01/09/13 Plymouth Community School Superintendent Dan Tyree emailed a letter to parents of all students in the corporation on Tuesday afternoon concerning the safety of students in school as it relates to the recent tragedy in Connecticut.

The Plymouth Schools and the Sheriff’s Department have taken a close look at the safety of children in the various school buildings.  It sets-forth some short-term and long-term plans to improve safety in the facilities.

In the short term the PCSC Safety Committee will review the Certified Safety Plan, required by the State of Indiana.  The corporation will also add two additional Trained Safety Specialist to the current one already on hand. These staff members will meet with law enforcement, fire officials and Emergency Management and make sure the safety Plan in place is being followed.   Tyree is also hoping to hire an outside safety consultant for a thorough assessment of the plan.  There is also a plan to do an internal examination of the policies to make sure they are consistent with state and federal laws.

Long term plans include addressing any areas of concern in the Certified Safety Plan and those pointed out by the outside safety consultant.   Policies that are not in line with state and federal laws will be changed and any new requirements will be implemented.

Superintendent Tyree warns parents of possible changes in the next couple of weeks and urges them to have patience with them as they only have the safety of the students in mind.

A copy of the letter follows:

It has been three weeks since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the pain felt by

parents around the country is still evident.  During this time, the superintendents, and the

Marshall County Sheriff’s Department have taken a hard look at safety in our home schools. 

The purpose of this correspondence is to let the parents who have students in the Plymouth

Community School Corporation (PCSC), corporation staff, and other stakeholders know the short

and long-term plans for our school corporation. 

 

The first part of the short-term plan is for the PCSC Safety Committee to closely examine the

Certified Safety Plan filed with the State of Indiana.  Indiana is the only state in the country that

requires each school to have a Trained Safety Specialist.  Currently, PCSC has one Safety

Specialist and in a couple of months PCSC will have three.  These three Safety Specialists,

along with our law enforcement, the fire department, and emergency management, will look at

each part of the plan to ensure that it is being followed with fidelity.  Secondly, on Tuesday,

January 8th, I will ask the School Board of Trustees permission to hire an outside safety

consultant to do a thorough assessment of Plymouth’s plan.  The final part of the short-term plan

will be to do an internal examination of the Board’s policies and best practices to ensure that

they are consistent with state and federal law. 

 

The long-term plan will be to implement a well thought-out series of changes to the PCSC Safety

Plan.  The following four will largely determine the changes:

a) areas of concern identified by in the Certified Safety Plan

b) areas of concern identified by the outside safety consultant  

c) corrections to policies that are not in alignment with state and federal laws 

d) new practices set into law by state and federal legislators

 

During the next couple of weeks, you will probably see a few changes as we determine parts of

the Safety Plan that are not being followed with fidelity.  Please have patience with us as we

make our firm commitment to keep our students safe while they are at school. 

 

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to communicate with myself or your student’s principal.