Safety First
SAFETY IS . . . And Always WILL BE . . . Our TOP PRIORITY! --- Please know that providing a safe and secure environment at WAPMS for our students and staff is our #1 priority each and every day! We know that if students do not feel safe, then learning cannot take place for our students. Richland One Schools and W.A. Perry Middle School have many practices and procedures in place to help safeguard your child every minute of every day to, from and on campus. Detailed safety plans for all kinds of emergencies have been carefully planned, written, and put in place, and will be practiced quite frequently with our staff and students during the first few weeks of school. We will continue to practice these drills in an organized way, and as if they were the real thing, throughout the school year.
WAPMS has a School Resource Officer, SRO Jessica Jackson, who is based inside of our school. She is on our campus each day checking on things, talking to our students, and getting to know them. All schools in the district have had their front entrances updated with a “buzz-in” and intercom feature for entrance after students have entered for the morning. All visitors must now come to this single door and be buzzed in by a front office secretary who has a view of the person and the surrounding area. Sign-in procedures are in place for visitors once they are buzzed in, and a driver’s license is required to check out a student.
Part of our school’s standard operating procedures is to have our building supervisor check the entire facility and campus early each morning to look for any unusual objects. Phones are in every classroom, and administrators are in constant communication with each other, our SRO, and the front office through radios, as well as with the school district safety office through the use of cell phones.
Diligent supervision of our students by our entire staff, from the moment they step foot on campus until they leave, is a daily practice. Talking to our students about safety being a top priority, and letting them know that it is their responsibility also to let an adult know immediately if they see or hear something that could jeopardize this safety, is a practice we begin the first several days of school, and will continue to preach throughout the school year. Rest assured any information of this nature that is shared with an administrator, school counselor, or teacher is held in the strictest confidence.
These are just some of the practices and procedures we have in place. We hope that you will spend some time with your child at the beginning of this school year discussing the importance of all these safety procedures, and let him/her know that it is also your expectation that he/she take personal responsibility in reporting anything he/she sees or hears that could jeopardize the safety of any or all of our students and staff.
Parents, we encourage that any time you have concerns about the safety or well-being of your child, you will not hesitate to call a WAPMS administrator to discuss these concerns. We want W.A. Perry Middle School to be a place where all students, staff and parents feel safe and comfortable. We believe it is. But we need everyone’s help to keep it that way throughout this school year. Thanking you in advance for your help and support!
