities that are going to be coming down and we're going to be calling um Community meetings to see how we can collaborate and make um our school and community and families um one large entity that we
052are working to for the success of our students um and making it a really safe and secure environment where all want to come to school every single day together thank you and again you said Miss Wilson that the PTO meeting will take place tomorrow which is October um 19th at Elmwood and what time is that again at 6 pm. at 6 pm thank you Miss clotman yes so I just wanted to make mention parents please do not have the school number blocked it is so important that if we call you we're calling for a reason to let you know your child has done something fantastic or maybe not so fantastic but please do not have the school's numbers blocked it's almost going share the story about why it's so important not to have a school
053number blocked last year we had a student who was having an asthma attack his inhaler was empty and we tried reaching a child's parent no answer no answer no answer we ended up having to go to the emergency calling EMS because we could not get a hold of the child's parents I go there we get there of course the parent is furious that nobody called me oh yes we called we called this number this number we could not leave a message come to find out the child had blocked the student the school's number um be KN know to the parent so parents please check your phon to make sure your child has not blocked the school's number um because this was an emergency and we had to step into action to make sure the child
054was okay and in the end the parent did apologize because we show she she saw that the school had called once she had unblocked whatever is on the phone to block the number so please please please do not have your child schools number blocked thank you no thank you that's very important Miss clotman thank you for sharing that right we again making sure reminder call your schools after you watch from some of you watching the replay and maybe a little later but after the replay just feel free to after the broadcast excuse me email quick email to your or phone call to your buildings just to make sure that your information is updated Miss Wilson yes and I just wanted to make one comment um about that contact and being updated um if you have
055not updated final forms um please take the time to do so um I am going to work um on getting a QR code where we can put on our website for families to update that contact if you have not done so please take the time and look for that um it's very important for us to have updated um uh contact for all students um we don't again we don't only call back call home for for good reasons I mean bad reasons we want to call home for good reasons as well so we want to build that relationship we want to communicate with you and we want to see you in our building so if you have not done so please update your final forms and we will be putting something out so you can easily
056access final forms and make sure all of that is updated okay thank you and if we don't have any questions um that have come through Miss Wilson there's a couple things that I wanted to mention in closing um unless are there any other additional final comments before we kind of Drive everything home Mr her um also in addition to uh what Miss Wilson spoke of on contact information parents if you receive an attendance call please follow up please follow up with the attend calls unless you are sure why your your student was absent from that class or from the building that day um knowledge of well parent knowledge parent accountability and parent knowing has done a great deal to help us and curtailing cutting and skipping and making sure that we know at all times
057where your child is so please if you receive an attendance call please follow up with that call thank you so again I would like to thank the team for um being present to share this valuable information with um our families parents and stakeholders I would also like to give a special thank you to Those Behind the Scenes um Mr whan and Mr fruits for working to help us with the technical piece this would not be possible without them working um also I wanted to mention that it is national school bus safety week so we just want to say we do appreciate our department of transportation and our drivers thank you for all that you do for our district and to ensure the safety of our students while they're in transit parents and families if who
058are bus Riders you see your bus riders give them a a word of appreciation um when you see them in the morning whether it's thanking them verbally honking at them thumbs up because we do appreciate um our drivers and all that they do so again thank you for spending time with us this afternoon please um stay tuned for updates on future town halls and again thank you and we look forward to having um a successful rest of the