December 16, 2022
Good morning,
We are writing as a follow-up to Dr. Dolloff’s letter to you yesterday. As he shared, our schools in Yarmouth will be implementing a new approach to school safety procedures based on the ALICE and I Love You Guys approaches.
As a next step in moving forward in this approach, on Monday, December 19th at Morning Meeting time teachers will begin introducing to students how we follow teacher direction when we have an unexpected event. To be clear, at the elementary level our focus and approach is on following teacher direction. The language we will be introducing to students is “Stop, Look, and Listen.” When a teacher uses this prompt it is a signal to students that everyone needs to follow the directions that are given at that moment.
This will be a very brief introduction on Monday that will only take a few minutes. It is not a drill, but a learning exercise that will be built upon for safety drills in the future. Our goal is to make this learning, and any drills that are held in the future, low-anxiety and comfortable for students. The presentation of the material will be done thoughtfully and in a manner to support that goal. In this learning exercise, we will not be discussing scenarios or anything of that nature with students.
As Dr. Dolloff shared, this work will continue to evolve. As that occurs we will continue to communicate with you. If you have any questions about our learning exercise on Monday, or school safety procedures in general, please reach out to us directly.
Thanks,
Ryan Gleason, YES Principal & Molly Kilpatrick, YES Assistant Principal