Safety a Top Priority at Lakota

We know that feeling confident in the safety of your child at school is extremely important. That’s why Lakota has put together a thorough look at what we do throughout the district to ensure safety – as well as a list of things you should do to help as a parent or guardian.

First, know that the safety, health and well-being of Lakota students, staff, volunteers and visitors is our top priority. Details of our security plans are not made public so as not to jeodardize the efficiency or safety of the plan, but here are some highlights of the safety measures we have in place.

• Every Lakota school has a comprehensive emergency plan.
• Students and staff participate in regularly scheduled safety exercises that include tornado drills, fire drills, evacuation drills and shelter-in-place drills.
• School doors are locked, and call boxes are used at front entrances for visitors to identify themselves and to notify the office of the reason for their visit. Security cameras have been added to strategic locations throughout the district to help deter unwanted individuals from entering school buildings and assist in protecting schools from break-ins or vandalism.
• Bearacade Door Control Systems are installed in classrooms and throughout our buildings, allowing rooms to be secured in eight seconds or less.
• Volunteers with unsupervised access to students will be required to pass a criminal background check through Raptor, our visitor management system.
• Lakota has school resource officers serving each of our campuses. These are uniformed law enforcement officers, either deputies from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office or police officers from the West Chester Township Police Department.

Here are a few ways that parents can help prepare for emergency situations:

• Keep emergency contact information up to date; double-check your information in FinalForms at the start of each school year and update as needed.
• Talk to your children and emphasize how important it is to follow instructions from their teachers and school officials during any emergency.
• Visit the Safety and Security section of our website for more details, and be sure to check out our Safety Brochure that covers safety measures, what parents can do to help, and an example of a reunification example.