Emergency personnel on campus

[prin...@sethigh.org]

Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

This is a quick message to reassure students and families that we will always be transparent when there is any risk to our students and staff on campus.  Occasionally, we need to solicit the help of emergency services (paramedics, police, or fire) to help us keep a student or staff member safe.  Seeing emergency personnel on campus can be alarming to students and parents.  Be assured that if there were any danger to our community, we would communicate this threat immediately and would not keep it quiet. We have a history of being very transparent during emergency situations.

This being said, the paramedics who were on campus last week and the police who were on campus today were there for personal reasons that do not extend beyond those individual student's families.  We thank our students for being so understanding and conscientious of student privacy on both of these days.

Students, if you are ever concerned about your own safety in the event that we have a repeat of these circumstances, please do not hesitate to seek comfort from any staff member. They will not be able to share the details of what is happening, but they will be able to assure you that there is no threat to you.  If there was a threat you would already be well aware of it because of a lockdown or evacuation.  These are procedures that we will practice monthly throughout the year.  We actually had a fire drill planned for today but decided to delay it because we did not want to add to any anxiety that students may have already been feeling.

If anyone in our community ever has any concerns, please do not hesitate to call or email us to schedule an appointment.  You are always welcome to try for a drop-in appointment if you happen to be in the area and just want to pop in.  Depending on what is happening that day, we may get lucky and be able to meet with you right away.  Our COVID-19 protocols have put a damper on these open-door drop-ins, and we appreciate our families for taking these protocols seriously, but we do still want to talk to you so please do not worry about bothering us.  If we're available, we want to talk with you!

Thank you, everyone!

Dr. McCurdy