Western Area Career & Technology Center takes pride in ensuring and providing a safe and secure learning environment for our students.

The purpose of this letter is to introduce you to our Parent Guide to School Emergencies and to alert you that we will be conducting lockdown and barricade drills throughout the year as well as explaining procedures that will be followed in order to safely evacuate the building.

We encourage you to talk to your child about the importance of this training and the integral role that our students play in our school’s safety. For some students practicing this drill can initiate fear and worry and for this reason it is very important to open and maintain a dialogue with your child about the importance of the training and being prepared.

We understand it can be difficult to talk about school violence with children of any age. However, school personnel and parents can help ease this fear by establishing a sense of normalcy and security and by listening and talking to them about their fears and concerns. Here are a few things to keep in mind when talking about school safety with your child:

• Reassure your child that they are safe; schools are safe and adults are there to ensure their safety. Please cite ways that the school building is safe and the role that these drills play in further ensuring their safety. 

• It is important to validate your child’s/student’s feelings. School violence is scary, and letting your student talk about their feelings will help alleviate their fears and worry.

While it is our hope that a real emergency never occurs, these drills are an effective way to ensure that students and staff know and can follow the appropriate procedures in an emergency situation. Our teachers have already gone through ALICE training. We will also be doing this training for our students at a later date. I encourage you to go to the website https://www.alicetraining.com to get more information.

Thank you for your support in ensuring the safety or your child at Western Area Career & Technology Center. Please click on the above Quick Link to view the Parent Guide to School Emergencies.