A Message from the Superintendent

April 2, 2023

Dear Families, Staff and Community,

I hope this Sunday evening finds you safely at home after an enjoyable spring break. As we prepare to reopen our schools tomorrow morning, I wanted to reach out with a message regarding safety and security, as I know it is top of mind for all of us following the news of yet another devastating school shooting last week. As we attempt to process this information as adults, you may also be looking for ways to address your child’s questions or concerns. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) offers resources for parents and teachers in talking to children about a variety of topics, including violence in schools.

While there are few words I can offer that will allay the very real fears of parents and staff, I did want to reiterate some information regarding our safety and security practices as this remains a top priority for us all. Our staff and schools engage in various trainings every year in partnership with the Winnetka Police and Fire Departments as a means to improve our safety and security practices. This school year, we incorporated a number of additional practices as a result of a security audit completed in February 2022 by an outside agency hired by the District. While some of these new practices may include additional steps to access our schools and its resources, they are all done with a commitment to keeping safety and security a top priority, and not to inconvenience our visitors. While not an exhaustive list, it may be helpful for you to understand our commitment to the following practices:

District and building safety plans are thoroughly developed in conjunction with the Winnetka Police and Fire Departments and reviewed on an annual basis as an administrative team and school staff at all five campuses.
Drills are practiced by all adults and students unless parents opt their children out of the drill (this must be allowed by law).
With the passing of our referendum in November 2022, our district is moving forward with upgraded security features for all of our schools, including secure vestibules and increased security features throughout all five buildings.
Our District currently partners with a safety consultant to provide us with recommendations to improve current and future building safety and security features.
Custodial and maintenance teams engage in regular building sweeps to ensure all exterior doors are closed and locked.
All school visitors must submit their ID to be scanned before being allowed access to the building. IDs will be held and badging distributed to identify visitors until they exit the building.
All employees, outside vendors (club sponsors, contractor, utility providers, etc) and substitutes, must undergo a state and federal background check before being allowed to work in our schools/access our buildings. This includes all employees of Pepper Construction and associated vendors completing construction and renovation work starting this summer.

Finally, I want to remind you all of the Safe, Secure and Healthy Schools Resolution, passed by the Board in September 2022. This resolution solidified the District’s commitment to ensuring students, staff, parents and community members have access to an outside resource to report concerns of any kind regarding themselves or others. As a result, the District has partnered with Text-For-Help. Text-for-Help (formerly known as Text-A-Tip) is a resource tailored for teens and pre-teens, but is open to all members of the Winnetka community, including staff. A concerned person can text “D36Help” to 814-823-5323 and be connected by text message with a licensed social worker within approximately 3 minutes. While we encourage students, staff and families to report concerns within our schools, allowing us to follow our internal safety protocol, we also want to ensure there is awareness of this reporting option outside of school hours.

This resolution also included an update to our Parent/Student handbook to include information about the obligation of any parent who is a gun owner to comply with state guidance regarding secure storage of firearms under Illinois HB2254 Safe Gun Storage Act. All families must sign the Parent/Student handbook annually as children are registered for the new school year.

While we will continue to do all we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff, we also recognize the power of partnership found in your support for our safety protocol as well as a shared responsibility to promote safe and secure environments for our students and staff to learn and work. If you have a question or concern, coming to your school and District administrators directly is a critical factor in our ability to be responsive. We value the partnership we have with each of you, and are stronger for it.

Most Sincerely,

Dr. Kelly Tess, Superintendent