Safety Checklist
As I start checking audit safety check list, I noticed that my school has items that are either not present or extensively present. This makes me feel that our administrations team has done a pretty good job of taking care of most issues on the school safety audit checklist. However, there are a few things that I am very concerned about that are not on the list. These concerns are parents not signing their child out before the school has been dismissed. To me this is a big concern because it is a safety issue. As parents put their child in our hands, then we need to make sure that they are safe, we need to know where they are at all times when in our care. This is a communications issue that needs to be communicated with parents, guardians, and other relatives whom the child is in contact with.
For example, there have been several occasions this year that we did not know where some students are. Sometimes they are on campus and the supervising teacher does not have on their radio or the child is not on campus. Either one parent, a grandparent or relative has picked up the child and did not inform the others or the child did not come to school. Thus, we do not know where the child is and now, we are not a safe school but an irresponsible one.
Also, this is important to me because we were returning from covid, and some parents did not want their child to be in school and the parents did not monitor their child’s work on zoom. Thus, the child did not participate or complete work, forcing us to have the students on campus. So, when students were on campus, parents would pick up them up early, which relates to the student missing lessons and activities, causing their grades to go down. Last year this became a problem because I had students whose attendance hampered their grades. For our school this means tutoring the student after school. But because they left early and was not coming back then I was to give the assignments to the students during their break and lunch time which they did not do. It became more of a punishment instead of them having a break. I also tried to send the work home, but for the most students it was not completed, or they did not return the next several days. So, if we had documentation of these events then their parents could be address with these concerns and held accountable for these things.
Another safety issue that is a concern of mine is the emergency procedures. As a teacher who has been at this school site for about ten years, I do not know all the safety procedures, and who are on the emergency site plan to address these issues. For instances, what to do in case of an intruder enters our campus. Yes, we have lockdowns, but the issue would be that there is an intruder, possible an active shooter, in our buildings and what to do besides lock the door, get away from windows, doors and stay quiet. How are we to get out? Are there other escape route? what do we do if there is a bomb threat or an actual bomb on campus, a kidnapping, a shooting or hazardous materials spill in front of school. Our school is on a major street and has had a lot of accidents and damages to our property; our fences and buses damaged to where we need to fix the fence for safety concerns and the buses had serious repairs. I personally, do not know the protocol for any of these things. I’m not sure where are designated area outside of the school would be if something were to happen to our school. Thus, when emergencies occur it is very important that all staff members know what to do and where to go if there were a situation of these calibers.
The last safety concerns that I had was having teachers, staff and other personnel annually trained in conflict resolutions, cyber bullying, and safety precious on social media platforms. This has become a phenomenal problem in and out of schools. Students are on some sort of devise, not learning social skills to communicate face to face with others and not understanding that the significant of being able to use social skills to resolve problems. Which is taught in and out of school. It is part of these learning skills that help student be successful in all areas of life. Also, these skills help reduce cyber bullying and other negative aggressions towards other because one can express themselves in a meaningful manner. While part of cyber bullying are people hiding behind their true feeling, having low self-esteem and confidence about themselves, thus, taking this negative aura out on others, causing discomfort behind a wall where no one knows who they are.
Even though some social media outlets seem fun, entertaining and help student build their confidence, there are others who have predators and are dangerous. For this reason, teacher, staff, and other personnel need to be aware of the newest platform and social event to educate the students of its positive and negative effects.
My solutions to parents not signing out their child before school is let out, is to have a mandatory policy stating that for the safety of every student is important to sign the students out if they are being picked up before the dismissal. I believe that once it is explained to the parent’s the purpose of signatures and dates than they will oblige. This would mean to have a binder at the front desk that has the name of the student, date in which they are getting picked up, the time and two places for the parent to sign. One would be for the parent to print their name and the other will be a signature because some signatures are unreadable, thus, we would not know who signed the child out.
As a leader in training, my solutions to address the emergency procedures are to have a training for all staff in the beginning of the school year to understand and be familiar with each situation on the emergency plan. I would make this a priority to know because these things are important in keeping our school safe before they occur and not during or after. I would have a school wide practice drills several times a year for each emergency to prepared and be ready, because this makes the real problem become easier to handle.
I believe that all personnel need annual training in all areas of using the web sites on the internet. It is imperative to be aware of the web pages because students are on them. They are also in our care, so we need to know what they are logging on to and the sites implications. Thus, training twice a year would be sufficient because the internet frequently changes, and we need to keep up with the technology.
Our mission and vision are to give students an individualized learning plan that caters to their specific needs, while helping them grow and become successful member of society. Thus, keep students safe are in the realms of our mission and visions. It allows them to be stress and worried free in our loving environment. We show our student that we care for their well being by making safety a priority. It is stressed to them by our words and actions. We continually monitor, check -in, and have an open -door policy with each student. Our teachers are implementing teaching strategies for successful learning. This would include how to solve problems on their own, cyber bullying and the use of the internet. These lessons would help student later in life by understanding what is friendly and foe, what to input on social media and who not to truest. These things are our commitment to our students as educators, administrators, and other personnel related to education.
My mentor’s safety concerns were supervision on the yard and cross walk area. She feels that staff is not a team player and I agree. Many staff members are late, not on duty and this is a concern that if not checked could lead to injuries. Our school is small; thus, teachers have a lot of team player activities, which include morning and after school supervision. Staff being a team player also goes further than supervision duty it is supporting and collaborating with each other. Thus, when there is a problem all hands -on deck to help in the situations, but some are not lending their support even though it is their job to do so. The solutions are to have a one- on – one conversation, keep reminding personnel of their supervision duties, write-up on performances, reflect performance in evaluations.
As an educator and future leader this safety audit check list will help me plan and facilitate the safety measures at my school. These components help maintain a safe and caring environment for students to learn, maintain their social and emotional mental stability, and know that their surroundings are secured. Keeping a safe environment helps students gain confidence in themselves, the school and the people who care for them. Within our safety zone we will provide many support systems; mentors, counselors, and peers, to help foster their individual needs, activities that promote positive changes within themselves and instill the importance of diversity as a learning experience to embrace others.
Reference
National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.
http://www.npbea.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-Educational-Leaders_2015.pdf