School safety and resources for families

Lincoln Public Schools families,

You may have heard the reports out of Omaha about the shooting at a high school this afternoon. Our hearts are with Omaha staff, students, families, and the community during this difficult time. Our children deserve to go to school and feel safe and loved without fear. 

Information is still coming out about the incident, and understandably, there will be heightened concern among our own community. As a father, grandfather, and superintendent in a school district where we serve 41,000+ students and 6,500+ staff members, I am constantly thinking about how we keep those who enter our buildings safe every single day. 

We are fortunate to have a nationally recognized Security and Threat Assessment team that is in continual communication with local, state, and national law enforcement. They work collaboratively every single day with those groups as well as our school administrators and staff to develop and implement safety protocols to help keep our schools safe. We train, practice, utilize, review, and adjust these protocols, and we communicate these protocols consistently. 

We all have a part to play in the safety of our schools. Unlike a public shopping mall, movie theater, or park, we know who is in our buildings. Relationships help keep our staff and students safe. We will continue to build those relationships between staff, students, and families to build a culture of caring and compassion for each other. 

LPS wants to provide you with the following reminders and resources: 

• First, please continue to report any and all threats of violence to school officials or law enforcement immediately. We take each report seriously and will investigate them fully. 
• Have a conversation with your child about how words matter. We take all conversations about violence towards others seriously and investigate them fully. There is nothing funny about joking about violence against others. Students who violate the student code of conduct and cause a disruption by using threatening language will face the appropriate school and legal consequences.
• We urge everyone to stop the dangerous trend of mass sharing threatening social media posts or conversations. The mass sharing of this type of information makes it harder to track where it originated from, and spreading false information, and rumors only slows down the investigation process. It’s like playing the telephone game! When you hear a safety concern, the best thing is to immediately alert authorities or school staff and not share it with peers. If someone reposts or passes on the threat within the community, they can also be held legally responsible for issuing a threat and can receive disciplinary or legal action as a result.
• Lincoln Public Schools is taking this opportunity to remind families of the importance of keeping weapons and ammunition safely away from children and adolescents to prevent intentional and unintentional harm. Adolescent suicide risk is strongly associated with weapon availability. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that the most reliable and effective measure to prevent injuries in children and adolescents is the absence of weapons. Safe weapon storage reduces a child’s risk of injury.
• Linked are brochures to help you speak with your child or teen about traumatic events. If your child needs extra support, please contact your school so we can connect them with a staff member, including counselors, social workers, psychologists, bilingual liaisons, and student advocates (Youth Development Team).

Please know we will continue to follow our school safety protocols put into place to fortify our schools from potential threats. That includes:

• Heightened awareness of activity in and around our schools and property, immediately reporting anything of concern.
• Initiating Standard Response Protocols when needed.
• Continued communication and coordination with LPS Security and Threat Assessment and local, state, and federal law enforcement.
• Encouraging everyone to report immediately anything that makes them feel unsafe.

School safety requires a community. If you or anyone you know has a safety concern, please tell a trusted staff member, LPS Security or Threat Assessment by using the green Safe to Say button on the LPS website, Safe2Help Nebraska at 833-980-7233, or call Lincoln Police at (402) 441-6000.

By working together, we can limit the distractions and keep everyone safe. Thank you for your continued partnership and support.

 

Dr. Paul Gausman | Superintendent of Schools
Lincoln Public Schools
www.lps.org

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